Blanche
and
Donald
Trump
(Photo
by
Brendan
McDermid-Pool/Getty
Images)
Todd
Blanche,
Deputy
Attorney
General
and
longtime
Trump
loyalist,
dropped
a
rhetorical
anvil
on
the
white-collar
bar
this
week
at a
conference
on
the
Foreign
Corrupt
Practices
Act.
According
to
reporting
by
POLITICO,
while
addressing
hundreds
of
lawyers
whose
job
is
literally
to
advise
clients
on
how
to
avoid
prosecution,
Blanche
warned
about
the
dangers
of
being
publicly
critical
of
the
Trump
Administration’s
white-collar
enforcement
efforts.
He
didn’t
even
try
to
subtle-code
it.
He
just…
said
the
thing
out
loud:
“If
folks
in
this
room
are
going
to
be
honest
brokers
when
counseling
clients,
posting
on
or
writing
client
alerts,
the
public
narrative
should
match
the
private
one.
If
you
publicly
claim
we
are
not
enforcing
white-collar
crime
aggressively
enough,
but
privately
insist
that
your
clients
are
the
victims
of
overreach,
we
notice
that
inconsistency.”
The
nation’s
second-highest
law
enforcement
official
telling
lawyers
that
DOJ
“notices”
when
their
public
commentary
displeases
the
government
is
the
kind
of
thing
that,
not
too
long
ago,
would
set
off
every
alarm
bell
in
the
rule-of-law
universe.
Now
it’s
a
Thursday.
Blanche
wasn’t
done.
Not
even
close.
“It’s
remarkable
how
some
members
of
the
white-collar
bar
seem
to
have
an
endless
stream
of
clients
who
are
each
coincidentally
victims
of
supposed
overreach
or
weaponization,
but
still
publicly
draft
client
alerts
suggesting
that
the
department
is
not
prioritizing
white-collar
cases.
Such
a
statement
is
wrong.
White-collar
cases
are
a
significant
priority
for
President
Trump,
for
the
attorney
general
and
for
the
department.”
Nothing
chilling
about
that
at
all.
Let’s
not
forget
that,
via
Executive
Order,
Donald
Trump
paused
FCPA
enforcement
altogether
early
in
his
second
term,
claiming
that
American
businesses
were
being
unfairly
burdened
by
enforcement
“stretched
beyond
proper
bounds.”
DOJ’s
revised
guidelines
now
openly
emphasize
not
inconveniencing
U.S.
companies
operating
abroad.
Providing
this
relevant
context
to
clients
*is*
the
job.
For
the
lawyers
in
the
room,
Blanche’s
remarks
were
both
uncomfortable
and
clarifying:
the
Administration
is
building
a
world
where
criticism
of
the
government
carries
professional
risk.
White-collar
lawyers
know
the
stakes.
Their
clients
live
or
die
on
prosecutorial
discretion.
Telling
them
that
their
commentary
is
being
monitored
for
loyalty
to
the
Administration?
That’s
coercion.
Blanche
was
already
busy
last
month
announcing
“war”
on
judges
who
rule
against
the
Administration,
which
is
decidedly
not
a
normal
thing
for
a
Deputy
Attorney
General
to
say
out
loud
unless
he’s
auditioning
for
a
future
Ken
Burns
documentary
titled
The
Day
the
Rule
of
Law
Died.
Now
he’s
extending
this
war
footing
to
lawyers
themselves.
Judges,
lawyers,
journalists,
anyone
who
could
check
power
is
suddenly
in
Blanche’s
rhetorical
crosshairs.
Blanche’s
recent
moves
would
be
aggressive
taken
separately.
Together,
they’re
a
gameplan
for
authoritarianism.
MAGA
has
blown
straight
past
insulating
itself
from
criticism,
to
actively
threatening
the
people
who
provide
it.
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
Mastodon
@[email protected].