A reporter on Tuesday called out acting Attorney General Todd Blanche after he potentially avoided a sensitive question at a press conference on Tuesday.
The Justice Department announced charges against hundreds of people for $6.5 billion in allegedly fraudulent health insurance claims.
As Blanche took questions, a reporter asked, “Off-topic, if I could?”
“No off-topics,” Blanche replied with a smile. “Next question. We got a lot of people here for this reason — so we got a lot of people here for this reason, and they give up their time. So, next question.”
Another reporter can be heard admonishing Blanche.
“He gets to ask his question on the topic that he chooses,” the journo said. “We’re not your spectators, sir.”
Blanche took another question without addressing the reprimand.
He was also confronted at the end of the gathering.
“Mr. Attorney General, will you take one off-topic question?” a reporter asked.
“No,” Blanche snapped back.
“Ya gotta take an off-topic question, sir,” another voice yelled out.
Ignoring the pushback, Blanche asked if there were any other questions and the conference ended.
Last week in a viral moment involving CNN’s Manu Raju, the acting AG evaded questions about California Gov. Gavin Newsom accusing the Justice Department of investigating him and his family without cause.
Raju was cut off by Sen Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and his spokesperson while Blanche sat in the lawmaker’s office ahead of his confirmation hearing in July to be the permanent AG.
Raju peppered Blanche with similar questions about Newsom in a hallway and Blanche stayed silent.
Blanche, the former deputy attorney general under Pam Bondi, may face tough questions in his confirmation hearing about what many see as the DOJ’s revenge-driven prosecutions of of New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey. Trump has been on the warpath against perceived political enemies in his second term, reports say.
Blanche “is in the tank for Trump,” an opinion contributor for The Hill wrote in a scathing essay.
