Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, who is expected to soon lead the House Oversight Committee, has made no effort to hide his ambitious investigative agenda in the upcoming Congress. On the contrary, the Californian spent much of last week encouraging leading Trump administration officials, including new White House chief of staff Stephen Miller, to “lawyer up.”

Attorney General Todd Blanche apparently heard about Garcia’s comments, and he was not pleased.

“Well, I’ll tell you what, Stephen Miller has a lawyer,” he said on Fox News during a Friday night appearance. “It’s me.”

Blanche, who ostensibly leads the Justice Department, echoed the point two days later in another Fox News appearance, questioning whether the United States “can survive” the congressional oversight efforts that have not happened yet.

The attorney general added, “If you work in this administration, you have a lawyer. It’s me, and we will defend you. We will work hard.”

The same morning, CNN’s Dana Bash also interviewed Blanche and asked whether he believes it’s his job to represent officials facing congressional investigations.

“Wait, do I see it as my job?” he replied. “The Constitution sees it as my job.”

The attorney general quickly added that he would also intend to defend Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the event of his impeachment.

None of this made any sense. The Constitution, which Blanche has sworn to protect and defend, does not reference the office of the attorney general, so the idea that it requires him to defend administration officials facing congressional investigations is foolish. What’s more, every executive branch official who has ever been impeached has relied on defense attorneys, not federal prosecutors.

Blanche, in other words, sounded very much like a partisan who doesn’t understand what his job is — because, by appearances, he doesn’t.

His rhetoric came as the attorney general brushed off corruption allegations raised by Calley Means, a former official at the Department of Homeland Security, and lending credence to the idea that Democratic congressional leaders who conduct oversight investigations could be criminally prosecuted.

As Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney for Michigan who is now an MS NOW legal analyst, summarized via Bluesky, “The Attorney General represents in the United States of America. Not individual cabinet officials. Not the president. This refusal to do his job is grounds for his own impeachment.”

McQuade’s reference to possibly impeaching Blanche was of particular interest, because this has become the subject of growing discussion of late. MS NOW reported last week:

Rep. Jamie Raskin, who is poised to become chair of the House Judiciary Committee, told MS NOW that President Donald Trump’s attorney general, Todd Blanche, could face impeachment hearings when Democrats take back the gavel in January. The Maryland Democrat said that under Blanche’s leadership, the Department of Justice has become a “Department of Injustice.” […]

With Democrats set to take control of the House, Raskin vowed to investigate Blanche, who previously served as one of the president’s personal attorneys, and his conduct. The House Judiciary Committee is typically the panel responsible for investigating and drafting formal articles of impeachment.

On Thursday, two other House Democrats — Reps. Hank Johnson of Georgia and Deborah Ross of North Carolina — also voiced their support for impeaching Blanche.

“I can’t imagine we won’t have one,” Ross said, referring to a possible impeachment resolution against the attorney general.

A couple of days before Election Day, The New York Times’ David French wrote a compelling column calling for Blanche’s impeachment, arguing, “His ‘high crime’ is corrupting the Department of Justice, and only a decisive act of political hygiene can cleanse the D.O.J. of MAGA’s terrible stain.”

No one should be surprised if the column is circulated widely on Capitol Hill in the coming months.

The post Todd Blanche keeps making things easier for those who want to impeach him appeared first on MS NOW.

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