Speaker X (00:00):
[inaudible 00:07:15].
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Audio check for the control room. One, two, three, four, five. Five, four, three, two, one. This is a check. One, two, three, four, five.
Speaker X (07:47):
[inaudible 00:07:50].
Todd Blanche (18:47):
Good afternoon, everybody. I want to start this afternoon by thanking Pam. She is a great friend of mine, a great friend of the president's, and has been a great patriot to this country. Over the past 13 months, Attorney General Bondi did an incredible job tackling violent crime, drug cartels, and reforming this department. Our streets are safer, because of Pam's vision and her commitment to justice. It has been an honor to serve with her, and I know that what she has coming up next, we will continue to hopefully be able to work together. Every day, Department of Justice investigators and prosecutors work to punish those who commit fraud. For example, just this week and it's only Tuesday, a criminal defendant was sentenced and the department obtained two additional guilty pleas in matters totaling over half a billion dollars in healthcare and COVID fraud. If you think about that, just since yesterday, we had a guilty plea in a $160 million healthcare enrollment fraud scheme and a sentencing in a $100 million COVID-19 fraud, and a guilty plea in $160 million healthcare fraud scheme as well.
(20:17)
Each of these cases represents countless hours of dedication from the prosecutors and the federal agents and local law enforcement who worked them. The Department of Justice is holding criminals accountable for stealing over half a billion dollars from taxpayers. And across our US attorney's offices, all over this country, we currently have over 8,000 fraud matters underway. Unfortunately, as you've heard a lot about recently, because it's true, these cases represent a fraction of the fraud ripping off our country every day. Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, this department, working closely with the task force to eliminate fraud, is supercharging efforts to take down every fraudster and bring them to justice. I want to thank the Vice President and Anti-Fraud Task Force Chair Andrew Ferguson for their focus on this issue and for empowering this department to go after criminals who steal from the government like never before.
(21:21)
Our goal is to prevent this from ever happening again. Because of this administration's leadership, fraudsters, scammers, tax chiefs, or anyone who lies to get rich off the generosity of the American people should be on notice. Now, this isn't new for this department. We have a storied history of combating fraud and bringing criminal actors to justice, but the department has never adopted a comprehensive and coordinated approach to investigating and prosecuting fraud against taxpayer dollars and taxpayer payer funded programs. With over a trillion dollars at stake every single year threatened by increasingly sophisticated and opportunistic fraudsters, the time for this comprehensive and coordinated approach is now. And so, today, I'm proud to announce in greater detail the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division. Its core mission will be to zealously investigate and prosecute those who steal taxpayer dollars and rip off the American people. Our vision is to build a robust fraud fighting squad capable of investigating and prosecuting the full spectrum of fraud against taxpayer dollars.
(22:39)
We are going to staff this division by some of the department's best prosecutors, bringing together experts in healthcare fraud, tax fraud, benefits fraud, and corporate fraud under one roof with one mission, to protect the American people from fraud. Every US Attorney's office across the country will also be joining this re-energized fight against fraud. This means in pure numbers that there will be an additional 93 prosecutors in every district across the country devoted to the mission of combating fraud with the National Fraud Enforcement Division. To the attorneys and staff who join this new division, you will have the entire department's support as you work to protect the financial integrity of our entire government and the tax system that supports it. We will spare no resources in giving you the tools that you need to bring strong cases and do justice. The new division will bring together data and investigators from across the entire government, so that you can track down even the most sophisticated fraudsters and hold them accountable.
(23:52)
For example, today I am directing the department to establish the National Fraud Detention Center. This
Todd Blanche (24:00):
... Fraud Detention Center will be a permanent prosecutor led multi-agency data analytics team working to ferret out the most harmful actors defrauding federal government programs. So to the fraudsters who seek to take advantage of our nation, let this be a warning. The Department will investigate you, we will charge you with crimes, and we will ensure that you are punished for your actions.
