Attorney General Todd Blanche Draws Hatch Act Complaint After Speaking at GOP Convention

A Deputy Attorney General Who Won't Stay Off the Trail

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche took the stage at the Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas on September 9, telling the crowd, "To evil men and women in this country, know this: President Trump will hold you accountable," according to reporting from OK Magazine. He was introduced on screen as a "former federal prosecutor," a label the Justice Department says means he appeared in his personal capacity, not as a senior Justice Department official.

That distinction hasn't satisfied his critics, and it didn't stop him from doing something similar again. According to Political Wire, citing the New York Times, Blanche waded into partisan territory twice more this week alone. He made comments about mail-in voting at a White House Rose Garden briefing on September 15, where he also defended Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth against an impeachment push from Rep. Thomas Massie, according to CNN.

CNN also reported that at that same briefing, Blanche said the Trump administration would keep pursuing mail-in voting changes even after the Supreme Court blocked the president's plans ahead of the midterms. That's a policy fight distinct from the Hatch Act question, but it shows how far Blanche has leaned into midterm-cycle politics since his confirmation.

The Complaint

Public Citizen filed a formal complaint with the Office of Special Counsel over the Dallas speech, arguing Blanche is a "restricted employee" under the Hatch Act who is barred from taking an active part in partisan campaigns, according to OK Magazine. No ruling has been issued. The Office of Special Counsel has not announced any finding, and no charges have been filed against Blanche.

The Hatch Act's history shows this isn't straightforward. A decade ago, then-HUD Secretary Julián Castro said in an interview that he was speaking "individually" when he praised Hillary Clinton's 2016 candidacy, and the Office of Special Counsel still found he'd violated the Act, according to MS NOW. Blanche's team is making a similar personal-capacity argument now, and whether it holds up is an open question the Office of Special Counsel hasn't answered.

Bipartisan Pushback

The criticism hasn't come only from the left. Gregg Nunziata, a conservative former DOJ attorney and former general counsel to Sen. Marco Rubio, wrote that Blanche "has neither judgment nor honor," calling the Senate's confirmation of him an "ignominy," according to OK Magazine.

Democratic-aligned former officials went further. Former Attorney General Eric Holder called the Dallas appearance "unprecedented" and "disgraceful" in an interview with NewsNation, saying, "Attorney generals don't talk about political things. He shouldn't be there." Former DOJ Inspector General Michael Bromwich said Blanche "is a disgrace to the office," and former prosecutor Andrew Weissmann called it the "complete weaponization and politicization" of the department, per OK Magazine. Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance said the speech "obliterates the post-Watergate norms of DOJ independence."

MS NOW noted the contrast with Blanche's own words from a month earlier, when he told DOJ staff, "We will not engage in or stand for any sort of performative attacks that undermine the institutions that we are sworn to uphold." MS NOW also pointed out that Robert F. Kennedy's 1964 appearance at the Democratic National Convention, often cited as historical precedent, was actually a tribute to his assassinated brother, President John F. Kennedy, not a campaign speech.

The Wider Backdrop

The scrutiny of Blanche isn't happening in isolation. The same week, FBI Director Kash Patel faced a contentious Senate Judiciary Committee hearing where he sparred with Sen. Cory Booker over subpoenaing journalists and fielded questions on FBI hiring standards, immigration-operation violence, and unreleased Epstein files, according to CNN. Together, the two episodes point to a period of unusually heated congressional and public scrutiny of Trump's Justice Department and FBI leadership.

Blanche's history as Trump's personal criminal defense attorney adds another layer critics point to. The progressive outlet Common Dreams argued in a September 17 opinion piece that Blanche's defense work in Trump's 2024 New York hush-money trial was legally sloppy, raising questions about his judgment generally, though that critique concerns his prior legal work, not the Hatch Act allegation itself.

What's Unresolved

The core legal question—whether Blanche's Dallas speech and subsequent political comments violated the Hatch Act—sits with the Office of Special Counsel, which has not ruled. The DOJ's personal-capacity defense is a real legal theory, but the Castro precedent shows OSC has rejected similar arguments before. Until OSC acts or a court weighs in, the fight stays where it's been: prominent former officials from both parties saying Blanche crossed a line, and the DOJ insisting he didn't.