According to the NYT, Todd Blanche refused to say that his DOJ would be “independent” on today’s “Meet the Press.” What conclusions should we draw from that?
Not many. The DOJ is part of the executive branch. As such, the president has some right to establish its priorities. For example, if he wants to emphasize dealing with organized crime or businesses committing fraud, as opposed to, say, immigration enforcement, that would be a perfectly legitimate use of his authority.
What is not legitimate is to pressure, in one way or another, the DOJ to engage in legally and factually frivolous investigations and prosecutions against the president’s political and legal opponents. The DOJ has an obligation to push back against those demands. For the past two years, it has not done so, and there is no reason to believe that the next two years offer anything better.