Acting AG Blanche Fires Back at Obama’s DOJ Criticism

Former President Barack Obama launched a sharp attack against President Donald Trump’s Justice Department this week, accusing the administration of eroding the traditional independence of federal law enforcement. But senior officials inside the Trump administration fired back immediately, arguing that critics on the left are suddenly outraged over executive authority they previously embraced when targeting Trump and his allies.

The escalating political clash unfolded after Obama appeared Monday night on CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where he warned against what he portrayed as increasing White House influence over the Department of Justice.

“The White House shouldn’t be able to direct the attorney general to go around prosecuting whoever,” Obama said. “The idea is that the attorney general is the people’s lawyer. It’s not the president’s consigliere.”

Obama went further by suggesting Congress may eventually need to formally codify DOJ independence into federal law, arguing that Americans could lose faith in the justice system if presidents are perceived as using prosecutions against political opponents.

The remarks triggered swift backlash from the Trump administration, with officials accusing Obama of blatant hypocrisy given the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation during his presidency.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson responded forcefully, pointing to declassified information surrounding the FBI’s Russia probe.

“Barack Hussein Obama is the king of weaponization,” Jackson said.

But the administration’s most detailed rebuttal came from Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche during a Wednesday interview with CBS News in Phoenix.

Blanche defended both the constitutional structure of the executive branch and President Trump’s authority as the current President of the United States to set law enforcement priorities.

Holding a pocket-sized Constitution during the interview, Blanche pushed back against the narrative that the Department of Justice should operate independently from presidential oversight.

“Article Two says, ‘the executive power shall be vested in the President of the United States of America,’” Blanche said. “It does not say that the Attorney General stands off to the side.”

Blanche argued that voters expect presidents to take an active role in combating major national threats, including illegal immigration, violent crime, and drug trafficking.

“To the extent that President Trump calls me and says that he thinks we have a problem in this country, whether it’s the scourge of drugs, illegal immigration, every American wants him to do that,” Blanche said. “And he should.”

The acting attorney general also flatly denied accusations that the DOJ is pursuing political revenge against Trump critics.

“We are absolutely doing nothing but what we should be doing at the Department of Justice,” Blanche stated. “I wake up with a very clean conscience every morning.”

The public confrontation comes amid several high-profile investigations involving longtime Trump opponents, including former FBI Director James Comey.

Comey was recently indicted after prosecutors alleged that a 2025 Instagram post featuring seashells arranged into the numbers “86 47” constituted a threat against President Trump, the nation’s 47th president. Prosecutors argued the phrase “86” is commonly interpreted as slang meaning “to eliminate” or “get rid of.”

Blanche defended the prosecution, arguing that threats directed toward a sitting president must be handled seriously, especially after multiple assassination attempts and growing political extremism across the country.

The controversy also revived attention surrounding President Trump’s earlier calls for accountability involving several prominent political figures, including Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Sen. Adam Schiff.

Last year, Trump publicly urged then-Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue prosecutions against those individuals, declaring on social media that “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED.”

When asked whether President Trump personally directed any prosecutions, Blanche declined to discuss private communications with the president.

“But rest assured,” Blanche said, “he has much better, bigger and important things to do than to worry about me doing my job.”

Blanche then turned the criticism directly back toward Democrats, pointing to the years of criminal investigations and prosecutions President Trump himself faced before returning to office, including federal cases overseen by Special Counsel Jack Smith as well as prosecutions in New York and Georgia.

“So I welcome criticism. Let’s go,” Blanche said. “But if you’re sitting in a glass house, you ought not throw stones.”

The exchange underscores the broader political battle now unfolding over the role of the Justice Department, executive authority, and whether the federal legal system has become increasingly politicized after years of investigations targeting President Trump and his supporters.