(24:25)
The American people deserve an end to the crisis of fraud, and there is no better prosecutor to lead this mission than newly appointed Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald, who's standing to my left. In the words of President Trump, he is very smart, tough, and highly respected. Colin is a veteran prosecutor who has spent his entire career as an assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of California. During his time in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, he championed public safety and law enforcement, and I am confident that the National Fraud Enforcement Division and the entire department will benefit from his experience and his total commitment to justice. I expect there will be more to come in the next days and weeks from Colin and the anti-fraud task force, but I wanted to tell the American people today what this department is doing to comprehensively attack the fraud crisis in this country.
(25:26)
Thank you. I'll take a few questions.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Thank you, Mr. Acting Attorney General. President Trump has made no secret of the fact that he wants to see his perceived political enemies prosecuted. So now that you're in this position, how are you going to balance that relentless pressure with this administration's promise to end the weaponization of this department?
Todd Blanche (25:49):
Well, look, first of all, we have thousands of ongoing investigations and prosecutions going on in this country right now. And it is true that some of them involve men, women, and entities that the President in the past has had issues with and that belief should be investigated. That is his right, and indeed it is his duty to do that, meaning to lead this country. And so I do not view this as pressure. I do not view this as something that is going to keep me up at night, except to make sure that we are investigating every case that we have to the fullest extent of the law and using all the resources we can.
(26:28)
And when you talk about weaponization, and it's become a word that is supposedly a ... When we talk about ending weaponization, as if that's a bad thing for us to do. People in this room for four years, some of you, the same people, sat here with the last administration when you saw a weaponization of this department, the likes of which had never been seen in history. And some of you are looking down now, and I get it because you had a president who was indicted four times by this department, you had a president who, along with this department, had assistance. So this department helped two other local DAs go after the president. You had this department who stood idly by why states tried to keep President Trump off the ballot. That's what happened the past four years.
(27:27)
And so when I'm asked questions or when I see reporting about shock and awe at this supposed weaponization of this department, of this Department of Justice, it means nothing to me because it's completely false. What we're doing and what we've been doing for the past 14 months is changing this department. Is changing this department. We're no longer, people say the President wants to go after his political enemies. No, the President has said time and time again that he wants justice. And if you look at what happened to him, his family, his administration, the agents that protected him, people that happened to just walk by him on a given day, they got subjected to massive investigations by this department.
(28:11)
So I understand the question and I understand the pretty constant role of the media that somehow this department is weaponizing itself, but it happens not to be true. We have tens of thousands of prosecutors all over this country putting bad guys in jail. That's something that wasn't happening like it should have been happening for the past four years. That's going to happen tomorrow and it's going to happen in the coming days.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Do you believe Pam Bondi lost her job though because she was not successful in that pursuit?
Todd Blanche (28:41):
You read the same exact communication from the President that I did. Pam Bondi is a trusted friend of President Trump's, will remain so. And no, nobody has any idea why the Attorney General is no longer the Attorney General and I'm the Acting Attorney General except for President Trump.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Two questions. One kind of housekeeping. Since you are announced as the Acting Attorney General today, when is Pam Bondi's last day on the job and is this a position that you would like full-time?
Todd Blanche (29:11):
So there's a bunch of questions there. I am the acting attorney general. As far as Pam Bondi's last day on the job, I'm the acting attorney general. I'm going with her, we're traveling together tomorrow to a pre-scheduled event, so she'll be with me tomorrow. We've been regularly communicating over the past several days for an appropriate transition. She is very much a big supporter of this department like she was last Thursday morning. She remains the same and I expect that that will continue as to whether or not I want this job. I did not ask for this job. I love working for President Trump. It's the greatest honor of a lifetime. And if President Trump chooses to keep me as acting, that's an honor. If he chooses to nominate me, that's an honor. If he chooses to nominate somebody else and I go back to being the DAG, that's an honor. If he chooses to nominate somebody else and asks me to go do something else, I will say, "Thank you very much. I love you, sir." So I don't have any goals or aspirations beyond that.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
And then just a quick question on fraud, sir. CPS has done a lot of reporting on hospice fraud specifically. What are you doing to clamp down on that? Who exactly are you targeting? Doctors, owners, when it comes to hospice fraud specifically.
