Todd Blanche Reveals White House Uses List to Call on Reporters

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters Attorney General Todd Blanche inadvertently revealed that the White House preselects reporters to ask questions during press conferences, despite Donald Trump condemning Joe Biden for the practice.

Blanche stepped in as White House press secretary on Tuesday—a role that remains unfilled following the departure of Karoline Leavitt —to speak to reporters outside in the Rose Garden.

After discussing the work of the Department of Justice, Blanche opened the floor to questions while acknowledging that he knew exactly which reporters he would call on, and in what order.

“I will take questions if there are any.

And I know it’s a different environment than before; I notice you guys are sweating, which is nice.

I love to see that.

We’ll start out with…” Multiple reporters then began talking over one another as they tried to get the opening question, prompting Blanche to tell them: “They give you a list, guys.

Everybody calm down.” Blanche then took the first question from a reporter from the conservative magazine National Review, as planned.

He also glanced at his list to call on a reporter from the right-wing news site Daily Caller.

The first two questions taken by Blanche on Tuesday gave the attorney general the opportunity to push Trump’s agenda.

The first question from National Review asked whether the Supreme Court’s rejection of Trump’s plan to restrict voting by mail ahead of the midterms will create an “obstacle to future ballot fraud prosecution.” The second question from the Daily Caller asked if the administration would deport Minnesota Rep.

Ilhan Omar if the longtime Trump nemesis was proven to have committed “immigration or naturalization fraud” in an investigation announced by White House border czar Tom Homan on Sunday.

Administration officials deciding in advance which reporters to call on at press conferences is a common practice.

However, Blanche’s openness about it only serves to highlight Trump’s hypocrisy, since he called out his predecessor for doing the same thing.