Former President Barack Obama sharply criticized the Trump administration this week over what he described as growing political influence inside the United States Department of Justice, prompting an aggressive response from Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defending both the administration’s prosecutions and President Donald Trump’s authority over the executive branch.
The escalating public dispute comes as the Justice Department faces mounting scrutiny over a series of criminal investigations and indictments involving several longtime Trump critics and political adversaries, including former FBI Director James Comey.
“The White House shouldn’t be able to direct the attorney general to go around prosecuting whoever,” Obama said during the interview. “The idea is that the attorney general is the people’s lawyer. It’s not the president’s consigliere.”
Obama raised the issue during an interview with Stephen Colbert on CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that aired Monday night
Obama suggested the principle of DOJ independence may ultimately need to be codified into law by Congress, arguing that the justice system risks becoming politicized if presidents are perceived as directly targeting political opponents through federal prosecutions.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson accused Obama of hypocrisy, arguing that his administration played a central role in the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation.
“Barack Hussein Obama is the king of weaponization,” Jackson said in a statement, referencing declassified documents related to the FBI’s Russia probe.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the FBI raid of the office of longtime Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas on Wednesday is part of an “ongoing” criminal probe.
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 7, 2026
“This was a law enforcement operation during the course of a criminal investigation,” Blanche told CBS News’… pic.twitter.com/N6CBMZRp41
The comments immediately triggered pushback from the Trump administration
Blanche forcefully rejected accusations that the DOJ is engaged in political retaliation and defended the president’s constitutional authority over the executive branch.
Blanche emphasized that the attorney general serves within the executive branch and argued that presidents are fully entitled to direct priorities involving law enforcement, immigration, drugs, and national security.
“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.”
But the administration’s most extensive response came Wednesday from Blanche during an interview with CBS News in Phoenix
“We are absolutely doing nothing but what we should be doing at the Department of Justice,” Blanche said. “I wake up with a very clean conscience every morning.”
The public clash comes amid multiple high-profile investigations involving Trump adversaries.
Prosecutors argue “86” is commonly understood slang meaning “to eliminate” or “get rid of.”
“Article Two says, ‘the executive power shall be vested in the President of the United States of America,’” Blanche said while holding a pocket copy of the Constitution during the interview. “It does not say that the Attorney General stands off to the side.”
Blanche defended the case, arguing threats against the president must be treated seriously given recent assassination attempts and escalating political extremism.
Last year, Trump publicly urged then-Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue prosecutions against Comey, James, and Sen. Adam Schiff, writing on social media that “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED.”
“But rest assured,” Blanche said, “he has much better, bigger and important things to do than to worry about me doing my job.”
The acting attorney general also dismissed accusations that the DOJ is pursuing politically motivated cases against Trump critics
Blanche also turned Democrats’ criticism back against them by pointing to the multiple criminal prosecutions Trump himself faced before returning to office, including cases brought by state prosecutors in New York and Georgia as well as federal investigations overseen by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Let’s go,” Blanche said. “But if you’re sitting in a glass house, you ought not throw stones.”
