Todd Blanche makes plea for unity at Justice Department

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN

(CNN) — In his inaugural address to the Justice Department workforce on Thursday, Attorney General Todd Blanche pledged to make the department “more faithful to its highest ideals than when I found it.”

Blanche’s speech, delivered in the great hall of the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, was meant to steady a workforce bruised by firings, fierce backlash in court and accusations of political dealing on the president’s behalf.

“I promise you that I will lead this department with integrity,” Blanche said. “I promise you that I will focus on our core mission, which is to uphold the rule of law fairly and impartially, to keep this great country safe, and to protect the rights of every citizen in this country.”

The speech comes after Blanche was confirmed as attorney general on Saturday after serving in an acting capacity since April. It was the first formal address to Justice Department staff since President Donald Trump took to the stage in March 2025, describing himself as the “chief law enforcement officer in our country” and vowing to expel what he called “rogue actors and corrupt forces” from the government.

In his speech, however, Blanche echoed attorneys general who came before him. He thanked the law enforcement work that agents and prosecutors do every day and repeated the core principle of the Justice Department, “to uphold the law without fear or favor.” He only mentioned Trump by name once.

Still to some in the crowd, Blanche’s address seemed to erase more than a year of upheaval. He pledged to “always respect the role of the judiciary,” and not to “engage in or stand for any sort of performative attacks that undermine the institutions that we are sworn to uphold,” both of which critics have accused the department of repeatedly doing.

The attorney general’s core message appeared to be one of unity, and of fostering healthy debate between people “of different backgrounds, different politics, different life experiences.”

“I think disagreement is the only way that we make the best decisions as a department,” Blanche said. “I think the fair administration of justice and us doing our jobs depend on that.”

“I will not get every decision right. Everything that I do will not be the right path or the right decision. No one does that,” he said. “But I do promise you this: I promise you that I will work as hard as any of you. I promise you that I will listen to you, that I will listen to the ideas that you have or the adjustments that we need to make.”

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