Blanche amps up claims he may prosecute Democrats for speech

Attorney General Todd Blanche once again threatened to prosecute newly elected Democrats for speech promising accountability for President Donald Trump and his cabinet. 

For the third time in two days, Blanche warned about comments from Democrats, indicating it was his job as the chief law enforcement official to stop them from escalating to crimes.

“We cannot let the rhetoric turn from just honest debate to actual criminal conduct,” Blanche said on Fox News Tuesday morning.

The First Amendment broadly protects political speech.

Blanche over the weekend said he would investigate Democrats the president had referred to as “extortionists,” without indicating any particular crime they might have committed.

Many Democrats campaigned on rooting out government corruption, with promises to hold the Trump administration accountable. Following a big blue sweep in the midterms, Democrats quickly announced probes into top officials, including Blanche himself.

“There’s been so much vile rhetoric coming out of the incoming congressmen and senators, and also from organizations that are outside,” Blanche said. “And you can disagree with this administration, you can want to legislate your way with new policies, but you cannot threaten.”

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth currently faces bipartisan-backed impeachment articles, introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). Hegseth on Tuesday characterized claims that the military intentionally targeted civilians as “slander.”

Trump and Blanche have taken particular issue with Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s (D-Mich.) comments at a university event last month when she told students they should reconsider any plans they may have to work for the administration. 

Trump called the comments a “criminal act,” and Blanche made the Michigan senator a focus of his weekend comments. A letter from Slotkin’s attorney to Blanche, published Monday, pushed back fiercely.

“To state the obvious, Senator Slotkin’s statement is entirely lawful. The First Amendment protects the right of every American to voice their disapproval of President Trump’s many illegal actions,” Preet Bharara wrote.

“It should not be hard to make clear that we do not live in an authoritarian regime where mere criticism of the powerful can land anyone in legal peril and possibly prison,” Bharara added.

It’s not the first time the Department of Justice (DOJ) has sought to prosecute speech the president did not like.

The DOJ last year tried to indict Slotkin and five other Democratic lawmakers for sedition after they made a video telling members of the U.S. military they could refuse to carry out illegal orders. The attempted prosecution failed to secure an indictment from a grand jury.