Eric Holder Tells Alex Wagner He Doesn't Trust Todd Blanche on Certification

Former Attorney General Eric Holder said he does not believe Attorney General Todd Blanche's assurance that the Justice Department has no plans to interfere with certifying the midterm results, and called the department "simply an arm of the White House."

Holder, who served under President Barack Obama and now chairs the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, spoke to Alex Wagner in a Pod Save America episode recorded Friday afternoon. He said Democrats already have court filings prepared for certification fights. The November 3 election is now nine days away.

"I don't take Todd Blanche at his word there," Holder said.

What Todd Blanche Said About Certification

Wagner played Blanche's remarks to reporters on Thursday. Asked whether there was any scenario in which the Justice Department would try to block states from certifying, Blanche did not rule it out.

"Of course, there's scenarios that we could all come up with hypothetically, you know, some doomsday scenario, for example, right?" Blanche said. He added: "It is not DOJ's intention to, and it's never our intention to improperly interfere with elections or the state confirmation process or certification process."

"But am I planning my days around the election to be somewhere to not certify? Of course not, no, not at all," he said.

Eric Holder: Justice Department Is 'an Arm of the White House'

Holder granted that Blanche's answer, taken by itself, was not alarming. "In some ways, that answer could be viewed as a fairly benign one if the person making that statement had not already done things to indicate that the Justice Department does want to interfere with the electoral process," he said.

"My concern is that they might be thinking about this during some other part of the day," he added. "They don't come into this, as we say in the law, with clean hands."

He pointed to "high profile indictments brought in a time period when the Justice Department does not normally do overt things in terms of either investigations or indictments." That is Holder's view of the department's motives.

The department's informal "60-day rule" discourages overt law enforcement steps close to an election, Roll Call reported, and no written guidance sets it out. Holder, for his part, said that "post-Watergate" the department was understood to act independently of the White House.

Holder did not name specific cases. Two recent ones fit the timing he described. Homeland Security Investigations agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar's home, and the Justice Department has said the search was carried out under a judicially authorized warrant. Prosecutors also charged Virginia State Senator L. Louise Lucas, a Democrat who helped lead her state's redistricting push, with racketeering and money laundering conspiracy. Her charges also include conspiracy to distribute marijuana tied to a cannabis business she co-owns, and NBC News reported that the investigation predates the Trump administration.

"The fact that the Justice Department is simply an arm of the White House, simply an arm of the political component of the White House, gives me a great deal of concern," Holder said. Later he added, "I'm concerned that this Justice Department is simply an arm of the RNC and of the White House."

The Alaska Lawsuit and Past Certification Fights

The record already includes one certification challenge. The department has sued Alaska election officials, asking a court to block certification of the Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses, on the grounds that a second candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., confused voters. Trump has said he ordered the suit. Democratic nominee Mary Peltola leads Sullivan by 3.4 points in PolitiKool's polling average.

"I don't see how you can. There's nothing to certify," Holder said of the preemptive suit, noting Alaska courts had ruled the second Sullivan was legitimately on the ballot.

With regard to certification, he said, "we already have, you know, court filings that have been prepared. And you just got to fill in, you know, what's the district? Where is this thing going to go?"

If a local official refuses to certify, Holder said Democrats would seek a writ of mandamus, a court order compelling an official to "do that, which he or she is sworn to do, simply do their jobs."

What Happens Next

Holder also urged peaceful protests outside the office of any official who will not certify, and said he trusts the current clerk of the House. If Speaker Mike Johnson tried to replace the clerk after the election, he said, "that would be of concern to me."