Todd Blanche Broke His Promise to the Senate

Summary

Bulwark Takes — "Todd Blanche Broke His Promise to the Senate"

Podcast: Bulwark Takes
Host: Will Saletan
Date: February 2, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on Todd Blanche, the former Trump lawyer elevated to Deputy Attorney General and now the public face for defending Trump administration actions that appear politically motivated and legally dubious. Will Saletan dissects Blanche’s talking points from his appearances on ABC and CNN, highlighting the ongoing normalization of targeting political opponents, redefining legal standards, and excusing potential corruption. Saletan methodically fact-checks Blanche’s claims and illuminates troubling shifts in the administration’s approach to justice and government power.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Redefining Criminality for Mass Deportations

• (01:36–03:56)
  • Blanche justifies Trump's broad deportation of undocumented immigrants by claiming mere illegal presence is inherently criminal, contradicting Trump’s original pledge to focus only on “dangerous criminals.”
  • Saletan points out the strategic shifting of definitions to rationalize a wider crackdown:

    “Blanche changes the story and says they’re all criminals because they’re all here illegally... Blanche is changing the definition to pretend Trump didn’t lie.” — Will Saletan (03:02)

2. Bypassing Judicial Oversight in Immigration Enforcement

• (03:56–04:54)
  • Blanche defends the issuance of warrants by the administration to itself, dismissing judicial checks as unnecessary due to immigration law’s “administrative” nature.
  • Saletan condemns this logic:

    “According to Blanche, it’s fine for the administration to bypass the courts and issue its own warrants because immigration law is administrative, which is basically a way of saying we don’t have to listen to the courts.” — Will Saletan (04:54)

3. Broken Promise: No Politically Motivated Prosecutions

• (05:39–07:23)
  • Stephanopoulos confronts Blanche with his prior Senate testimony promising “not even a whiff” of politically motivated prosecution.
  • Blanche dodges responsibility, calling examples of Trump’s political targets “cherry picking" and retorts that others were also prosecuted.
  • Saletan underscores Blanche’s effective admission:

    “He’s basically admitting it... they’re all pissed off. They want revenge. And that is exactly what Trump is doing...” — Will Saletan (07:23)

4. Direct Presidential Orders to Prosecute Political Enemies

• (07:51–08:47)
  • Stephanopoulos details how Trump publicly demanded investigations/prosecutions of rivals, then dismissals followed when career attorneys refused.
  • Blanche rationalizes this as executing the "President's priorities."
  • Stephanopoulos bluntly highlights the circularity:

    “You just actually made my point right there. You said it’s the president’s priorities. The president calls for them publicly to be prosecuted, says they’re guilty as hell, and then they’re prosecuted.” — George Stephanopoulos (08:26)

5. Foreign Profits & Corruption Allegations

• (09:59–10:37)
  • Wall Street Journal exposé on a $500 million UAE investment into Trump ventures prompts Blanche to claim such deals “come back to the American people.”
  • Will Saletan sharply rebukes this “absolute bullshit,” emphasizing its direct benefit to the Trump family, not the public.

6. Criminalizing Dissent & Press: The Don Lemon Arrest

• (11:50–14:14)
  • Blanche claims Don Lemon “stormed” a church during a protest, justifying arrest—despite lack of evidence and contrary judicial opinion.
  • On CNN, Blanche pleads ignorance on whether Trump even thinks about Lemon, which Saletan rebuts using multiple examples of Trump publicly targeting Lemon.
  • Memorable quote:

    “Oh, my God. You must be joking. Okay, here is Trump… calling Lemon the dumbest man on television.” — Will Saletan (13:39)

7. Double Standards in “Raids” on Political Opponents

• (14:47–15:11)
  • When FBI operates against Trump’s opponents, Blanche insists this is merely “executing a search warrant,” not a raid.
  • Saletan exposes Blanche’s hypocrisy by quoting from his own legal briefs labeling Mara-a-Lago searches as “raids” (when Trump was a target):

    “The word raid appears 20 times in this brief. So when the FBI goes in to get documents against Trump, it’s a raid. But when the FBI goes in to get documents to help Trump...it’s just a search.” — Will Saletan (15:11)

8. Conclusion: The Blanche Doctrine

• (15:11–16:49)
  • Will Saletan closes with a stark warning: Blanche’s legalistic rationalizations enable Trump to use the machinery of government for vendettas rather than justice.

