Deputy Assistant Attorney General speaks at a law and order event at the DOJ.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
00:23Hi everybody.
00:24How are we doing?
00:27So let me welcome you to the Department of Justice and our great hall.
00:33We're thrilled that you're here with us today.
00:35This is an incredibly historic day for our department and for everybody in this room
00:43because I know you guys are not here to see me.
00:48I know who you're here to see.
00:50And it's because for the first time, President Trump is going to come here and speak at the
00:56Department of Justice in our great hall, and it's a great day.
01:06I want to thank our, we have a ton of special guests here today, and Attorney General Bondi
01:11is going to thank you as well, but thank you all for being here.
01:15There's law enforcement, our state and local partners, state's attorneys generals, folks
01:20from the Hill, and we really, really appreciate you taking time to come and hear President
01:24Trump speak shortly.
01:27Director Patel is great, isn't he?
01:34So like was just announced from above, my name is Todd Blanche and I'm the Deputy Attorney
01:39General.
01:41I will tell you that I love this department.
01:47Our mission, keeping our borders safe, keeping our cities safe, our rural communities safe,
01:55that's a great job.
01:57That's our mission, and we're executing, as Director Patel just said, on that mission
02:01right now.
02:03Some of you may know me because I represented President Trump over the past couple of years.
02:19Enough has been said about what happened to him over the past four years, but I was right
02:28next to him.
02:30I stood next to him making that very stern, mean face that you saw.
02:37On multiple occasions, I met with him on multiple occasions, and I will tell you the media attacks,
02:42the partisan prosecutors, the complete and utter lawfare, the assassination attempts
02:48that happened on more than one occasion against his life, through all those things, through
02:53all that time, he was a complete inspiration to me personally.
02:59He just stayed completely resolved, as you've heard and seen on multiple occasions over
03:06the past year.
03:08He never wavered.
03:09He was resolved to keep fighting on behalf of the American people, and that's the inspiration
03:16that I felt from him for the past several years, and it's the inspiration that drives
03:21me every single day.
03:25In a little while, you're going to hear from our great Attorney General, and she's going
03:29to also share some words about the vision and what we're going to do to make America
03:36safe again.
03:38I've been here seven days, so I'm going to tell you a little bit of what I've learned
03:45in that time of what we've already done since January 20th.
03:49Fifty-three days ago, the President made the American people a promise.
03:54He promised that under his watch, safety will be restored, violent criminals and illegal
03:59aliens will be brought to justice, and the partisan weaponization of the Justice Department
04:05will end.
04:07We have a lot of work to do to keep that promise to the country, but let me tell you a bit
04:12about what we've already done.
04:16The President promised to the American people to eliminate the cartels that have been flooding
04:21our country with drugs and violent criminals.
04:25We responded, as Director Patel just said a few minutes ago, by working with the President's
04:30team to secure custody of 29 cartel leaders from Mexico.
04:44These defendants were responsible for horrific, horrific crimes, including murders, drug trafficking,
04:52money laundering, and we brought them to the United States where they will face justice.
04:58Now, among the criminals that we brought back from Mexico was R.C.Q., Rafael Quintero.
05:09He led a vicious cartel and was responsible for the torture and murder of DEAgent Kiki
05:17Camarena in 1985, 40 years ago.
05:23Now, the United States chased that man, law enforcement from every agency chased that
05:32man for 40 years, and we got him.
05:45I was really happy and satisfied to learn just the other day that Special Agent Camarena's
05:57handcuffs, they were saved by his son, who is now a judge in California, were used on
06:05R.C.Q. at his presentment in United States District Court.
06:17We are not stopping at the 29 folks that we already brought here.
06:23We will continue to hunt down cartel members throughout America, Mexico, South America,
06:30and everywhere in the world.
06:33Last month, President Trump designated MS-13 and TDA and other cartels as foreign terrorist
06:41organizations.
06:42These designations are important to the Department of Justice.
06:46They allow us to charge members of the cartels and their affiliates with terrorism charges
06:52because they are terrorists.
06:56This designation reflects the damage that they have done to our communities everywhere
07:04in this country.
07:05They are, of course, not only harming our country and the people through more than just
07:11drug trafficking, but also all kinds of other illegal activities, and so the people that
07:19support him, both in the United States and abroad, will be targeted by us.
07:28The President promised to crack down on illegal immigration, and that has been a major problem
07:34in this country for a very long time.
07:37Since January 20th, just a couple months ago, DOJ prosecutors in our border districts have
07:43filed criminal cases against over 6,600 illegal aliens.
