Since replacing Bondi, Blanche has secured a new indictment of Comey - for allegedly threatening Trump’s life in an Instagram post that showed a picture of the numbers 86 and 47 spelled out in seashells.
Randall Eliason, a former federal prosecutor, described the case against Comey as a “joke”, but added that “there’s nothing funny about the abuse of power that it represents”.
He said: “This is not about prosecuting a legitimate criminal case. It’s about using the justice system to punish one of Trump’s perceived enemies.
“Even if it does not result in a conviction, such a prosecution results in tremendous emotional and financial harm. And that’s precisely the point.”
Blanche has also taken aim recently at a prominent civil rights organisation the Southern Poverty Law Centre (SPLC), long seen as a thorn in the side of right-wing groups.
The SPLC faces charges of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering over its use of donor money to pay confidential informants in hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the National Socialist Party of America.
At his first press conference after taking over from Bondi, Blanche defended investigations of individuals or groups Trump viewed as opponents.
He said: “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.”
Blanche dismissed allegations the Department of Justice was being “weaponised” against Trump’s enemies, and alleged that there was “weaponisation” of the department by the Biden administration “the likes of which had never been seen in history”.
Blanche was a member of Trump’s defence team in his New York “hush money” trial and the two prosecutions brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith - for allegedly mishandling classified documents and seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The two federal cases were dropped after Trump won the 2024 White House race.
McQuade said the “very aggressive moves” by Blanche “give at least the appearance that he is auditioning for the job of attorney general by trying to do and say things that are likely to please President Trump”.
Blanche can remain attorney general in an acting capacity for 210 days before he will need to obtain confirmation from the Senate.
In addition to encouraging cases against his perceived political opponents, Trump has also purged government officials he deems disloyal, targeted law firms involved in past cases against him and pulled federal funding from universities.
Former Democratic president Barack Obama recently spoke out against the moves while declining to mention Trump by name, saying: “The White House shouldn’t be able to direct the attorney general to go around prosecuting whoever the President wants to prosecute.
“The norm is, the idea is, that the attorney general is the people’s lawyer. It’s not the President’s consigliere.”
- AFP