    “The only difference is that now Blanche and Trump are using our government to do their dirty work.” — Will Saletan (16:27)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Trump lied, and now Blanche is changing the definition to pretend that Trump didn’t lie.” — Will Saletan (03:02)
• “We don’t have to listen to the courts. We just assert that all the law here is administrative so the administration can do whatever it wants.” — Will Saletan (04:54)
• “You just actually made my point right there. You said it’s the president’s priorities.” — George Stephanopoulos (08:26)
• “Absolute bullshit, and it is absolutely corrupt.” — Will Saletan on UAE investment defense (10:37)
• “Oh, my God. You must be joking. Okay, here is Trump in 2022 calling Lemon the dumbest man on television…” — Will Saletan (13:39)
• “When the FBI goes in to get documents against Trump, it’s a raid. But when the FBI goes in to get documents to help Trump with his political vendetta, it’s just a search.” — Will Saletan (15:11)
• “The only difference is that now Blanche and Trump are using our government to do their dirty work.” — Will Saletan (16:27)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:36] — Start of Will Saletan’s analysis
• [02:39] — Mass deportations and redefining criminality
• [03:56] — Administrative warrants and bypassing courts
• [05:39] — Senate promise on political prosecutions broken
• [07:51] — Trump’s public prosecution orders & Blanche’s defense
• [09:59] — UAE investment corruption controversy
• [11:50] — Don Lemon arrest & selective law enforcement
• [14:47] — FBI “raids” language hypocrisy
• [15:11] — Saletan summarizes Blanche’s enabling of government abuse

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Summary Conclusion:
Will Saletan’s breakdown methodically demonstrates how Todd Blanche, once a private defense lawyer for Trump, now employs his skills as a government official to justify actions that are eroding legal norms and enabling the weaponization of justice against Trump’s rivals. The episode is a stark warning about the normalization of political vengeance, selective accountability, and government overreach under the guise of “priorities” and “administration.”

Transcript

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[Andy]

Hi, everybody, it's Andy and James here from your next favorite podcast. No such thing as a fish.

[James]

That's right. We do fun facts.

[Andy]

Yes, we do. James, give me a fact.

[James]

Did you know that there is an extinct bandicoot whose official scientific name is Crash Bandicoot?

[Andy]

Lovely. I didn't know that. Did you know, James, that Upper Egypt is technically below Lower Egypt and.

[James]

Incredible. Absolutely amazing. I would love to hear more about that.

[Andy]

Well, all you have to do is go and listen to no such thing as a fish.

[James]

Where will I find it?

[Andy]

Oh, all over.

[James]

Okay, bye.

[Andy]

Bye.

[Will Saletan]

Hey, it's Will Salatan from the Bulwark. So every week, some poor flunky in the Trump administration gets sent out on the Sunday talk shows to lie about whatever is the latest corrupt thing Trump has done. So today, that flunky is Todd Blanche, the deputy Attorney General. Blanche was literally Donald Trump's lawyer in the criminal cases against Trump. And so Trump, who was now a convicted criminal, rewarded Blanche by putting him in charge of the Justice Department. And now Blanche is on TV doing what he's always done, which is to lie on Trump's behalf. So I'm going to show you two interviews Blanche did today. The first one was on abc. Let's start with a question from the host, George Stephanopoulos, about Trump's rounding up and deporting illegal immigrants who have no criminal records.

[George Stephanopoulos]

President said he was going to prioritize those who had criminal records, but about 70%, at least, of Those who have been detained don't have criminal records.

[Todd Blanche]

Well, just hang on. The fact that they're here illegally is a crime. And so when you say they don't have criminal records, they are by their presence, being here without status, having come into this country illegally or overstayed illegally, that is a crime.

[Will Saletan]

Huh? So when Trump ran for president, he said, don't worry, we're not going to go after people who came here 15, 20 years ago and they've been, you know, living and working in the community. No, Trump said, we're just going to go after the dangerous criminals. And then when it turns out that Trump lied and that the vast majority of the people he's rounding up are not dangerous criminals, Blanche changes the story and says they're all criminals because they're all here illegally. So Trump lied, and now Blanche is changing the definition to pretend that Trump didn't lie. Okay, next, here is Stephanopoulos asking about a little boy, not a criminal, a little boy who got picked up and hauled away by ice.

[George Stephanopoulos]

We have some video right now showing Leon Ramos, that five year old boy who was detained by ICE in Minnesota, being released today. He's on his way back home to Minnesota after a judge was ordered him released. And it was a pretty blistering order from the judge.

[Will Saletan]

And then Stephanopoulos reads from the judge's order which pointed out that the Trump administration, instead of getting court warrants to go and arrest people, was issuing warrants to itself.

[George Stephanopoulos]

Civics lesson to the government. Administrative warrants issued by the executive branch to itself do not pass probable cause muster. This is called the fox guarding the hen house. The Constitution requires an independent judicial officer. What's your response?

[Todd Blanche]

Well, look, that's an act of litigation, so I'm limited. But I will say this. The immigration law, the body of immigration law, is much different than, than our typical criminal process because of the administrative nature of what we do every day.

