Pete Hegseth may not have the impeachment club to himself for long. On Monday’s episode of The Daily Show, MS NOW host Rachel Maddow told Jon Stewart what the incoming Democratic House should do to show it’s moving with urgency, and Attorney General Todd Blanche made the list right next to the Defense Secretary:
“I think they can impeach not only Pete Hegseth, but [Attorney General] Todd Blanche at the Department of Justice,” she said. “And I think that’s important, not just to shame those guys, but in some cases it’s essentially to stop a crime wave in progress. Just let them know they can’t get away with this stuff anymore and impeach them.”
A crime wave in progress, run out of Main Justice. Not a phrase you usually hear applied to the nation’s top law enforcement officer, but here we are.
And it wasn’t a one-off. The night before, onstage with Chris Hayes at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium, Maddow was just as direct: “I mean, Todd Blanche should be impeached.” She added that she was saying so “not as a news anchor, but as the author of a new book about the Department of Justice.” That book, Department of Fate: The Promise, the Power, and the Collapse of America’s Most Consequential Institution, proposes a handful of reforms, including barring a president’s former personal lawyers and campaign workers from serving at the DOJ. A rule that would have disqualified exactly one sitting attorney general, the man who left a Cadwalader partnership to become Trump’s personal criminal defense attorney and then introduced himself as Trump’s lawyer at his own confirmation hearing.
Cable hosts call for impeachments all the time, of course it’s how they keep people glued to their screens. But last Tuesday changed the math. Democrats will control the House in January, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, the incoming chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has already said Blanche “could possibly face impeachment hearings.” Rep. Thomas Massie is expected to force a vote on Hegseth, which would make him only the third Cabinet secretary ever impeached. No attorney general has ever made the list. (Conviction in the Senate is another story entirely.)
Maddow called specific attention to Blanche’s handling of the Ghislaine Maxwell case, and it’s not hard to see why. Back when he was Deputy Attorney General, Blanche flew to prison to personally interview Jeffrey Epstein’s convicted accomplice, who obligingly told him Trump had always been a perfect gentleman. About a week later, Maxwell was moved to a minimum-security camp in Texas, despite a Bureau of Prisons policy that ordinarily bars that kind of placement for people convicted of sex offenses. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse has been asking for the paperwork since July 2025 and has received exactly nothing. How Maxwell “got moved to Puppyville,” as Maddow put it (she has reportedly had access to a puppy), is “kind of impeachment-level stuff” all on its own.
Before he was even AG, Deputy Blanche told a room full of white-collar lawyers that the DOJ would “notice” when they criticized the administration. As acting AG, he spent two months auditioning for the permanent job by declaring the president’s “right” to direct criminal investigations of his enemies, while trying to keep state bars from policing DOJ lawyers as he himself faced a New York bar complaint. He personally created a $1.8 billion slush fund to settle Trump’s lawsuit against Trump’s own IRS, then refused to put his promise to kill it in writing until his confirmation depended on it, a rescission that can be undone by another AG order. And in his written responses to the Judiciary Committee, he called two senators liars. It got him confirmed 50-49 at 4:17 in the morning, courtesy of Bill Cassidy’s version of the hostage argument.
None of which has made Blanche any humbler. He spent the weekend after the midterms on a full victimhood tour, floating criminal exposure for Democrats who plan to use their oversight power, telling Laura Ingraham “Stephen Miller has a lawyer. It’s me,” and vowing to represent Hegseth at his likely impeachment.
Blanche spent the weekend promising to be everyone’s lawyer, and it may not have occurred to him yet that the next client could be himself.
Earlier: Todd Blanche Is The Real Victim. Just Ask Him, He’ll Tell You!
Pete Hegseth Prepares To Join Elite Club (Of The Impeached)
The Senate Confirmed Todd Blanche At 4 am. Nothing Good Happens After Midnight.
Todd Blanche Will Probably Be Confirmed Even Though Some Republican Senators Are Performatively On The Fence
The Trump Slush Fund Is Dead. Long Live The Trump Slush Fund.
Todd Blanche Loses Susan Collins’s Vote. Blame His Secret Promises To Anti-Abortion Groups.
Todd Blanche Threading The Narrowest Of Needles For Confirmation
Todd Blanche’s Confirmation Vote Gets Postponed Because He Just Won’t Put His Promises In Writing
Todd Blanche’s Confirmation Is Being Held Up By Todd Blanche
Todd Blanche’s Confirmation Strategy: Call Two Senate Judiciary Committee Members Liars
A Former DOJ Lawyer Testified Against Todd Blanche. Then The Death Threats Started.
Paging Dr. Freud: Todd Blanche Calls Himself Trump’s Lawyer At His Attorney General Confirmation Hearing
Senator Whitehouse Is Still Waiting For Todd Blanche To Explain The Ghislaine Maxwell Prison Transfer
Todd Blanche Got The Attorney General Nomination. Getting Confirmed Is Another Matter.
Todd Blanche Is Your New Attorney General. Probably.
Washington’s Most Exclusive Club To Todd Blanche: You’re Not Our Kind, Dear
Todd Blanche To White-Collar Lawyers: Criticize Trump Administration And We’ll ‘Notice’
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
The post Todd Blanche Volunteered To Be Pete Hegseth’s Impeachment Lawyer — Rachel Maddow Has A Better Idea appeared first on Above the Law.
