By The American Tribune | Created at 2026-08-18 11:17:27 | Updated at 2026-08-18 14:44:25
4 hours ago
Attorney General Todd Blanche rejected NBC host Kristen Welker’s demand that the Justice Department abandon its effort to obtain state voter rolls, saying the administration could carry the fight to the Supreme Court. Blanche maintained that federal officials have a lawful role in protecting elections even though individual states administer them. He said the DOJ would continue pressing states for information needed to investigate potential violations of federal election law.
The exchange aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where Welker questioned Blanche about the administration’s nationwide voter-roll campaign and several recent court defeats. State officials have resisted demands for complete voter-registration lists, arguing that election administration belongs to the states and that some requested information is protected. Blanche responded that state control over elections does not remove the federal government from enforcing federal statutes and constitutional protections.
Welker began by characterizing the conflict as being between the administration and state officials. “They say states dictate how elections are run, not the federal government,” she said. “Is it time for the DOJ to drop this fight, and will you do it?” Blanche answered firmly: “No, we’re not going to stop doing what I think every American should expect us to do, which is make sure that we have elections that are fair.”
Blanche said the department is “relying on a statute, a statute passed by Congress” that permits federal officials, under the proper circumstances, to inspect state voter rolls. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has filed suits accusing numerous states of refusing to produce complete registration lists. By February, the department said its campaign had reached 29 states and the District of Columbia.
The attorney general acknowledged the states’ responsibility while rejecting Welker’s suggestion that the DOJ had any role. “President Trump, this administration knows and, of course, understands that states administer elections, and that will always be the case,” Blanche said. “But it doesn’t mean the federal government should play no role.” He added that the legal disputes concern whether the department is acting within its authority when seeking the records.
Welker asked whether Blanche was prepared to continue after what she described as 22 adverse rulings. “Are you going to take this all the way to the Supreme Court?” she asked. Blanche replied, “We’ll see what happens,” before confirming that Supreme Court review was “absolutely” a possibility.
Watch Blanche address the voter-roll crackdown here:
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“Election integrity is something that President Trump ran on, and the American people elected him,” Blanche continued. “It’s something that every American should care about.” He said a Justice Department investigation intended to ensure elections are fair and properly conducted “is not something that we should be running away from. That’s something we should be running right towards.”
The interview also turned to a new legal opinion from the Justice Department addressing executive privilege for communications between a President and private advisers. The August 10th Office of Legal Counsel opinion concluded that the privilege may cover confidential communications with private advisers when they concern official presidential decision-making and involve the president or his direct advisers. Blanche pushed back against claims that the department had invented a sweeping new protection.
“This wasn’t any novel legal concept. This wasn’t us pushing the law beyond where it already was,” Blanche said. He argued that presidents must be able to receive candid advice without concern that their internal discussions will later be improperly exposed or used against them. “Just because you’re not getting paid, if you’re providing the right type of advice, there are circumstances when it should absolutely be privileged,” Blanche concluded.
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.
