Todd Blanche squirms at chance to contradict Trump

**Brian Tyler Cohen** (0:01)
Todd Blanche squirms when confronted with Trump lashing out at Jeanine Pirro for not continuing to prosecute an innocent man over his Reflecting Pool lies. And I interviewed Norm Eisen about representing that very Olympian, David Hearn, after the DOJ dropped the charges. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen, and you're listening to No Lie.
So I'm gonna play just a couple of clips that pretty well summarize what Todd Blanche's latest press conference sounded like.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:26)
The president has publicly criticized US. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for her decision to drop the Reflecting Pool case. Do you agree with the move to dismiss the charges against David Hearn?

**Todd Blanche** (0:37)
So I, look, I think that US. Attorney Pirro, over the past year and a half, year and a half that she's been there, year plus, has led an unprecedented effort to literally make over, just turn this city on its head to be a safe place for all of us to live and eat.
And so I've watched the communication that President Trump, who has every right to be extraordinarily frustrated with damage done to our national monuments and in this city and elsewhere. But Judge Pirro is doing a great job and in our city, Washington DC is a lot safer in no small part to her effort and the prosecutor's efforts that she works with.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:23)
What message does it send, though, if President Trump fires a US Attorney because she determined there was not sufficient evidence to charge four people with a crime?

**Todd Blanche** (1:33)
Did he fire her?

**SPEAKER_4** (1:34)
What message would it send, I said, if he were a...

**Todd Blanche** (1:36)
Hypothetically, if the President chose to fire a United States Attorney, it turns out he's allowed to do that. Because he's the President of the United States.

**Brian Tyler Cohen** (1:43)
So that was Todd Blanche flailing when asked what should be some pretty easy questions if you are, oh, I don't know, the nation's top law enforcement official, contending with whether or not an innocent man should still be prosecuted even after it's become clear that he's innocent. And yet, still, Todd Blanche, as you've heard, couldn't bring himself to simply say that he agrees with the decision to dismiss the charges because none of this is about what's right. It's about what Trump wants to hear. This is all the proof you need that Todd Blanche is not in his position because he'll abide by the law.
He is there because he's Trump's puppet. Not that we didn't already have fair warning.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:18)
Are you and President Trump friends?

**Todd Blanche** (2:21)
I'm his lawyer. Was his lawyer.

**Brian Tyler Cohen** (2:24)
So, I guess there were clues.
But I think the most remarkable part of these exchanges is Blanche being asked for his opinion on the hypothetical and possible scenario where Jeanine Pirro is fired for dropping these charges. Blanche offers only Trump is allowed to do it. That's what he said. And look, there is a difference between what someone could do and what they should do. The question was not, does Trump have the legal right to fire a US attorney? The question was, what message does it send if Trump fires a US attorney because she determined there was not sufficient evidence to charge four people with a crime?
And if the top law enforcement official in the country cannot acknowledge that it is wrong for a president to fire a prosecutor for not prosecuting an innocent man, innocent by the Department of Interior's own standards, then that person doesn't have the character for that job, period. Todd Blanche is as corrupt as Donald Trump, which I understand is precisely why he's in that position, but it doesn't make it any less disqualifying. I mean, just think about what we're saying here. This isn't some abstract concept. This is the president of the United States trying to destroy an actual man's life. This is a former US. Olympian because Trump wanted to make a point. Forget being devoid of any shred of empathy. This is sociopathic behavior to try and prosecute this guy, to lock him up for something that you know he's not guilty of. And perhaps now everybody understands how Trump operates. He doesn't care who he has to destroy so long as his ego is protected. He did the same thing with with Kilmar Abrego-Garcia. His own government conceded that Garcia's deportation was a mistake, but Trump didn't care because he needed to make an example out of him. He had to protect his ego. And now he's doing the same thing with David Hearn. Like he wants to be right. And so he would rather prosecute an innocent man than dare admit he was wrong. And Todd Blanche, again, the nation's top law enforcement official, can't bring himself to say that that is wrong.