Pete Hegseth may not have the impeachment club to himself for long. On Monday’s episode of The Daily Show, MS NOW host Rachel Maddow told Jon Stewart what the incoming Democratic House should do to show it’s moving with urgency, and Attorney General Todd Blanche made the list right next to the Defense Secretary:
“I think they can impeach not only Pete Hegseth, but [Attorney General] Todd Blanche at the Department of Justice,” she said. “And I think that’s important, not just to shame those guys, but in some cases it’s essentially to stop a crime wave in progress. Just let them know they can’t get away with this stuff anymore and impeach them.”
A crime wave in progress, run out of Main Justice. Not a phrase you usually hear applied to the nation’s top law enforcement officer, but here we are.
And it wasn’t a one-off. The night before, onstage with Chris Hayes at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium, Maddow was just as direct: “I mean, Todd Blanche should be impeached.” She added that she was saying so “not as a news anchor, but as the author of a new book about the Department of Justice.” That book, Department of Fate: The Promise, the Power, and the Collapse of America’s Most Consequential Institution, proposes a handful of reforms, including barring a president’s former personal lawyers and campaign workers from serving at the DOJ. A rule that would have disqualified exactly one sitting attorney general, the man who left a Cadwalader partnership to become Trump’s personal criminal defense attorney and then introduced himself as Trump’s lawyer at his own confirmation hearing.
Cable hosts call for impeachments all the time, of course it’s how they keep people glued to their screens. But last Tuesday changed the math. Democrats will control the House in January, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, the incoming chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has already said Blanche “could possibly face impeachment hearings.” Rep. Thomas Massie is expected to force a vote on Hegseth, which would make him only the third Cabinet secretary ever impeached. No attorney general has ever made the list. (Conviction in the Senate is another story entirely.)
Maddow called specific attention to Blanche’s handling of the Ghislaine Maxwell case, and it’s not hard to see why. Back when he was Deputy Attorney General, Blanche flew to prison to personally interview Jeffrey Epstein’s convicted accomplice, who obligingly told him Trump had always been a perfect gentleman. About a week later, Maxwell was moved to a minimum-security camp in Texas, despite a Bureau of Prisons policy that ordinarily bars that kind of placement for people convicted of sex offenses. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse has been asking for the paperwork since July 2025 and has received exactly nothing. How Maxwell “got moved to Puppyville,” as Maddow put it (she has reportedly had access to a puppy), is “kind of impeachment-level stuff” all on its own.
Before he was even AG, Deputy Blanche told a room full of white-collar lawyers that the DOJ would “notice” when they criticized the administration. As acting AG, he spent two months auditioning for the permanent job by declaring the president’s “right” to direct criminal investigations of his enemies, while trying to keep state bars from policing DOJ lawyers as he himself faced a New York bar complaint. He personally created a $1.8 billion slush fund to settle Trump’s lawsuit against Trump’s own IRS, then refused to put his promise to kill it in writing until his confirmation depended on it, a rescission that can be undone by another AG order. And in his written responses to the Judiciary Committee, he called two senators liars. It got him confirmed 50-49 at 4:17 in the morning, courtesy of Bill Cassidy’s version of the hostage argument.
None of which has made Blanche any humbler. He spent the weekend after the midterms on a full victimhood tour, floating criminal exposure for Democrats who plan to use their oversight power, telling Laura Ingraham “Stephen Miller has a lawyer. It’s me,” and vowing to represent Hegseth at his likely impeachment.
Blanche spent the weekend promising to be everyone’s lawyer, and it may not have occurred to him yet that the next client could be himself.
Earlier: Todd Blanche Is The Real Victim. Just Ask Him, He’ll Tell You!
Pete Hegseth Prepares To Join Elite Club (Of The Impeached)
The Senate Confirmed Todd Blanche At 4 am. Nothing Good Happens After Midnight.
Todd Blanche Will Probably Be Confirmed Even Though Some Republican Senators Are Performatively On The Fence
The Trump Slush Fund Is Dead. Long Live The Trump Slush Fund.
Todd Blanche Loses Susan Collins’s Vote. Blame His Secret Promises To Anti-Abortion Groups.
Todd Blanche Threading The Narrowest Of Needles For Confirmation
Todd Blanche’s Confirmation Vote Gets Postponed Because He Just Won’t Put His Promises In Writing
Todd Blanche’s Confirmation Is Being Held Up By Todd Blanche
Todd Blanche’s Confirmation Strategy: Call Two Senate Judiciary Committee Members Liars
A Former DOJ Lawyer Testified Against Todd Blanche. Then The Death Threats Started.
Paging Dr. Freud: Todd Blanche Calls Himself Trump’s Lawyer At His Attorney General Confirmation Hearing
Senator Whitehouse Is Still Waiting For Todd Blanche To Explain The Ghislaine Maxwell Prison Transfer
Todd Blanche Got The Attorney General Nomination. Getting Confirmed Is Another Matter.
Todd Blanche Is Your New Attorney General. Probably.
Washington’s Most Exclusive Club To Todd Blanche: You’re Not Our Kind, Dear
Todd Blanche To White-Collar Lawyers: Criticize Trump Administration And We’ll ‘Notice’
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
