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    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/09\/17\/us\/politics\/todd-blanche-doj-midterm-elections.html?emc=edit_nn_20260918&nl=the-morning&segment_id=226681",
    "parsed_content": "Primary Season TakeawaysVoting by MailLatest PollsCompetitive RacesSeat PickupsAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTNews AnalysisBlanche\u2019s Political Campaigning Breaks an Ethical Norm Going Back to WatergateThe attorney general\u2019s campaign politicking for Republicans adds to the degradation of post-Watergate values at the Justice Department.Listen \u00b7 8:48 min Share full articleAttorney General Todd Blanche speaking last week on the first day of the Republican midterm convention.Credit...Ruth Fremson\/The New York TimesBy Charlie SavageReporting from WashingtonSept. 17, 2026See more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra m\u00e1s de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de b\u00fasqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google Attorney General Todd Blanche has repeatedly participated in campaign events and spoken in partisan terms about the coming midterm elections since his confirmation last month, despite criticism that he violated a longstanding Justice Department principle of steering clear of electoral politics.This week he waded again into those waters \u2014 twice.Since August, Mr. Blanche has come under fire for making campaign-tinged public appearances and comments. Last month, at a rally-style event on Long Island, he praised Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate for governor of New York. Last week, Mr. Blanche delivered remarks at the Republican Party\u2019s midterm convention.On Tuesday, he stood at the White House podium and disparaged Democratic lawmakers while invoking the coming election, dismissing their concerns about artificial intelligence as \u201cnothing but an effort to influence the midterms.\u201dAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTAnd on Wednesday, Mr. Blanche spoke at a campaign rally for Michael Whatley, the Republican Senate candidate in North Carolina. Echoing his convention speech, he portrayed crime rates, which continued a long-term downward trend to reach new lows in 2025, as \u201cPresident Trump and Vice President Vance delivering on a promise.\u201dImageAttorney General Todd Blanche, right, and Michael Whatley, left, the Republican Senate candidate in North Carolina, attended a campaign rally on Wednesday.Credit...Kenny Holston\/The New York TimesWorries about the Justice Department abandoning its long-held commitment to appear apolitical in order to maintain institutional credibility may seem beside the point. Since January 2025, dozens of judges have viewed its representations with suspicion, eroding the traditional bonds of trust, known as the \u201cpresumption of regularity,\u201d that the courts typically grant the department.The second Trump administration has also unabashedly destroyed the post-Watergate norm of Justice Department independence from the White House in investigative decisions. Early on, Mr. Blanche\u2019s predecessor, Pam Bondi, declared, \u201cWe are so proud to work at the directive of Donald Trump.\u201d Last September, after Mr. Trump publicly demanded that she charge several perceived adversaries, the department pushed through short-lived indictments of two of them.Still, Mr. Blanche is dismantling another post-Watergate principle: that Justice Department leaders stay away from partisan politicking.Joseph Tirrell, the Justice Department\u2019s senior ethics official until the Trump administration dismissed him in July 2025, earlier this week criticized Mr. Blanche\u2019s participation in the Republican convention. He called the attorney general\u2019s comments at the White House briefing \u201cborderline\u201d unethical, and his participation in the North Carolina rally \u201cterrible.\u201dAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT\u201cIn my former role, I would have advised the attorney general not to go to the White House and not to make comments about members of Congress within 45 days of an election,\u201d Mr. Tirrell said. Referring to a law restricting partisan political activity by government employees, he added: \u201cI\u2019d say, \u2018That rally sounds like a Hatch Act violation to me, and I\u2019d advise you not to do it.\u2019 I would want to scare that person straight.\u201dStephen Gillers, a New York University law professor who specializes in legal ethics, said Mr. Blanche\u2019s political statements and activities were protected by the First Amendment, and did not violate professional conduct rules, even if they were ill-advised.\u201cAny attempt to discipline him will fail,\u201d Professor Gillers said. \u201cThat\u2019s unfortunate. He has the ability to do what he\u2019s doing, and he\u2019s chosen to do it.\u201dKiersten Pels, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said in a statement that \u201cAttorney General Blanche\u2019s appearances at political events are made in his personal capacity.\u201dMs. Pels added: \u201cHis appearances are reviewed and cleared by the department\u2019s ethics officials. Travel expenses are reimbursed by the attorney general in accordance with federal law, regulations and policies.