[Will Saletan]

Oh, right. So according to Blanche, it's fine for the administration to bypass the courts and issue its own warrants because immigration law is administrative, which is basically a way of saying we don't have to listen to the courts. We just assert that all the law here is administrative so the administration can do whatever it wants. Okay, so now Stephanopoulos moves on to Trump's deliberate prosecutions of people Trump doesn't like. First, Stephanopoulos plays video of Blanche at his confirmation hearing a year ago, promising that Trump would not do this.

[George Stephanopoulos]

I've got your commitment.

[Will Saletan]

There will not even be a whiff.

[George Stephanopoulos]

Of an investigation that appears to have.

[Will Saletan]

A political motivation to it. I commit to that. Then Stephanopoulos points out that Trump has been doing exactly what Blanche promised he wouldn't do since then.

[George Stephanopoulos]

As you know, a number of targets of President Trump who've been publicly targeted by President Trump have been prosecuted or investigated. I want to show that right now. It includes the former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, the Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Senators Adam Schiff, Mark Kelly and Alyssa Slotkin, Governor Tim Walsh, and Mayor Jacob Fry. So how do we respond to those who say you've broken your commitment?

[Will Saletan]

And here's how Blanche answered that question.

[Todd Blanche]

You just showed a handful of investigations or in grand jury indictments that have been brought. We are, we are investigating tens of thousands of individuals and cases every single day. They are not politically based. The fact that you cherry picked a handful that some people in the media have said, oh, those must be political, is absurd and not fair.

[Will Saletan]

Oh, you're just cherry picking. I mean, look at all the people we prosecuted who weren't Trump's political targets. Look over there. Don't look at these prosecutions that are obviously political. And then listen to this. These are the next words that came out of Blanche's mouth.

[Todd Blanche]

I mean, don't forget, George, when I walk into the Oval Office right now, I look around and oftentimes every single person in that room was heavily attacked and gone after by the last Biden administration. And so when I said to Congress and when I say to you right now that there's not a whiff of political partisanship in what we're doing, I.

[Will Saletan]

Mean that he's basically admitting it. Blanche says Trump and a bunch of the people around Trump were all investigated. They're all pissed off. They want revenge. And that is exactly what Trump is doing with all, all of these prosecutions of his political enemies. And don't take it from me, take it from Trump. Stephanopoulos points out that Trump told the Justice Department to indict all these people.

[George Stephanopoulos]

Those indictments of James Comey and Letitia James came after the President explicitly said they're guilty as hell and justice must be served. Right now. They came after career attorneys refused to bring the indictments, and both cases have been dismissed.

[Will Saletan]

And here's how Blanche defends that order from Trump.

[Todd Blanche]

If you're a prosecutor in the Department of Justice, you are expected to effectuate this administration's priorities. But if you're going to work in this department, you are going to execute on the President's priorities. And that's what we do.

[Will Saletan]

Priorities, Right? The priorities were to go after Trump's enemies. And Stephanopoulos calls him on it.

[George Stephanopoulos]

You just actually made my point right there. You said it's the president's priorities. The president calls for them publicly to be prosecuted, says they're guilty as hell, and then they're prosecuted.

[Todd Blanche]

Now, that's not the president's priorities. That's a truth that he sent out. The president's priorities are executing on making America safe. Again, you're reading a small part of a truth. The truth said a lot of other things, too.

[Will Saletan]

Oh, you're just reading a small part of what Trump wrote. Okay, so let's read the whole thing. September 20, four months ago, Trump posted a message on Truth Social. He addressed it explicitly to. To the Attorney General, Pam Bondi. It says, pam, nothing is being done. What about Comey, Schiff, Leticia? They're all guilty as hell. Trump says the U.S. attorney decided, quote, we had no case, so I fired him. Trump literally says, I fired him. He says, we can't delay any longer. Justice must be served now. And Trump specifically tells Bondi to put another personal lawyer for Trump, Lindsey Halligan, in charge of getting the indictments, which is exactly what Halligan did five days after Trump wrote that message. Priorities, says Blanche. So then Stephanopoulos asks about a new report that Trump personally profited from a deal with a foreign government official.

[George Stephanopoulos]

I want to ask you about a report breaking in the Wall Street Journal overnight. I want to show the headline right now. It's the headline saying, the spy Sheik bought secret stake in Trump company. $500 million investment for 49% of World Liberty came months before UAE won access to tightly guarded American air chips. It's referring to the national security adviser, the UAE Sheikh Tanoon. And he made this investment just before President Trump was inaugurated.

[Will Saletan]

And here's how Blanche defended the deal.

[Todd Blanche]

There's nothing unprecedented about. About a. About the Trump Organization going out and trying to make investments that basically all will come back to the American people and jobs in this country.

