Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appeared to inadvertently contradict President Donald Trump during a "cutesy" moment of his Sunday morning interview on NBC News.
During the segment, Blanche was asked about the Department of Justice's indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. He claimed that the previous attempt to indict Comey, led by former U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, was dismissed only because of a "technicality" and was not a statement by the court about the substance of the charges against Comey.
Those comments caught the attention of Will Saletan, a writer for the right-of-center outlet The Bulwark, who noted on a recent episode of the "Bulwark Takes" podcast that the same logic applies to Trump's classified documents case. He described Blanche's comments as "cutesy," yet revealing.
"Isn't that what happened to Donald Trump?" Saletan said. "On the evidence, he was never exonerated. It was that Judge [Aileen] Cannon chucked the case based on the appointment of the prosecutor."
Cannon dismissed the classified documents case against Trump in 2024, arguing that former special counsel Jack Smith had been illegally appointed.
Saletan noted that Blanche's argument on Sunday seemed to suggest that Cannon's ruling did not exonerate Trump, contrary to the president's consistent claim.
"So, Todd Blanche is essentially admitting that Trump himself was never exonerated on the evidence," Saletan said.