Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is inching closer to criminal charges, and even a Trump pardon won’t save him, according to a legal expert.
During an interview on Legal Breakdown, former prosecutor Glenn Kirschner dug into a new development with the Epstein files. The Trump Department of Justice handed over unredacted Epstein records to a judge on Thursday, and host Brian Tyler Cohen asked what kind of consequences Blanche still faces.
Kirschner told Cohen that if Blanche handed over doctored files to the judge, he could face a “criminal investigation” and “obstruction of justice” charges.
Cohen speculated, “If Trump holds true to his general ethos as it relates to law and order, he’s going to dole out pardons to everybody in his vicinity,” so “Todd Blanche probably does have a pardon waiting for him, especially if he’s acting on Trump’s behalf.”
However, Blanche still won’t be off the hook, Kirschner said, “if Donald Trump delivers a pardon to Todd Blanche and there is some sort of showing, there’s some evidence that Todd Blanche and Donald Trump were actually in a conspiracy together to cover up potentially incriminating information about Donald Trump.”
Kirschner explained that the Department of Justice under a future presidency can still challenge Blanche’s pardon in federal court, and if a judge rules against the pardon, prosecutors can press the obstruction of justice charges.
“It will be incumbent upon the next Department of Justice, again once the rule of law comes back into the light of day, to march into court proudly and challenge that corruptly delivered pardon,” Kirschner said.