Todd Blanche (30:29):
Yes, exactly. I mean, everybody that participates in it. I mean, you see those, that fraud is ... The question was about hospice fraud, and that's the purest form of stealing from the American people's pockets in that it is a lot of money designed to help the most vulnerable among us. And so, who are we prosecuting? It depends on who's committing the crime. If it's the doctor, it's the doctor. If it's the hospital organization itself, fine. If it's the families of the patient, fine.
Speaker 5 (30:57):
There's been a lot-
Todd Blanche (30:57):
You. No, behind you. Sorry.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
Thank you. How will you lead this department differently than your predecessor, Attorney General Bondi? Have you had any discussions with the President about what he wants you to do differently?
Todd Blanche (31:11):
So I will never talk about any communications I have with President Trump. How I will lead differently, I'm not comparing myself to Attorney General Bondi. I'm going to lead the way that I've been leading as the Deputy Attorney General, which is a job that requires obviously the same type of leadership I need to have now.
Speaker 4 (31:33):
Question on fraud real quick. I know this position was created differently, this AAG for fraud by the White House. Will the prosecutors working in this newly created section, will they have a different chain of command? Will they be reporting to the White House or to the Department of Justice?
Todd Blanche (31:55):
No. I mean, the Department of Justice prosecutors and support staff that are in the new division are going to report to this man right here, and then this man reports to the deputy general and the attorney general. So that's the way that every prosecution and prosecutor in this country works and will continue to work.
Speaker 5 (32:13):
Two quick questions. One on the weaponization, where does the Weaponization Working Group's work stand? Will there be reports coming out of that? Just give us a general update on that. And then secondly, I just have a question on fraud.
Todd Blanche (32:24):
So the work is ongoing and has been ongoing for 14 months now. There's been a lot of results already from that work, if not in written work product. I expect you will see written work product on some parts of the work that's been accomplished very, very soon.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
Is that driving criminal investigations further?
Todd Blanche (32:46):
I'm not going to talk about criminal investigations and what's driving it or not driving it. Go ahead.
Speaker 5 (32:50):
Kristi Noem. There's been a lot of questions about the firm tied to Kristi Noem and the ads that came through that that was over $200 million in taxpayer money. Is that something that would fall under the purview potentially of this new fraud unit?
Todd Blanche (33:03):
Well, when you say there's been a lot of questions, you mean you all have decided to write a lot about it, hoping that it generates something. So again, I'm not talking about ongoing investigations. If the new fraud division and the types of cases that it will encompass is pretty broad, but I'm not going to link it to some speculative idea or question. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (33:24):
Acting Attorney General Blanche, my question is this, a number of military and legal scholars have raised questions about bombing a nation's all of its bridges, all of its energy structure as possible war crimes. What is DOJ's analysis of that position? And could you give us a sense of what you're advising the White House?
Todd Blanche (33:48):
We support, the Department of Justice as it always does, supports the Department of War, the White House, Department of State, to the extent that's involved, and our intelligence communities to the extent that that's something that's appropriate. And we provide counsel to them and we have been doing that as you would expect. Go ahead.
Speaker 7 (34:05):
You said earlier that this Department of Justice has indicted President Trump four times. Can you explain what you based that statement on? Because obviously you now run this department. Are you basing that on your experience as a defense lawyer for the president or are you basing that on-
Todd Blanche (34:22):
[inaudible 00:34:22] what you wrote. What does that kind of question is about? He got indicted four times. He got indicted in Florida and then he got indicted in DC and then they superseded in Florida and then they superseded in DC. So that's one, two, three, four. So that's not ... Am I breaking news there that he got indicted four times by the Feds? This department indicted him four times. Go ahead.
Speaker 8 (34:44):
There's been a lot of leads been posted online about fraud in particular earlier this year, social media influencers have been talking about this. Are there any of those leads that have been something that you're not going to exclude from being part of the investigations under this new fraud unit, particularly some of the things we saw go viral on X earlier this year?
Todd Blanche (35:04):
Yeah. Look, I mean, I think not just with fraud, with any crime that anybody investigates, whether it's the Feds or state or local, we get leads. A lot of the ways that we solve crime is from the community and from tips. And so you did. We saw a lot of investigative journalism or just citizens that identified what they believed to be fraud, and that's the way a lot of our cases start, not just in this space. And so yes, I expect that ... I think that if you were an FBI agent, you should be willing to take a tip from anywhere. So in the back, yeah. You.
