Andrew Weissmann, a former Justice Department official and current MS NOW legal analyst, called out Attorney General Todd Blanche for what he described as blatant hypocrisy on judicial and legal ethics.

“What is going on in the attack on the judiciary needs to be viewed for what it is: an attack on the rule of law and the First Amendment,” Weissmann said in an online video.

Blanche announced Wednesday that the Justice Department had filed a judicial misconduct complaint with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals against seven federal judges in Minnesota after they spoke with a reporter about President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. One of the judges said the administration’s refusal to comply with court orders “created a grave threat to the rule of law.”

“Seven federal judges in the District of Minnesota talked to the New York Times about cases, some of which are on-going, in a manner that the Department of Justice views as a clear violation of their ethical duties,” Blanche said in a statement. “Their conduct has undermined public confidence in an impartial judiciary in Minnesota.”

Weissmann said the attorney general was hardly in a position to accuse anyone of ethical violations, referring to his repeated participation at campaign events and his speech at the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention in Texas last month.

“From Todd Blanche — are you kidding me?” Weissman said. “This is somebody who has made overt political speeches, whether at the so-called Republican convention or for Republican candidates, and then claims, ‘Oh no, no, no! I was putting on my personal hat.’”

“As if the attorney general hat could ever be removed, especially when he’s talking about the Department of Justice,” he added. “So we really don’t have to take it from him.”

The former DOJ official said he didn’t think that the judges’ comments constituted an ethical violation and said even conservative figures, such as Chief Justice John Roberts, have defended the independence of the courts and criticized elected officials for disregarding court orders.

“That wasn’t improper, and nothing about this seems improper to me either,” he said.

Weissmann said that “in this day and age, with this administration,” it’s “necessary” for people to speak up about “illegal, improper or unethical conduct,” and he said that Blanche’s “attack on the judiciary needs to be viewed for what it is: an attack on the rule of law and the First Amendment.”

You can watch Weissmann’s full analysis in the clip above.

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