Todd Blanche Destroying DOJ's Latest Comey Prosecution So Defense Doesn't Have To
We watch the Sunday shows, so you never have to!
Todd Blanche, the (acting) attorney general, is (we guess) the best lawyer Trump’s money and reputation can afford.
And that explains a lot.
NBC’s Kristen Welker interviewed Blanche on Meet The Press and it did not go well.
Right off the bat, Blanche had a hard time doing his one true job for Trump: legally defending him personally, while persecuting/prosecuting his enemies.
WELKER: As you know, the War Powers Act requires Congress to authorize military action beyond 60 days. […] And yet, the U.S. is actively engaged in a naval blockade of Iranian ports as part of this conflict. Is the United States at war with Iran?
BLANCHE: No. I mean, what President Trump said this weekend is absolutely true. My job as the acting attorney general is to make sure that the president, that we all are doing the right thing legally.
Is it though? Because a naval blockade by its very nature is a military action. As Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said on ABC’s This Week: “The language of the statutes is — does not provide for timeouts like in a football game.”
Welker then played a clip of Trump working real hard not to say the “w”-word, as if that somehow is a loophole.
WELKER: Is the president effectively arguing that he can avoid congressional approval by avoiding using the word “war?”
BLANCHE: He’s not effectively arguing anything.
No argument there, Todd.
Welker then moved on to the worst thing involving seashells since the bathroom mystery in Demolition Man, the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. In 2025, Comey posted a picture on Instagram of the numbers “86 47” written out in seashells, and it caused the worst liars and idiots in human history to shriek that it was a threat on Donald Trump’s life. Fast forward 11 months and Trump has used the combined forces of his most loyal toadies to go after Comey for this “imminent” threat.
Welker, like all normal people, questioned the seriousness of this case based on the evidence, and Blanche did nothing to make it better.
WELKER:How does that image of seashells amount to a serious threat against the president's life?
BLANCHE: Well […] what you just showed is one part of that investigation. […] Rest assured that the career assistant United States attorneys in North Carolina, the career FBI agents, the career secret service agents that investigated this case didn’t just look at the Instagram post and walk away. […] I am not permitted to get into the details of what the grand jury heard or found, as you know. But rest assured that it’s not just the Instagram post that leads somebody to get indicted.
You guys have nothing, huh? Because if they did — like Jeanine Pirro on CNN’s State Of The Union this weekend, talking about the White House Correspondents’ Dinner suspect on Sunday — they’d tell us all about the evidence, instead pretending to play coy.
(Side note: Stop using the phrase “rest assured,” Todd!)
Prefer a non-Substack subscription? The button below will take any amount of your choosing at Paypal — let me know if you want the newsletter subscription too! they’re separate! — or we have a Patreon too.
Welker was still not convinced you could prove actual intent to harm Trump from James Comey’s bored wine mom Instagram post, and even cited noted conservative legal contrarian Jonathan Turley’s misgivings about the constitutionality and strength of this case.
She posed an obvious question:
WELKER: It is worth noting that on Amazon.com, we looked this up, there are dozens of products with the same terminology, we’re showing it right here, “86 47” being sold and purchased right now. Should individuals selling or buying “86 47” merchandise be concerned that they’re going to be prosecuted by the DOJ?
BLANCHE: This isn’t — this isn’t about a single incident, okay? I mean, of course not. That’s posted constantly. That phrase is used constantly. […] Every one of those statements do not result in indictments, of course.
Kinda undoes the main argument of the indictment, Todd.
Especially, as Welker pointed out, considering the evidence of this being a second attempt at a political prosecution of Comey, rather than a legal one:
WELKER: Back on September 20, President Trump publicly posted a private message to then Attorney General Pam Bondi pressuring her to prosecute Senator Adam Schiff, James Comey and Letitia James.
Blanche tried to argue, as others have done, that Trump being open and public about his intentions somehow blocks off charges that his actions are political or an illegal abuse of power.
When Welker asked why should people have confidence this case won’t be laughed out of court like all the other ones against Trump' critics, Blanche’s answer left a lot to be desired, if you are his boss:
BLANCHE: Well, let’s be accurate, okay? […] The federal judge dismissed that case because he found that the U.S. attorney was not properly appointed. That’s not a – there was no final finding on the facts or anything like that.
Oh, so a judge dismissing a case because they believe the prosecuting attorney was not properly appointed is not an exoneration nor a argument for the weakness of the case? Someone should build a time machine and go back to 2024 to let Judge Aileen Cannon know this.
Blanche’s most idiotic statement was reserved for his defense of voter supression attempts by the Trump administration.
Specifically, voter ID laws.
BLANCHE: Like every time you walk into a restaurant or a club, you have to show your ID, how about you have to show your ID to vote? That’s not — that’s not anything that’s crazy. And that’s what we should be talking about.
Unless you are eating at strip clubs or ordering alcoholic drinks at bar, IDs are fact-check not required to just walk in to a restaurant.
Have a week and a Happy Star Wars Day.
Follow Michael Mora on Threads, occasionally on Bluesky (and if you are still on Twitter, I’m also HERE).
You can subscribe to Michael Mora’s Substack, The Diasporican Writer, for additional thoughts and topics!
You know who didn't require ID? EPSTEIN ISLAND
I mean it with all sincerity when I say that on this Star Wars Day that I hope you all live long and prosper.