More Nazi shit........

Deputy AG Todd Blanche says ‘organized’ Trump protesters could be investigated

Blanche spoke as DOJ sought to walk back Attorney General Pam Bondi’s comments about "hate speech," which landed her in hot water with conservatives.

By Josh Gerstein

The Justice Department’s No. 2 official said Tuesday that people noisily protesting President Donald Trump could face investigation if they’re part of broader networks organizing such activities.

“Is it … sheer happenstance that individuals show up at a restaurant where the president is trying to enjoy dinner in Washington, D.C., and accost him with vile words and vile anger?” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday on CNN. “Does it mean it’s just completely random that they showed up? Maybe, maybe, but to the extent that it’s part of an organized effort to inflict harm and terror and damage to the United States, there’s potential, potential investigations there.”

As Trump prepared to sit down to dinner during a rare visit to a Washington restaurant last week, several protesters inside the business shouted, “Free DC! Free Palestine! Trump is the Hitler of our time!” They were quickly escorted out.

Asked Monday about the protest, Trump suggested Attorney General Pam Bondi should prosecute the participants, who he claimed were paid agitators. “I’ve asked Pam to look into that in terms of bringing RICO cases against them — criminal RICO,” the president said, referring to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

During the CNN interview Tuesday, Blanche defended the president’s comments. He said they did not apply to “peaceful” demonstrators and were focused on people or organizations that fund the protests.

“There’s nothing wrong with peaceful protests … and nobody has ever said so,” Blanche said, changing the subject from the scene at the Washington restaurant to sometimes violent confrontations between demonstrators and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers carrying out Trump’s mass deportation policy.

“What the administration is talking about is organized efforts by individuals who are not present at the protest, but they’re funding these protests, and they’re not protests. They’re inflicting damage and harm and actually assaulting officers. …That’s the conduct that we’re trying to stop,” the deputy attorney general said.

Blanche spoke as the Justice Department sought to walk back Bondi’s comments Monday about “hate speech”— statements that landed her in hot water with prominent conservative commentators and others. Bondi said on a podcast Monday that, in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s killing, the department would pursue people and businesses engaged in “hate speech.” She later sought to clarify her statement to cover only speech promoting violence.

“This is not about words that are used. It’s about words that are used when they’re threatening violence, murder, when they’re threatening to kill people. That’s what we cannot tolerate in this country,” Blanche said.

However, in explaining the administration’s stance, Blanche took a highly unusual tack for a Justice Department official by wading into politics.

“We’re not the Democratic Party. That’s not what we target,” Blanche said, referring to speech protected by the First Amendment.

Blanche went on to say the GOP is staunchly in favor of free speech. “The Republican Party and this administration believes in that more than most having been subjected to what we’ve been subjected to for the last several years,” he said.