预计即将出任众议院监督委员会主席的民主党籍众议员罗伯特·加西亚，并未试图掩饰他在即将召开的新一届国会中雄心勃勃的调查议程。相反，这位加利福尼亚州议员在上周大部分时间里都在敦促特朗普政府的主要官员（包括新任白幕僚长斯蒂芬·米勒）“请律师”。司法部长托德·布兰奇显然听说了加西亚的言论，而且他对此并不满意。
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, who is expected to soon lead the House Oversight Committee, has made no effort to hide his ambitious investigative agenda in the upcoming Congress. On the contrary, the Californian spent much of last week encouraging leading Trump administration officials, including new White House chief of staff Stephen Miller, to “lawyer up.”Attorney General Todd Blanche apparently heard about Garcia’s comments, and he was not pleased.
“我说实话，斯蒂芬·米勒有律师，”他在周五晚间接受福克斯新闻采访时表示，“就是我。” 表面上领导司法部的布兰奇两天后在另一次福克斯新闻采访中重申了这一观点，质疑美国能否“生存”下来，针对的是尚未发生的国会监督行动。
“Well, I’ll tell you what, Stephen Miller has a lawyer,” he said on Fox News during a Friday night appearance. “It’s me.”Blanche, who ostensibly leads the Justice Department, echoed the point two days later in another Fox News appearance, questioning whether the United States “can survive” the congressional oversight efforts that have not happened yet.
这位司法部长补充道：“如果你在这个政府工作，你就有律师。就是我，我们会为你辩护。我们会努力工作。” 同一天上午，CNN主播达娜·巴什也采访了布兰奇，询问他是否认为代表面临国会调查的官员是他的职责。
The attorney general added, “If you work in this administration, you have a lawyer. It’s me, and we will defend you. We will work hard.”The same morning, CNN’s Dana Bash also interviewed Blanche and asked whether he believes it’s his job to represent officials facing congressional investigations.
“等一下，我把这看作我的工作吗？”他问道，“宪法把这看作我的工作。” 这位司法部长随即补充说，如果国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯面临弹劾，他也打算为其辩护。
“Wait, do I see it as my job?” he replied. “The Constitution sees it as my job.”The attorney general quickly added that he would also intend to defend Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the event of his impeachment.
这一切都毫无道理。布兰奇发誓要保护和捍卫的宪法，并未提及司法部长一职，因此认为宪法要求他为面临国会调查的政府官员辩护的想法是愚蠢的。此外，历任遭遇弹劾的行政部门官员，依靠的都是辩护律师，而非联邦检察官。
None of this made any sense. The Constitution, which Blanche has sworn to protect and defend, does not reference the office of the attorney general, so the idea that it requires him to defend administration officials facing congressional investigations is foolish. What’s more, every executive branch official who has ever been impeached has relied on defense attorneys, not federal prosecutors.
换句话说，布兰奇听起来非常像一个不懂自己职责的党派人士——因为从表面上看，他确实不懂。
Blanche, in other words, sounded very much like a partisan who doesn’t understand what his job is — because, by appearances, he doesn’t.
他的这番言论是在司法部长驳回了国土安全部前官员卡利·米恩斯提出的腐败指控，并为民主党国会领袖若开展监督调查可能面临刑事起诉这一观点提供了可信度之际发表的。
His rhetoric came as the attorney general brushed off corruption allegations raised by Calley Means, a former official at the Department of Homeland Security, and lending credence to the idea that Democratic congressional leaders who conduct oversight investigations could be criminally prosecuted.
正如现为 MS NOW 法律分析师的前密歇根州联邦检察官芭芭拉·麦夸德在 Bluesky 上总结的那样：“司法部长代表美利坚合众国。不代表个别内阁官员。不代表总统。他拒绝履行职责，构成了对他本人进行弹劾的理由。”
As Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney for Michigan who is now an MS NOW legal analyst, summarized via Bluesky, “The Attorney General represents in the United States of America. Not individual cabinet officials. Not the president. This refusal to do his job is grounds for his own impeachment.”
麦夸德提到可能弹劾布兰奇一事引人关注，因为这近来已成为讨论日益增多的话题。MS NOW 上周报道：马里兰州民主党众议员杰米·拉斯金有望出任众议院司法委员会主席，他告诉 MS NOW，当民主党在 1 月重掌众议院议长之槌时，特朗普总统的司法部长托德·布兰奇可能面临弹劾听证会。拉斯金表示，在布兰奇的领导下，司法部已沦为“非正义部”。
McQuade’s reference to possibly impeaching Blanche was of particular interest, because this has become the subject of growing discussion of late. MS NOW reported last week: Rep. Jamie Raskin, who is poised to become chair of the House Judiciary Committee, told MS NOW that President Donald Trump’s attorney general, Todd Blanche, could face impeachment hearings when Democrats take back the gavel in January. The Maryland Democrat said that under Blanche’s leadership, the Department of Justice has become a “Department of Injustice.
随着民主党即将控制众议院，拉斯金誓言将调查布兰奇——此前曾担任总统私人律师之一——及其行为表现。众议院司法委员会通常是负责调查并起草正式弹劾条款的小组。
With Democrats set to take control of the House, Raskin vowed to investigate Blanche, who previously served as one of the president’s personal attorneys, and his conduct. The House Judiciary Committee is typically the panel responsible for investigating and drafting formal articles of impeachment.
周四，另外两位众议院民主党人——佐治亚州众议员汉克·约翰逊和北卡罗来纳州众议员德博拉·罗斯——也表达了支持弹劾布兰奇的立场。
On Thursday, two other House Democrats — Reps. Hank Johnson of Georgia and Deborah Ross of North Carolina — also voiced their support for impeaching Blanche.
罗斯说：“我无法想象我们不会推出一项（弹劾决议）”，指的是可能针对司法部长的弹劾决议。
“I can’t imagine we won’t have one,” Ross said, referring to a possible impeachment resolution against the attorney general.
在选举日前几天，《纽约时报》专栏作家大卫·弗伦奇撰写了一篇极具说服力的专栏文章，呼吁弹劾布兰奇，文中指出：“他的‘重罪’是腐蚀司法部，只有果断的政治净化行动才能洗刷‘让美国再次伟大’运动给司法部留下的可怕污点。”如果这篇专栏在未来几个月里在国会山广泛流传，没人会感到惊讶。
A couple of days before Election Day, The New York Times’ David French wrote a compelling column calling for Blanche’s impeachment, arguing, “His ‘high crime’ is corrupting the Department of Justice, and only a decisive act of political hygiene can cleanse the D.O.J. of MAGA’s terrible stain.”No one should be surprised if the column is circulated widely on Capitol Hill in the coming months.