[Will Saletan]

Wait a minute. The investments will all come back to the American people? According to Blanche, this is money that went directly to Trump and his family. It's their company. And the deputy attorney general has the gall to sit there and tell ordinary Americans that money paid to the Trump family by a foreign government official is okay, because any money that goes to Trump benefits America. That is absolute bullshit, and it is absolutely corrupt. Two more topics. First, Don Lemon. So you probably heard Lemon, a former CNN anchor, got arrested for following anti ICE protesters into a church and interviewing people during the protest inside the church. Now, personally, I don't like anybody going into a church to protest. But the Trump administration went way beyond that. They accused Lemon of participating in the protest, and they arrested him. So here's the question from Stephanopoulos.

[George Stephanopoulos]

The chief Federal District Judge Patrick Schiltz wrote that there was no evidence that Mr. Lemon engaged in any criminal behavior or conspired to do so. So when do you believe that Mr. Lemon crossed the line from reporting on what was going on to criminal activity?

[Will Saletan]

And here's how Blanche responded about Lemon.

[Todd Blanche]

He can raise defenses in court to the extent he wants to, but nobody in this country should feel comfortable storming into a church while it's ongoing and disrupting that church service and thinking that we're just going to stand by and let that happen, because there is a statute that does not allow that to happen. It doesn't matter if you happen to be a former CNN journalist storming.

[Will Saletan]

He's saying Lemon stormed into that church. Okay, here's the video of Lemon going in. And I'm just gonna walk in, see what's happening. Okay. Again, I don't like people going into a church for a protest, but that is not storming. And if you watch the videos from inside the church, you'll see that Blanche is just lying. And actually, Blanche got asked about the same thing on CNN today. Here is Dana Bash asking him about the administration arresting Lemon.

[Dana Bash]

Was this really about what you just described, or was it about trying to make an example out of somebody who the President has sparred with?

[Todd Blanche]

I don't even know that the president's even ever thought of Don Lemon. I don't know whether that's true or not.

[Will Saletan]

Oh, my God. You must be joking. Okay, here is Trump in 2022 calling Lemon the dumbest man on television. You can read it right there. And then here is Trump a year later, calling Lemon a loser. Okay, there's another one. And then here is Trump a week and a half ago on January 22, posting a video of a guy graphically insulting Lemon on Lemon. Is the dingleberry hanging off the ass of American journalism, okay?

[Andy]

And let me tell you, when CNN.

[Will Saletan]

Got rid of him, they didn't wipe hard enough. That was seven days. Seven days before Trump's agents arrested Lemon. And Blanche sits there and pretends that he doesn't know whether Trump ever thought about Lemon. Last topic on cnn. Blanche was asked about a new operation by Trump's FBI to dig up evidence that Trump was cheated in the 2020 election. Here is the question.

[Dana Bash]

Earlier this week, the FBI went into the elections office in Fulton County, Georgia, to seize 2020 ballots, voter rolls, scanner images. Why was the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard present at a an FBI raid?

[Todd Blanche]

First of all, it wasn't an FBI raid. It was a search warrant being executed by FBI agents.

[Will Saletan]

Oh, it wasn't a raid. It was just a search, really. Let's check out what Todd Blanche said:2 years ago when he was just Trump's lawyer, about the FBI search of Mar A Lago to recover the classified documents that Trump stole from our government. Here's the brief filed by Blanche. You can see his name here on the last page. And here's what he wrote on the first page. President Trump's motion for relief relating to the Mar A Lago raid and unlawful piercing of attorney client privilege. The word raid appears 20 times in this brief. So when the FBI goes in to get documents against Trump, it's a raid. But when the FBI goes in to get documents to help Trump with his political vendetta, it's just a search. Todd Blanche is what he's always been. When Trump committed crimes, Blanche defended him as his lawyer. And now, now that Trump is doing more crimes as president, Blanche is still lying and inventing excuses. The only difference. The only difference is that now Blanche and Trump are using our government to do their dirty work. See you next time.

[Andy]

Hi, everybody. It's Andy and James here from your next favorite podcast, no such thing as a Fish.

[James]

That's right. We do fun facts.

[Andy]

Yes, we do. James, give me a fact.

[James]

Did you know that there is an extinct bandicoot whose official scientific name is Crash Bandicoot?

[Andy]

Lovely. I didn't know that. Did you know, James, that Upper Egypt is technically below Lower Egypt?

[James]

Incredible. Absolutely amazing. I would love to hear more about that.

[Andy]

Well, all you have to do is go and listen to no such thing as a fish.

[James]

Where will I find it?

[Andy]

Oh, all over.

[James]

Okay, bye.

[Andy]

Bye.