07:55In Arizona alone, we have charged over 3,000 illegal aliens in just the past two months.
08:10Illegal immigration has resulted in the deaths of countless American citizens.
08:14Take the case of Wake County Sheriff Deputy Ned Byrd.
08:18On August 11, 2022, he was murdered at the hands of two illegal aliens.
08:25Now, they were brothers, the Sotelo brothers, and they were arrested, but one of them escaped
08:31prison and fled to Mexico.
08:33He remained in Mexico for over two years.
08:38Then President Trump took office.
08:40The Justice Department and our law enforcement worked tirelessly, and he was brought back
08:45to the United States, where he will face justice.
08:53We are also setting up task forces with our homeland security partners.
08:58These task forces include the FBI, DEA, prosecutors, our state and local prosecution offices, and
09:05law enforcement support, some of which are here today.
09:09Their mission is clear and critical, is to aggressively enforce immigration laws and
09:14ruthlessly pursue members of transnational criminal organizations.
09:19Director Patel mentioned one, and it's worth mentioning again, it's right across the river
09:24in the Eastern District of Virginia.
09:26It's the first task force that we set up, and they've already arrested over 220 gang
09:32members, and we are pursuing hundreds more just with that one task force.
09:38Now, President Trump also promised that we will always support our courageous law enforcement
09:44officers.
09:45They are on the front lines in the fight against crime and in the fight against illegal immigration,
09:51and we will have their backs.
10:02In an executive order, the President directed us to seek the death penalty where appropriate
10:07for anyone who murders a law enforcement officer.
10:11Two months ago, U.S. Border Patrol agent David Christopher Maland was tragically murdered
10:17in Vermont.
10:19Last month, a federal grand jury indicted Teresa Youngblood for the shooting of Agent
10:25Maland.
10:26We are strongly considering seeking the death penalty in that case.
10:32The President promised that under his watch, we will no longer stand by while universities
10:37tolerate and facilitate anti-Semitism and support of terrorism on their campuses.
10:52The department's recent actions, which hopefully you've seen, at Columbia University in coordination
10:58with our law enforcement agency partners, are part of the administration's mission to
11:03end anti-Semitism in this country.
11:07Just last night, we worked with the Department of Homeland Security to execute search warrants
11:12from an investigation into Columbia University for harboring and concealing illegal aliens
11:20on its campus.
11:22That investigation is ongoing, and we are also looking at whether Columbia's handling
11:28of earlier incidents violated civil rights laws and included terrorism crimes.
11:35This is long overdue.
11:45Let me be clear.
11:47Hamas is a terrorist organization.
11:54It has the blood of American citizens on its hands, innocent victims, many of whom are
12:02citizens of this country, have died because of Hamas's actions.
12:08Any person engaging in material support of terrorism will be prosecuted.
12:22This includes those who threaten acts of violence on behalf of Hamas in the United States or
12:27even pay Hamas in the United States.
12:31The president also promised an end to the weaponization of government.
12:36Our weaponization inquiries are ongoing.
12:39They include matters relating to J6, improper prosecutions under the FACE Act, and the case
12:44against Colorado elections clerk Tina Peters.
12:48Under General Bondi's watch, the weaponization has stopped, period.
12:54The department's focus is now squarely on our core mission, keeping the American people
12:59safe.
13:08That was a brief overview, and as you can tell, we have been very busy doing a lot of
13:13work in this department since January 20th.
13:16And that would not have been possible without everybody in this room.
13:23One thing has become clear to me as I've met with the men and women of the Justice Department
13:27just over the past week, and that's that we are blessed to have extraordinary law
13:33enforcement officers, prosecutors, civil lawyers, hardworking staff working every day to execute
13:41on our mission.
13:42And I thank them for that.
13:43They've made me feel welcome, and I can't wait to work with them for the next four years.
13:47So this is just the beginning.
13:51It's March.
13:52We have a lot of work to do and plenty of time to do it.
13:56I will tell you, under Attorney General Bondi's leadership, we will work tirelessly to restore
14:02law and order to our great nation.
14:05We will back the blue.
14:14And I couldn't agree more with what Cash said a few minutes ago, that we are going to go
14:21after violent criminals and illegal aliens throughout our nation.
14:26I'm going to stop talking now, and there's going to be a brief break before you hear
14:31from the main event, Attorney General Bondi and the President of the United States.
14:36But I just want to thank, again, all of you folks for being here today.
14:42I want to thank President Trump for visiting us today on what is a truly historic day.
14:49And most of all, I want to thank all of you for being here.
14:54And we've got a lot of work to do, and we're ready to do it.
14:57Thank you very much.