Robert Garcia

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Rep. Robert Garcia said he and fellow Democrats were “not going to be intimidated” by Blanche’s on-air threats.

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), incoming chairman of the House Oversight Committee, and Attorney General Todd Blanche individually traded barbs on CNN over the weekend after the network reportedly dashed Garcia’s hopes of an on-air confrontation.

In a combative interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” that aired Sunday, Blanche tore into Garcia’s public pledge to investigate President Donald Trump and his allies in the wake of last week’s midterm elections, which saw Democrats take control of both houses of Congress.

“My job as the attorney general is ― among other things ― to defend the administration. We do that in court in all sorts of ways,” he said. “If they try to come after [White House chief of staff] Stephen Miller for whatever it is that Garcia thinks he’s going to do ... of course the Department of Justice will there to defend him.”

Watch a clip of Blanche and Garcia’s CNN interviews here.

He went on to note: “Department of Justice lawyers represent members of the executive [branch], and the fact that Congressman Garcia is critical of that shows a remarkable lack of understanding of how government works. I would be very worried if I was a member on that committee.”

Immediately after Blanche’s interview concluded, Garcia shrugged off the attorney general’s threats in a separate chat with CNN’s Dana Bash.

“We should always remember that Todd Blanche was Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, and he continues, obviously, to play that role,” he explained. “All he wants to do is protect Donald Trump, is protect Donald Trump’s cabinet and administration officials. That is not his job; I want to remind him.”

He added, “Look, they can come after us however they want. We’re not going to be intimidated.”

In an X post Saturday, Washington Sun reporter Oriana Gonzalez recalled Garcia teasing his “State of the Union” appearance in their conversation earlier that day.

According to Gonzalez, Garcia said CNN denied his request to appear jointly with Blanche. Still, he noted: “I’m looking forward to calling him out on his bullshit.”

👀 Robert Garcia tells me he is going to be on @CNN's 'State of the Union' tomorrow — right after Todd Blanche"I called CNN and I was like, 'can we be on at the same time?' and they were like 'no,'" Garcia said"I'm looking forward to calling him out on his bullshit," he adds

Last week, Garcia responded to the Democratic Party’s historic midterm election victories by telling Trump administration officials to “LAWYER UP.”

He reiterated that message in a short video posted to X on Friday, noting: “The American people have spoken and they are tired of the unprecedented level of corruption coming out of this White House under President Trump.”