Blanche Holds Rose Garden Briefing, Stunning Legal Experts
Blanche Holds Rose Garden Briefing, Stunning Legal Experts
The News
Attorney General Todd Blanche is holding his first White House press briefing, taking questions from reporters at 2 p.m. ET Tuesday.
The briefing is being held in the Rose Garden rather than the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, the usual venue.
Blanche is the latest administration official to lead a White House press conference following the departure of press secretary Karoline Leavitt, the Washington Examiner reported.
The choice of a sitting attorney general to brief from the White House drew immediate criticism from legal analysts, who told Raw Story the arrangement broke with long-standing practice separating the Justice Department from the White House podium.
Timeline
Vice President JD Vance takes questions from reporters in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, PBS NewsHour reported, part of a run of administration officials filling in at the podium.
Word of Blanche's scheduled White House appearance circulates; Raw Story reports that a panel of legal experts, including CNN legal analyst Elie Honig and former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, was stunned by it.
Outlets across the spectrum, from PBS NewsHour to the Washington Examiner to The Gateway Pundit, post live coverage plans for the briefing.
Blanche briefs reporters in the Rose Garden.
Reactions
Raw Story reported that the announced event "stunned a panel of legal experts," with CNN legal analyst Elie Honig and former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe among those objecting. The outlet described the briefing as "verboten" in the eyes of those analysts and quoted the reaction "Crazy!"
Conservative outlets treated the event as routine access. The Gateway Pundit and Conservative Treehouse both promoted the Rose Garden briefing as a livestream event, noting only the change of venue from the briefing room.
The Washington Examiner framed Blanche's turn at the podium as a continuation of the White House's rotating-briefer approach since Leavitt's departure.
What's Next
The substance of Blanche's answers — and whether the Justice Department will make him or other officials available for further White House briefings — will be clear once the Rose Garden session wraps.
Expect continued scrutiny from legal commentators over whether an attorney general briefing from White House grounds blurs the line between the department and the president's political operation.
The White House has not said which official will take the podium next.
More
The Brady Press Briefing Room is the standard venue for White House press briefings; Tuesday's session was moved outdoors to the Rose Garden, according to the outlets covering it.
Coverage of the briefing spanned the spectrum — PBS NewsHour at the center, the Washington Examiner, The Gateway Pundit and Conservative Treehouse on the right, and Raw Story on the left — with the split falling less on the facts than on whether the event was normal.
Poll
Should the attorney general brief reporters from the White House?
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