Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel were in Norfolk, Virginia, Thursday morning to announce federal corruption charges against Virginia Democrat state Sen. Louise Lucas – see RedState's coverage here and here – but things quickly pivoted to other high-profile matters when the two took questions from the media.
Among them were Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-05), election integrity, and that spectacularly wrong report that Patel had traveled to Moscow.
Blanche was asked about the ongoing investigation into Omar, whose Washington, D.C., home was searched by federal agents on October 12 as part of an immigration-related criminal probe. She, in turn, accused the Trump administration of politically targeting her.
“We don’t talk about searches," Blanche responded. "Searches are covert. They’re not overt. And yes, this became overt because of the circumstances around the search on Monday.”
Then he added: “The congresswoman has made multiple public comments about it. I haven’t. I said there’s a law enforcement action. That’s all I’ve said.”
Then there was topic of Moscow. Patel was asked about last week's MS NOW report claiming he'd traveled to Russia for meetings in Moscow and St. Petersburg when he was actually talking with young people at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Patel wasn't particularly charitable about the topic, saying, "As you pointed out, the reporting was entirely false. I was at Liberty University talking to students, police officers, and young Americans who had an interest in joining our law enforcement community."
MS NOW had suggested the supposedly secretive trip to Moscow had raised concerns inside the FBI, reporting that Patel had traveled to Russia for meetings with the Federal Security Service while his own bureau allegedly didn't know what he was doing there.
And just to make sure nobody missed his point, Patel added later: "It was not reporting. It was completely false reporting, is the way that it should be described."
Finally, Blanche was asked about DOJ's lawsuit against California over more than 20,000 people that the federal government says are likely noncitizens who are registered to vote and whether the legal action was intended to cast doubt on the certification of California's election results.
"Absolutely, positively not," Blanche shot back. "We're not trying to create chaos."
As RedState reported last week, the DOJ sued California after federal officials provided state election officials with a list of more than 20,000 likely noncitizens they say had been sent mail-in ballots. California declined the federal government's request to review that list and set aside ballots pending citizenship verification.
"What we're trying to do is guarantee to the American people that the only people that are voting are people that are eligible to vote," Blanche said.