\u201dAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTLegal questions center on the Hatch Act, which is ambiguous and difficult to enforce when an administration does not want to strictly adhere to it. The law and related regulations allow some political appointees, while off duty, to attend partisan events, like fund-raisers and campaign rallies. Some law enforcement officials are restricted from any partisan activity, but the attorney general is not listed among them, and it is disputed whether that part of the legal limits applies to them.Sign up for the On Politics newsletter. It's a pivotal moment for American politics. Join us for 2026 and beyond. Get it sent to your inbox.Even for those who can engage in political activity in a personal capacity, the traditional test is not just whether such officials say they are doing so, but whether people would reasonably perceive them as acting in their government roles.Cynthia Shaw, who ran the Justice Department\u2019s ethics office throughout Mr. Trump\u2019s first term, said the notion that high-ranking officials could simply say they are acting in a personal capacity to get around that threshold was a misunderstanding.\u201cThe bigger the job you get, the less personal capacity you have, because when you speak, people are going to see you in your official capacity and representing the agency that you are head of,\u201d she said.Federal law enforcement needs to not just be fair, she added, but to be seen as fair for the long-term good of the department and society.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTFor that reason, the Justice Department had long held itself to a higher standard than the Hatch Act and its ambiguities. For decades, its ethics policies went beyond the statute in pushing officials to avoid events like political fund-raisers and campaign rallies.In 2022, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland flatly banned political appointees from participating in partisan activities \u2014 even in their personal capacities, and even if their family members were the candidates.But in March of this year, Ms. Bondi rescinded that policy, freeing political appointees to attend such events in their personal capacities subject only to the lower standards of the Hatch Act.That weakening of ethics rules is one reason the department\u2019s claim that Mr. Blanche\u2019s appearance at the Republican Party convention was \u201capproved by ethics\u201d merits scrutiny. Another is that the administration has changed who makes ethics recommendations.ImageMr. Blanche\u2019s appearances at political events show how he is dismantling another post-Watergate principle.Credit...Kenny Holston\/The New York TimesAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTAfter firing Mr. Tirrell, the administration left his position vacant for nearly a year before appointing Kristina Spencer, a former aide to Vice President JD Vance who had no prior department experience.The office of the deputy attorney general can also overrule the ethics office\u2019s recommendations. For decades, the decision maker was a career official, but the Trump administration moved that authority to political appointees.The principle that the Justice Department should strive to appear apolitical took root after Watergate. President Richard M. Nixon\u2019s first attorney general, John Mitchell \u2014 who later went to prison for his role in the scandal \u2014 was so deeply partisan that he resigned to run Nixon\u2019s 1972 re-election campaign.The attorney general immediately after established the modern norm of not acting as a political operative while in office: Edward Levi, a University of Chicago legal scholar.Maintaining a nonpartisan image has proved difficult, partly because of the department\u2019s power and an increasingly polarized political atmosphere. Under both parties, one attorney general after another has been accused by political opponents of politicizing the Justice Department.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTIn 2013, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. called himself President Barack Obama\u2019s \u201cwing man,\u201d clashing with the principle of Justice Department independence. Asked last week about Mr. Blanche\u2019s speech at the Republican convention, Mr. Holder said: \u201cIt\u2019s unprecedented, and it\u2019s disgraceful. Attorneys general don\u2019t talk about political things. He shouldn\u2019t be there.\u201dMr. Holder, while serving as attorney general, never spoke at the Democratic convention or at campaign rallies. Nor did Republican attorneys general frequently accused by Democrats of politicizing the department, including Attorney General William P. Barr during Mr. Trump\u2019s first term.Professor Gillers said that shifting standards for the conduct of attorneys general would harm the rule of law, especially if Mr. Blanche\u2019s successors followed his example.\u201cThis is new,\u201d he said. \u201cThe changing image of what an attorney general should be seen to do, and how officials high in the Justice Department should behave, will not be good. We just don\u2019t know yet how bad it will be.\u201dAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT",
    "published_at": "2026-09-17T23:15:46+00:00",
    "author_name": "Charlie Savage",
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    "ai_headline": "Blanche\u2019s Political Campaigning Breaks an Ethical Norm Going Back to Watergate",
    "ai_simplified_title": "Attorney General Blanche Politicking Breaks Ethical Norms 2026",
    "ai_excerpt": "Attorney General Todd Blanche has repeatedly participated in campaign events and spoken in partisan terms about the coming midterm elections, despite criticism that he violated a longstanding Justice Department principle of steering clear of electoral politics. This behavior breaks an ethical norm going back to Watergate.",
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