Speaker 9 (35:36):
How specifically are you staffing the new fraud division-
Todd Blanche (35:36):
I can't hear you.
Speaker 9 (35:36):
Yeah. How are you going to be staffing the new fraud division? Which specific components and units are going to be pulling staff over to it? And more generally, do you have any concerns just given, there's been a lot of discussion about AUSA's prosecutors and white collar
Speaker 9 (36:00):
... units leaving the department over the past year or being redirected to immigration cases. Do you have any concerns that you're going to have the man and women-power to do this type of surge you're calling for?
Todd Blanche (36:11):
So, the answer to your first question is we're going to staff the new division in a combination of ways, bringing folks over that are here, using US attorneys to detail their prosecutors, but they'll stay in their district and then hiring. And so, it's not limited to one place. And no, I have zero concerns about the narrative that exists in some of the writings from the folks in this room, from disgruntled formers and what a few disgruntled formers put on LinkedIn. Our department is prosecuting more cases than were prosecuted for three years, year over year, stat after stat crime over crime.
(36:52)
And so, we can handle a lot of stuff. We can do immigration cases, robberies, drug cartels, and fraud cases. And so, we're always hiring. Every administration, there's turnover, so we're no different. I think that the folks that are here, we have the best prosecutors in the world. Our US attorneys are stacked with prosecutors and they're working hard every day and I don't think that will change. And so, now, of all the concerns I have, that is not one. Back, yeah.
Cameron (37:21):
Thank you, sir. Cameron with The Daily Wire. My question is about the emphasis on what states this could potentially be emphasized in related to fraud service staffing there? And then, what does the coordination look like with other agencies within the administration? Has HHS been in the loop? Has HUD been in the loop? Are there any particular programs outside of hospice that are major focuses?
Todd Blanche (37:42):
So, there's every state. So, as I said, we're going to do a combination of building up the division here in DC, but then every US attorney's office, which necessarily means every state and in many states, more than one, will have at least one prosecutor dedicated to this effort. And yes, every single federal agency is involved in this. Where we get a lot of our cases from the OIGs, from their inspector generals. And so, I know that Colin has already reached out and had ongoing communications with virtually, if not every one of them, and that will continue.
(38:18)
HSI will be a big partner in this effort, FBI. Every federal agency already does fraud, so we're not saying, "Hey, can you guys start investigating something you've never investigated before?" It's really, again, just re-energizing us and saying, "Listen, we're doing a lot of fraud prosecutions," and it's the tip of the iceberg. And so, we needed to focus a lot more energy and effort on that. It's nothing that we've seen before and it will require a lot of coordination and that's the goal. Yes.
Speaker 13 (38:47):
Mr. Acting Attorney General, can you just expand on your comment that nobody has any idea why Ms. Bondi is no longer the attorney general? It seems like it's kind of a problem if you don't know what it is the president wants you guys to be doing better.
Todd Blanche (39:02):
That's an assumption that baked into your question that I don't know that it's true. I mean, the point is that I don't operate every day trying to second guess what President Trump or anybody else is thinking. I just operate every day on doing everything that I need to do to execute the president's agenda and priorities, and I'm not alone in that. I hope every single person that has the privilege to serve in this administration is doing the exactly the same thing.
(39:26)
So, what I was commenting on and to expand on my comment is that I grow tired of people in the media saying why President Trump did or didn't do something because President Trump's the only one that knows that. And so, I meant nothing more and nothing less than that. That President Trump's decision for making the decision he did are his own and nobody else's.
(39:50)
Go ahead. You already got one. Go ahead, behind you.
Speaker 10 (39:54):
Oh, sorry. Now, Former Attorney General Bondi was facing a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee. Do you expect that she will comply with that or will this administration, will the Justice Department invoke some sort of privilege to block her from testifying?
Todd Blanche (40:09):
So, look, as everybody knows, the attorney general and I went to the House Oversight a few weeks ago. We answered every single question asked for a couple of hours. What happens now that she's the former attorney general and there's the subpoena out there, I think I'll leave to Chairman Comer and others to figure out. I don't have an answer to that.
