Todd Blanche Is Learning From Bondi’s Mistakes

‘What Being Commander-in-Chief Is About’

It’s been reported that former Attorney General Pam Bondi was fired because, although she spent much of her time as AG trying to carry out President Trump’s retribution agenda, she was not successful enough — both in speed and outcome — at investigating and prosecuting his political opponents. There were also reports that Bondi gave Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) some sort of advance notice about the potential release of investigative files on a past FBI inquiry into his relationship with a Chinese spy 10 years ago. In light of recent events … who knows what was going on there.

But taking the mantle from Bondi — at least temporarily while President Trump decides whether to give the top gig to his Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin or another ally in the DOJ, like Harmeet Dhillon — acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is making it clear publicly that he believes a weaponized-for-Trump DOJ is the best kind of DOJ.

During a press conference last week, Blanche suggested that the Trump-obliterated firewall that once existed between the White House and the Justice Department was something that should be left in the past if a president wants to properly lead a nation.

“We have ⁠thousands of ongoing investigations and prosecutions going on in this country right now,” Blanche said during a press conference last week. “It ​is true that some of them involve men, women and entities that the president in the ​past has had issues with and believes should be investigated. That is his right and indeed it is his duty to do that, meaning to lead this country.”

He insinuated a similar belief system is held by Americans, too. In remarks to NBC News on Tuesday, Blanche said Americans should be “happy” that Trump, and his personal vengeance mission, has infiltrated DOJ. During the interview, Blanche was asked about an October 2025 episode, during which Trump accidentally posted something on Truth Social that he meant to send to Bondi directly. In the post, he asked “Pam” why “nothing is being done” to “Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia???”

Blanche told NBC News that incident was another example of Trump being transparent with the American people and setting “high expectations.”

“That type of communication from President Trump should make every American happy,” Blanche said. “It means that there’s an executive, a chief executive, that is making sure every one of his Cabinet members are working as hard as they should.”

Telling the DOJ what to do, is “what being the commander in chief is about,” he concluded.

Whether the public ring-kissing is enough to secure the gig for Blanche permanently is hard to say, but he is certainly pulling out all the stops. Per Reuters:

Blanche declined to say on Tuesday whether he wants to be nominated to the vacant attorney ⁠general ​post. He said the decision was up to Trump, and ​if the president nominated someone else and asked Blanche to leave his role in the Justice Department, “I will say, ‘thank ​you very much, I love you, sir.'”

— Nicole LaFond

DOJ Sides With Proud Boys, Oath Keepers: Asks Judge to Toss Seditious Conspiracy Convictions

When Trump took office last year, he didn’t pardon everyone on Jan. 6. Some defendants who were convicted of seditious conspiracy, like Stewart Rhodes, Dominic Pezzola, and Ethan Nordean, had their sentences commuted — the slate was not entirely wiped clean, though they were free to go.

That could be over now. On Tuesday, federal prosecutors working for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro asked the DC Circuit to throw out convictions in the seditious conspiracy cases against the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys.

That, should a panel of judges agree, will remove the convictions. Some in the greater Proud Boy community already hope that it’s a signal for something more: that their lawsuit demanding the DOJ cough up cash for damages over its prosecution of the group will bear lots and lots of money.

— Josh Kovensky

Trump Defiant About Jesus Pic

The president is sticking to his story that he thought the AI-generated painting of him as Jesus Christ that he shared on Truth Social was depicting him as a doctor. He also insulted some of the people who were offended by the post. When CBS News asked him why he deleted the image, he said he did so to clear up any confusion.

“Normally I don’t like doing that, but I didn’t want to have anybody be confused. People were confused,” he said.

“I viewed that as a picture of me being a doctor in fixing — you had the Red Cross right there, you had, you know, medical people surrounding me,” he said. “And I was like the doctor, you know, as a little fun playing the doctor and making people better. So that’s what it was viewed as. That’s what most people thought.”

He also went on to tell CBS that he has “done more for the Catholic Church than any president in the last hundred years.” 

There you have it, Christians!

— Nicole LaFond

In Case You Missed It

How a Texas City Became the Far Right’s Next Example of the Great Replacement Theory

Senate GOP Leadership Wants An ‘Anorexic-Like’ Reconciliation Package. Not Everyone Agrees.

5 Points on the Effort to Block Trump’s Latest Tariffs

Trump’s Corruption Is What’s Tanking the Economy

Yesterday’s Most Read Story

Trump II Spirals Deeper Into Madness in One Bonkers Weekend

What We Are Reading

The View From Inside Trump’s D.H.S.

Another woman accuses Swalwell of sexual assault; says she was drugged in Beverly Hills in 2018 

Johnson says he told Trump to take down image of president-as-Jesus