US Attorney's Office Threatens Lawmakers Who Say Federal Agents Can Be Prosecuted Under State Laws
“We urge you and other California officials to publicly abandon this apparent criminal conspiracy," Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote in a letter to Newsom, Pelosi, and other officials.
The U.S. Attorney General’s office is threatening to prosecute elected officials, it appears, who say that federal officers can be charged for crimes that violate state law.
“We urge you and other California officials to publicly abandon this apparent criminal conspiracy, to stop threatening law enforcement, and to prioritize the safety of your citizens,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote in a letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom (D), Attorney General of California Rob Bonta, U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California), and San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.
Blanche was previously President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, and defended him in his criminal trial in New York last year. Trump was convicted on all 34 counts.
On Thursday, Blanche posted the letter to X, writing: “California politicians want to arrest federal agents for enforcing federal law. We just sent them a letter: Stand down or face prosecution. No one threatens our agents. No one will stop us from Making America Safe Again.”
He then shared his initial post and wrote, “Careful, @GovPritzker - this applies to you too.
Federal law. Federal authority. Federal consequences.”
In advance of Trump’s plan to “surge” San Francisco with federal agents, Pelosi and Congressman Kevin Mullin (D) issued a statement on Wednesday that said, in part, “Our state and local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law — and if they are convicted, the President cannot pardon them.”
On Thursday, President Trump announced on Truth Social that he is calling off the “surge,” after conversations with the the mayor of San Francisco, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff.
In the letter to California officials, Blanche wrote that the Department of Justice “views any arrests of federal agents and officers in the performance of their official duties as both illegal and futile.”
“Numerous federal laws prohibit interfering with and impeding immigration or other law enforcement operations,” Blanche wrote. “The Department of Justice will investigate and prosecute any state or local official who violates these federal statutes (or directs or conspires with others to violate them).”
Blanche claimed the Supremacy Clause — the constitutional principle that federal law takes precedence over state law — precludes prosecutions of federal officers under state laws if the alleged crime “arose during the performance of his federal duties.”
However, in an explainer published by the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School, titled “Can States Prosecute Federal Officials?,” Staff Attorney Bryna Godar wrote that the Supremacy Clause “only applies when federal officials are reasonably acting within the bounds of their lawful federal duties.”
Goddard continued, “When federal officials act beyond the scope of their duties, violate federal law, or behave in an egregious or unwarranted manner, state prosecutions can move forward.”
“[S]tates have a wide range of criminal laws at their disposal for addressing wrongdoing by federal officials, and state prosecutions of such officials have a long history,” Goddard concluded.
Trump administration officials have made multiple threats against lawmakers this week.
As The Carceral Report previously reported, Rep. Rob Garcia (D-California), the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, announced plans to create a website to track and document alleged misconduct and abuses committed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
In response to Garcia’s announcement, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem posted on social media:
In the wake of violent domestic terror attacks, bounties, and more than 1000% increase in assaults against our ICE officers, radical sanctuary politicians are now building a ‘Master ICE tracker’ to solicit and share information on the movements of our ICE officers.
Let’s call this what it is: a pipeline that will funnel information on American law enforcement directly into the hands of anarchists, domestic terrorists, and cartel members.
I am working with @AGPamBondi to ensure that ANY individual who doxxes, threatens, or assaults our law enforcement officers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
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Photo by Chad Stembridge on Unsplash. The Carceral Report cropped the photo to protect the identity of the protester.