Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche has refuted former President Barack Obama’s concerns that his Justice Department is targeting President Donald Trump’s critics.
“The White House shouldn’t be able to direct the attorney general to go around prosecuting whoever the president wants to prosecute,” Obama told Stephen Colbert, host of CBS’ The Late Show, in an interview that aired Tuesday night.
During Trump’s second term, the Justice Department has gone after several of the president’s perceived political enemies, most recently with the fresh indictment of former FBI Director James Comey.
Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer, told CBS News Wednesday allegations that the Justice Department is seeking retribution with its actions are “simply false.”
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“Article Two [of the U.S. Constitution] says, ‘the executive power shall be vested in the President of the United States of America.’ It does not say that the Attorney General stands off to the side,” Blanche said in response to Obama’s thinly veiled attack.
“To the extent that President Trump calls me and says that he thinks that we have a problem in this country, whether it’s the scourge of drugs, illegal immigration, every American wants him to do that, and he should,” Blanche added.
The Justice Department announced late last month that a federal grand jury in North Carolina had indicted Comey for allegedly making threats to harm Trump.
At the center of the indictment is a photo the former FBI chief posted on social media in May 2025 of seashells on the beach that read out “86 47.” The first number is a slang term for getting rid of something, and the second is a presumed reference to Trump, who is currently the 47th president of the U.S.
“Well, they’re back. This time about a picture of seashells on a North Carolina beach a year ago. And this won’t be the end of it,” Comey said in a video posted to Substack.
“But nothing has changed with me. I’m still innocent. I’m still not afraid. And I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let’s go,” he added.
Blanche insisted in his CBS News interview that Comey’s indictment was led by local prosecutors, saying, “I don’t even know their names.”
Obama, who has been a frequent critic of Trump and vice versa, warned that America “can’t overcome the politicization of our justice system.”
“You can’t have a situation in which whoever is in charge of the government starts using that to go after their political enemies or reward their friends,” the Democrat said.
