On Sunday, Attorney General Todd Blanche walked into CNN, sort of a media lion's den for Republicans. He appeared on CNN's State of the Union, with host Dana Bash, wherein he agreed that, yes, there could be some investigations by the Attorney General's office into statements made by certain Democrats, most notably those in the House Oversight committee.
Attorney General Todd Blanche says "there could be" investigations after Trump orders the Justice Department to "look into" Democratic lawmakers conducting oversight into the Trump Administration. https://t.co/bHjM96njdm
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) November 8, 2026
Here's that conversation:
Dana Bash: President Trump said -- quote -- "I am ordering the Department of Justice to look into this criminal act" -- end quote. Are you going to follow that order and investigate Democratic members of Congress? And what is the criminal act you think he's referring to?
Todd Blanche, U.S. Attorney General: Well, what we have seen over the past several days and even over the past several weeks are outright threats, many -- many by elected members of Congress and some senators against anybody that's conservative and anybody that happens to be a Republican. They have threatened donors. They have threatened individuals who are in college and might want to work for conservative institutions or for a conservative government or for President Trump. And that is extremely troubling, and it should be troubling to everybody in this country. And over the last several days, we have seen the rhetoric even rise up, to the point where they're already -- before they're even in power, they're already talking about investigations and impeachments, with no basis, no facts, just out there running around. That should be something that President Trump is very concerned about, and certainly I am as well.
AG Blanche is right; we should be concerned, and not just by the rhetoric coming out of some of the more hysterical members of the incoming 120th Congress. The Left in general has become unhinged, and it's not new to Trump; those of us who were around 20 years ago remember that there was such a thing as Bush Derangement Syndrome, too, although it's a fair argument that the rhetoric now is more aggressive than even then.
Bash: Yes, well, they are they are talking about investigation as part of their oversight role that is prescribed by the Constitution, which you know is very well laid out. Is that what you're concerned about?
Blanche: Wait. Hold on a second. Sorry.
Bash: Or you're concerned about something else?
Blanche: Wait, wait, wait, wait. No, no, no, no, no. They have a very unique role in oversight. I agree. Have you been listening to the rhetoric the past couple days? You honestly think that all they're doing is talking about their oversight obligations when they're talking about going after basically every member of the Cabinet, they're talking about impeachments, they're talking about going after companies, private companies who happen to have made investments in this country over the past couple of years? That is not oversight. I welcome oversight. Oversight is exactly something they should be doing.
This, again, isn't anything that new, although the prevalence of it certainly is. And, we might note, that "investigation" isn't the same as "prosecution," a fact which seems to evade Democrats who are all spun up about the AG's remarks.
Bash: So are you saying that you are going to investigate them? And what you just described, is there a crime there?
Blanche: Well, what I just -- it depends on what's said. So, yes, there could be. You have free speech in this country. You are you are allowed to be critical of President Trump, of me, of this administration. But when the threats become so vile and so dangerous that you are telling people in college that they better be careful if they want to work in the Trump administration because somebody will come after them, at some point, you have to draw the line. And I'm not saying that -- necessarily that every case is going to be prosecuted, but we have a real problem at this -- in this country if a young person in college is getting threatened by a United States senator that, if they go to work for President Trump, they're going to be subjected to investigations and lawyers.
You have an incoming chairman threatening without -- they're not even in charge yet -- saying "Lawyer up" to anybody in particular. So, if that doesn't bother you, if that doesn't bother your viewers, then we really need to kind of wake up in this country, because it certainly bothers me.
It should bother everyone.
The problem is, it doesn't. This is what the hardcore Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and hard-left Democrat base want. They aren't worried about gas prices or people's grocery bills, except when they can use it as a talking point. And AG Blanche is correct: When a member of the United States Senate, speaking in an on-record statement, advocates for using the full force of government to intimidate young people who are thinking of working for an administration or an organization that represents their sincerely held beliefs — no matter which side of the aisle either party in this issue is on — that's a very real problem that should worry us all.
And yes, if a Republican senator made that exact comment about young leftists looking to join a Democrat administration or work for a Democrat think tank, that would be just as troublesome. That's how principles work. But the left is not worried about that; for them, it's principals, not principles.
And so, the overstepping continues. 2027 is going to be an interesting year indeed.