Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche discusses the discovery of a sophisticated drug-smuggling tunnel and the FBI’s ongoing efforts to combat fraud on FOX News Channel’s “Saturday in America” with host Kayleigh McEnany.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, FOX NEWS HOST:  Moments from now, the Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will join me here on Saturday in America just days after the discovery of a cross-border tunnel used to smuggle deadly drugs into the United States. This video is astonishing and you haven’t seen it yet. Take a look at this.   Homeland Security busting this sophisticated underground tunnel that connected an area of Tijuana, Mexico, to a retail store in San Diego. It was hidden 55 feet underground and was longer than five football fields. Now, U.S. officials say it had reinforced walls, had electricity, ventilation and get this a rail system. Investigators were surveilling the retail store for months because of suspicious activity. And that led to the seizure of $ 45 million worth of cocaine and the eventual discovery of that tunnel. Now, four people so far have been charged in connection with this elaborate operation.   And with that, let’s bring in Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Attorney General, this is astonishing. When I saw it, I mean, hat tip to your team for finding it to the FBI.   How did you find this? And do you believe there are more of these?   TODD BLANCHE, ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES:  Well, look, yeah, this was a six-month investigation. It lasted a long time. And this is one of the new ways that the cartels, that these terrorists are trying to get drugs into this country.   As you just said, this is a very sophisticated tunnel, about four and a half feet to get all the way through. It had — it had electricity. It had a rail system.   And this is great work. Our Homeland Security Task Force team that’s in California worked really hard on this investigation. We had two illegal aliens from Mexico and two, unfortunately, two drug dealers from the United States as well.   So, yeah, look, there — this has been something that they’ve been doing for a long time. And now that the borders are closed, they have to find other ways to get drugs in this country. And this is — this was one way they were trying to do it.   MCENANY:  It’s astonishing. Cocaine flowing through that tunnel, probably fentanyl, too, possibly and into the homes of Americans killing American citizens. Great work to the FBI and DOJ for finding that another story that deserves a ton of coverage.   And this happened yesterday. There were three individuals in Kansas and California that you found and they were providing material support to ISIS. And the details are quite something.   One said it was sick if his name was on a drone that would kill American service members. Another person said they always wanted to kill a female soldier by beheading. “I wish I could kill 300 million Americans.”   These are bad guys. And now they’re indicted.   BLANCHE:  Yes, this is a very disturbing case. You have young men. They’re in their 20s, completely indoctrinated by terrorism and by terrorists and actually spending money to actually follow through on these attacks.   Like you just said, one wanted their name written on a drone to kill Americans. One fantasized about about killing a female soldier by beheading her. And look, another great example of hardworking FBI agents and our federal prosecutors in California and Kansas and working together.   And I’m glad we were able to interject here and stop these men. But it’s a good reminder to the Americans that this fight is not over. There are still a lot of people that want to inject harm into this country and our citizens.   MCENANY:  No doubt about it. And bringing it domestically, you know, we talked about our service members there for a little bit. But focusing on fraud, we saw you and a whole of government approach this week tackling fraud.   And I’ve heard from our viewers constantly. We want to rest. And you brought that once again this week, a 32-count indictment, two of which were state employees.   This is the most wanted fraudsters you have. I was stunned, Mr. Attorney General, that there is a man on there that’s accused of stealing $ 1.2 billion with the B of taxpayer dollars. These people, you think you’re going to find them?   BLANCHE:  Well, yes. And that’s one of the reasons why we’re publishing this list is because it works for the most wanted that, you know, Director Patel talks about how in just one year we’ve gotten eight of the 10 most wanted criminals.   And that’s why we wanted to start this list. You have President Trump, Vice President Vance telling the American people we are going to stop this fraud and these thieves, they’re just people stealing money from the taxpayers of this country. And we announced a bunch of charges in Ohio this week.   And just remember, when we’re arresting these guys, we’re taking cars, luxury cars. We got Range Rovers, Maseratis, a McLaren this week. And so these are individuals who are just stealing from us and then going out and living in the lap of luxury. And so we’re going to continue in every jurisdiction to go after these fraudsters and arrest them and take all of their ill-gotten gains, which is what you saw happen this week.   