Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel participate in a press conference to announce new Trump administration actions against the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 5, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
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Legal analysts on MeidasTouch's "Legal AF" podcast were gobsmacked this week by what they called a "bombshell" New York Times report.
They said the report caught President Donald Trump's "forked-tongue" Justice Department in the act just days after new Attorney General Todd Blanche declined to pledge that the department would operate independently of the White House.
Asked whether the DOJ would always act independently of the White House, Blanche wouldn't commit.
"No, I'm not going to pledge that," he said.
Days later, the Times reported that the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago has been investigating a Democratic firm tied to the daughter of Justice Juan Merchan, the judge who presided over Trump's conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the Stormy Daniels hush-money case. Prosecutors issued subpoenas probing Authentic Campaigns, partly owned by Lauren Merchan, and its dealings with prominent Democrats, including Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Gov. Kathy Hochul, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and the DNC.
The panel noted the bias claim isn't new — and was already rejected by New York's judicial ethics commission and appellate courts, which upheld Merchan as impartial.
"Right on cue," legal analyst Michael Popok said, calling the Justice Department's denial "double talk" and "forked-tongued" as it's "going after Donald Trump's political enemies after Todd Blanche has told the world he doesn't do that."
"It's obvious that you do do that," he railed.
Fellow legal analyst Adam Klasfeld called it harassment of the judge's family, while analyst Dina Doll warned that "nobody who has stood up to him is safe."
Analysts flagged that the probe is led by Chicago U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros, whose office is already roiled by the "Broadview Six" grand-jury misconduct allegations and had probed Reid Hoffman's litigation financing for E. Jean Carroll. They warned Blanche and Boutros could face professional fallout, noting attorneys like Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman faced disbarment after Trump's first term.
