Todd Blanche said this week that theNancy Guthrie case remains a joint effort between federal and local authorities in Arizona, pushing back on reports of a breakdown between the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff's Department over the investigation into Guthrie's disappearance.
Speaking on Bradley on the Border, the attorney general insisted the Bureau had worked closely with local law enforcement from the start, even as a very public dispute over access, evidence and those all important first days refused to go away.
Appearing on Bradley on the Border with NewsNation's Ali Bradley, Blanche — described in the segment as a Donald Trump‑appointed attorney general — was pressed on reports of a breakdown between the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff's Department over 'critical' DNA evidence.
Bradley asked how the Department of Justice was 'resolving the apparent breakdown in coordination between the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff's Department regarding the handling of the "critical" DNA evidence'. Blanche pushed back firmly.
He said the FBI 'has worked closely since the day that this happened with the local law enforcement', before acknowledging: 'There's been reports of friction. I've seen those reports. We are here to help.'
He went further, stressing that 'President Trump authorised and directed us to do everything we can to help in that investigation.'
In Blanche's telling, the Guthrie case remains at its core 'a local investigation because of the nature of this type of potential crime', but he insisted the Bureau 'remains able to help as much as we can.'
Then came the line that has stuck: 'We don't like interagency squabbles. Nobody likes that. That doesn't help the investigation. But we are in a complete cooperative mode with the local law enforcement.'
Blanche argued that 'any investigation like this should be done by a coordinated approach' and that agencies should be 'working together to solve the crime.'
Blanche's defensive tone did not come out of nowhere. His comments landed days afterFBI Director Kash Patel publicly accused the local sheriff of blocking federal agentsduring the most crucial early window of the Guthrie probe — an allegation Sheriff Chris Nanos has rejected.
Source: International Business Times UK