MCENANY:  On that 32-count indictment, one thing that stood out to me was the two state employees, because something that I’m asked often, I asked the vice president about, are, could there be state actors involved, and could we see accountability there? And we see that with these two state employees. What did you find with them?   BLANCHE:  Yes. Yes, that’s right. I mean, look, in some states, they’re making it almost too easy for fraudsters to do what they’re doing, and you do have state employees who are aware of how easy it is in some states to steal from the American taxpayer. And so, yes, there were two state employees arrested.   We have dozens of investigations going on all over this country, and you’re going to see more and more arrests as the months — weeks and months go on, because this is something that became a real crisis that we are now addressing with the full weight of the federal government. Not just the Department of Justice, but DHS and HHS and Department of Education and Small Business Association, everybody’s working together to root out fraud, and that’s why you’re seeing the results that you’re seeing.   MCENANY:  Another item, and again, this was all this week, there was a U.S. Iranian citizen that was indicted, and this individual was living in a mansion and, I believe, giving information of some sort to assist the Iranian nuclear program. Are you going to be able to seize that mansion?   BLANCHE:  Look, I think, yes, there’s forfeiture charges associated with the charges against him, and yes, he allegedly was just an old-fashioned spy, and it’s disturbing. And again, but I want to make sure that we emphasize that this is the great work of the FBI. There’s so much criticism about law enforcement these days.   You have a phenomenal investigation. You have the U.S. Attorney’s Office in California working hard with law enforcement, and we were able to arrest this guy for allegedly very, very serious crimes. And you’re right, it’s not just the arrest.   It’s also making sure we take the ill-gotten gains and any money that they’ve made off their illegal schemes, and that’s a big priority of what we’re doing as well.   MCENANY:  No doubt, and it is the hard work of law enforcement, and we’ve been through many things, again, all this week, law enforcement doing their job, but also Operation Spring Cleaning, which you announced. And this is to protect American citizens and their cities. In addition to that, in tandem with that, there was the Model Cities Initiative.   A lot of people say, you know, what happened with the big, beautiful bill? Well, this is an example of that, $ 300 million, I believe, going to cities that are serious about reducing crime. Tell me about these crime initiatives with Operation Spring Cleaning and the Model Cities Initiative.   BLANCHE:  Yes, this is a great initiative. The FBI does several times a year to go into cities and just put a lot of agents and a lot of law enforcement in a city to arrest people who are either wanted for crimes already or to actually build cases and arrest them federally, or even sometimes take the charges to the state. What we’ve done with the Model Cities Initiative is we are saying to cities, if you’re serious about reducing crime, if you’re serious about partnering with the federal government to make your city safe, we are going to back it up and we’re going to give you money to help you do it.   And so, the Big Beautiful Bill gave a lot of money for state and local law enforcement. And what we’re going to do with President Trump’s encouragement and direction is spend that money wisely. So, we’re going to spend that money in cities that are willing to join us in this fight against crime.   And we’re looking forward to results. We’ve seen results in Memphis, in D.C., all over the country. And that’s what the Model Cities Initiative is designed to do.   MCENANY:  And we’ve had little Braylon on. He’s a sweet little boy in Memphis who was thanking the Trump administration because now he’s allowed to go out on his porch and play his musical instrument. And so there are real people affected by this.   That was all in a week’s time. But there was also some personnel news this week. And I do want to end with that.   The president announced that he wants you to be the permanent attorney general. And last night, Susie Wiles said congratulations to Todd Blanche on his nomination by President Trump to become the next attorney general. That’s a lot of priorities we went through just from this week.   What’s your priority going to be as attorney general?   BLANCHE:  Look, executing on the president’s priorities that he has talked about since he was running for president. And that’s making this country safe again. And so, we’re doing that every day at the Department of Justice.   And so, look, I’m honored and humbled that President Trump has asked me to be to become the permanent attorney general. I look forward to working with the Senate over the next couple of weeks and months to get that done. And it’s not only an honor, but it’s a big responsibility.   But we have a lot of men and women all over this country working hard every day to execute on the president’s priorities of cleaning up our cities, narco-terrorism, getting them out and making sure that we stop the scourge of drugs and the fraud that’s happening. That’s the job. And that’s what we’ve been doing.   And that’s what we’re going to keep on doing. And that’s what the American people expect.   MCENANY:  No doubt. Well, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, thank you so much for your time this morning. We appreciate it.
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