Todd Blanche has been Attorney General for less than a month and he’s already making history, just not the kind that gets you a good entry in the DOJ’s institutional memory. On Wednesday night, Blanche appeared and spoke at the Republican National Midterm Convention in Dallas, becoming the first sitting Attorney General in American history to address a political party convention.
Eric Holder, who served as AG under Barack Obama and who has not been shy about this administration, had some thoughts. “Attorneys general don’t talk about political things,” Holder told NewsNation’s Joe Khalil. “He shouldn’t be there.” He called the appearance “unprecedented” and “disgraceful.”
House Democrats on the Judiciary panel were equally pointed:
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In our history, no sitting U.S. Attorney General, Democrat or Republican, has ever appeared to speak at a political party convention. Until now. Tomorrow Todd Blanche will appear and speak at the national Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas where the party’s working desperately to mobilize a demoralized MAGA to go vote for a party which has no plans for America. In other words, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer will be violating federal law on national TV in front of the entire country. It’s dumbfounding and unprecedented. Amazing how far the DOJ has fallen. We’ll be watching.
The DOJ’s response, posted from its official X account, was a swipe at Jack Smith: “While Jack Smith may agree with you about violating federal law, the Hatch Act is available for everyone to read, and Todd Blanche’s appearance this evening in his personal capacity is legal (and has been approved by ethics).”
Approved by ethics! Great! Except… the DOJ’s top ethics official was fired last year. Joseph Tirrell, who served as the senior ethics attorney responsible for advising the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General directly on their ethical obligations, was terminated by Pam Bondi in July 2025. So, the ethics office that “approved” Blanche’s convention appearance is the same ethics office that was purged, and rebuilt under an administration that has fired employees for refusing to lie in court and lost 16,000 employees in the process. Pardon me if that assurance isn’t worth much.
Despite its unprecedented nature, none of this is surprising, exactly. Blanche spent months performing for an audience of one to secure the AG job, who introduced himself as Trump’s lawyer at his own confirmation hearing, and has former DOJ staff coming out of the woodwork saying he’s not upholding his oath of office. The convention speech is simply the next data point in a very consistent pattern: Blanche has hitched his wagon to Trump’s political star — at least he’s stopped pretending otherwise.
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Earlier:
The Senate Confirmed Todd Blanche At 4am. Nothing Good Happens After Midnight.
Todd Blanche Threading The Narrowest Of Needles For Confirmation
The Trump Slush Fund Is Dead. Long Live The Trump Slush Fund.
Paging Dr. Freud: Todd Blanche Calls Himself Trump’s Lawyer At His Attorney General Confirmation Hearing
Former DOJ Prosecutors To Senate: Blanche Took The Same Oath We Did. But He Didn’t Keep It.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Bluesky @Kathryn1