Litman Urges Congress to Impeach Attorney General Todd Blanche
Litman, a former U.S. attorney, argued that Congress should make Blanche the first Trump administration official it seeks to remove when the new House convenes in January. He said lawmakers should focus on a single impeachment charge: using federal prosecutions to punish the president’s enemies. Litman contended that this conduct represents an attack on democratic rule, not merely an abuse of executive power.
He pointed to cases involving former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, former congressional witness Cassidy Hutchinson and six Democratic lawmakers who made a video about illegal orders. Litman also cited Blanche’s public defense of the prosecutions as a legitimate use of presidential authority, and his statement that an attorney general should not pledge independence from the White House. He argued that following the president’s direction would not excuse unconstitutional conduct.
Litman said retaliatory prosecutions violate due process and, when aimed at protected speech, the First Amendment. He argued they can deter critics, witnesses and whistleblowers before courts have an opportunity to intervene, making impeachment the remedy that can hold the responsible official to account.
The argument comes as Republican Representative Thomas Massie presses for a House vote on impeaching Hegseth, potentially as early as this week. Massie’s articles accuse the defense secretary of waging war in Iran contrary to the War Powers Resolution, a strike on a girls’ school in Minab that killed more than 150 people, and boat strikes that killed at least 221 people. Litman called the charges serious but said Blanche’s alleged use of prosecution against political opponents poses a more fundamental threat to democracy.
Make Blanche’s Prosecutions the First Impeachment Priority
The incoming House should confront the threat to democracy at its most direct: an attorney general using prosecution to target the president’s critics. Former U.S. attorney Harry Litman urged lawmakers to center Blanche’s impeachment on that one charge, rather than dilute the case across his other alleged abuses.
Litman pointed to cases involving James Comey, Letitia James, Cassidy Hutchinson and six Democratic lawmakers who made a video about illegal orders. He argued that retaliatory prosecutions violate due process and, when aimed at protected speech, the First Amendment. Their chilling effect begins before a court can rule, he said, leaving impeachment as the remedy capable of reaching the official responsible.
Blanche has defended the prosecutions as a legitimate use of presidential authority and said an attorney general should not pledge independence from the White House. Litman argued that obedience to a president cannot excuse a breach of the Constitution. Treating it as an excuse, he warned, would endorse the authoritarian approach he says the prosecutions embody.
That does not make the allegations against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth trivial. Republican Representative Thomas Massie’s impeachment articles cite the Iran war, a strike on a girls’ school in Minab that killed more than 150 people, and boat strikes that killed at least 221 people. But Litman’s case is that weaponizing criminal prosecution against political opponents is a defining assault on democratic government—and that Congress should address it first.
Congress Should Scrutinize Blanche Without Losing Sight of Hegseth
Impeachment should not become a way to set aside serious allegations against one Trump administration official in order to make a broader political argument about another. Former U.S. attorney Harry Litman wants incoming House Democrats to focus first on Blanche, alleging he used federal prosecutions to punish the president’s opponents. Those claims deserve scrutiny, but so do the charges already advanced against Hegseth.
Republican Representative Thomas Massie’s articles accuse Hegseth of waging war in Iran contrary to the War Powers Resolution, a strike on a girls’ school in Minab that killed more than 150 people, and boat strikes that killed at least 221 people. Massie may bring the articles to a House vote as early as this week. Litman calls the case serious, even as he argues it is less fundamental than the alleged use of prosecution against political enemies.
Litman cites cases involving James Comey, Letitia James, Cassidy Hutchinson and six Democratic lawmakers. He says such prosecutions can violate due process and the First Amendment, and intimidate critics before courts can intervene. Blanche, meanwhile, has defended the prosecutions as a legitimate use of presidential power and said an attorney general should not pledge independence from the White House.
Congress should examine whether Blanche’s actions crossed constitutional lines, while also giving the Hegseth allegations the serious consideration their stated stakes warrant. A one-count case may sharpen Litman’s argument, but it should not make the other impeachment charges disappear.
Reported by The New Republic, Raw Story.
