U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche defended Jeanine Pirro for dismissing a federal vandalism case in a decision that angered President Donald Trump, saying the top prosecutor in Washington, D.C., should be judged fairly.
Blanche, a former personal lawyer for Trump who was sworn in as head of the Justice Department last week, sided with Pirro after she decided not to prosecute a former Olympian who was initially charged with vandalizing the Reflecting’s lining pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
He said Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., was prosecuting other cases of alleged vandalism — and claimed Trump was supporting them, too.
“I absolutely support U.S. Attorney Pirro, as does President Trump,” Blanche said on NBC Meet the press. “That’s different than whether the president is extremely frustrated with what happened in this case. And I can’t blame him for that in any way.”
Trump had previously lashed out at Pirro, a longtime ally of the president, after her office said in a lawsuit that “botched” construction work was primarily responsible for the damage to the pool’s coating.
Trump has repeatedly blamed vandals for the damage without providing evidence.
Asked whether he would promise that the Justice Department would always act independently of the White House, Blanche said, “No, I can’t promise that,” arguing he couldn’t commit to opposing the policy goals set by the president. Instead, Blanche said, he and federal prosecutors would “act with integrity.”
“We will prosecute without fear or any favor,” he told NBC. Traditionally, the Justice Department decides which cases to prosecute without interference from the White House.
Read more: Trump says he is undecided about keeping Pirro as Washington’s top prosecutor
Blanche sought to draw attention to other cases of alleged vandalism of national monuments in the capital, saying that Pirro was “doing a phenomenal job enforcing this.”
“And I think it’s not fair to judge them based on a single case based on the evidence that we had,” Blanche told NBC.
While Blanche did not cite specific incidents, Pirro’s office last week charged a Kentucky woman with vandalism for spray-painting the World War II memorial on the National Mall with graffiti.
Blanche said he would take Trump’s opinion into account if the president pushes for a reopening of the Reflecting Pool case.
“Will I take into account the President of the United States’ opinion on anything? Yes, of course,” he said. Still, “the president doesn’t expect any of his leaders, including me, to simply say ‘yes’ to him, no matter what he says.” he added.