Speaker 10 (40:30):
You won't be invoking your privilege or anything?
Todd Blanche (40:31):
Excuse me?
Speaker 10 (40:31):
You won't invoke any privilege to block her-
Todd Blanche (40:34):
I definitely did not say that. I said I will leave it to Chairman Comer to work out with others. I just don't have an answer for you, but I'm not committing to anything. I'm just saying I don't know. Go ahead.
Speaker 7 (40:44):
You said the other day that no prosecutor is left at the Justice Department who worked on those investigations of President Trump and you said that Kash Patel had cleaned house at the FBI. Those comments have already been cited in two lawsuits against the department. How do you respond to critics who say that was an acknowledgement that you guys are firing people for political reasons, career civil servants, politically for illegal reasons?
Todd Blanche (41:05):
It's not that. I mean, it's not that. It's much more simple than that. I mean, look, if you were a prosecutor and you were trying to prosecute your boss, you have ethical duties as a lawyer that I think prevent you from continuing to work in that environment. And so, in this case, what we saw and what President Trump went through... Every single prosecutor in this department, whether you're an AUSA or working here, you have a duty to do the right thing. And so, in cases where, and this is beyond this press conference, but I'm happy to talk about it another time, where you had prosecutors that were absolutely not doing the right thing. And so, none of those prosecutors... I hope everybody agrees that they shouldn't work here if you're not doing the right thing, and that's what I meant by that. And listen, it's been talked about a lot, but what happened the last four years is something that will never happen again.
Speaker 11 (42:05):
The president yesterday said he was prepared to jail a reporter as they search for a leaker behind reports about the downed Air Force officer. Is there an ongoing leak investigation?
Todd Blanche (42:23):
I mean, I can say it as many times as folks ask. I will never comment on ongoing investigations. I think that to the extent that we have seen a series of leaks that necessarily involve classified information and putting the lives of our soldiers at risk or the lives of agents at risk, that is something that we will always investigate. If it means sending a subpoena to the reporter, that's exactly what we should do and that's exactly what we will be doing. If it means doing regular investigations to identify who within the government feels like it's okay to leak classified information, to put lives at risk, then we'll try to root him or her out as well. So, I'm not going to talk about ongoing investigations except to say that, yes, we will always investigate those types of leaks. I'll just take one more question.
Speaker 12 (43:09):
I just want to follow up on Perry's question. She had asked about who this division reports to and I know you said it's a standard practice. But when it comes to referrals, will the White House or the task force is being led by Vice President JD Vance, will they be making referrals and will you be taking those up? And I also just had a housekeeping question. It sounds like you're putting in the healthcare fraud section here, you're taking parts from the former tax division, but what about the civil components that do fraud investigations, like the False Claims Act? I mean, is that part of this too, or is this all strictly criminal investigation?
Todd Blanche (43:46):
It's primarily criminal, but I don't think that we want to limit ourselves as I stand here and announce it today, because I don't want to box anybody into a corner for what makes the most sense to do. And so, that remains to be seen.
Speaker 12 (44:01):
But as far as the referrals go, I mean, even if you're not reporting to the White House, but what if the White House or somebody in the White House says, "We want you to investigate this state or this program," I mean how do you handle that? Because historically, as you know, since Watergate, there's been kind of a firewall, if you will, on criminal investigations between the White House and the Justice Department.
Todd Blanche (44:22):
I mean, that is the most false statement I've ever heard in my life. There is always communication between a president and his priorities and what the Department of Justice should be focused on and not focused on. That is not a new thing in this administration, although I know it sounds fun to say that it is. As far as whether we would take a referral from the White House or take a referral from you even, yes. I mean, yes, if somebody knows about fraud, please tell us. And so, if the president of our United States says, "I have heard that there is ongoing fraud in Minneapolis, Minnesota," like any president before him, I hope that the attorney general would absolutely say, " Yes, we'll investigate that."
(45:01)
All right. I appreciate that, guys, so thank you.
Speaker X (45:03):
[inaudible 00:45:37].