Attorney General Todd Blanche Briefs Members of the Media, Sep. 15, 2026
September 15, 2026 · The White House · 0:33:45
Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube
What happened
Attorney General Todd Blanche briefed reporters at the White House on September 15, 2026, opening with a rundown of the Justice Department’s work, in a briefing carried on the White House channel. On terrorism, he said FBI data show 4,260 arrests related to foreign terrorist organizations since President Trump returned to office, “including 1,039 individuals prevented from carrying out alleged terrorist attacks” — a 38% increase from the last administration. He pointed to a same-morning ISIS-related arrest in Butler County, Pennsylvania, and a Southern District of New York indictment charging Russian intelligence-linked individuals with financing terrorism and conspiring to commit murder for hire.
On crime, Blanche said that under President Trump’s leadership “crime is the lowest it has been in modern history,” citing 2025 murder rates down nearly 20% and violent crime down nearly 10%. Marking one year since the Memphis memorandum of understanding, he cited nearly 13,000 arrests in the Memphis area, more than 2,000 illegal firearms seized, nearly 1,500 known gang members arrested, and more than 200 missing children located; in St. Louis, he said, over 250 violent criminals had been arrested in four weeks. He noted Director Patel’s announcement that the FBI had arrested all ten of its Ten Most Wanted in the administration’s first 18 months.
On fraud, he described the Missouri COVID-fraud surge he had joined the Vice President to announce the day before (see the September 14 Kansas City entry in this collection): enforcement actions spanning over 160 criminal defendants and approximately $245 million in intended loss, plus 12 daycare-fraud arrests announced that morning in the Southern District of California involving more than $10 million. On election integrity, he said DOJ had charged 11 individuals in the past ten days for illegally voting or fraudulently registering, and that the administration had charged nearly four times as many non-citizen voting cases in under two years as the last administration brought in four.
Why it matters
This is the Attorney General’s own consolidated account of the Justice Department’s record — terrorism, violent crime, fraud, and election cases — delivered from the White House podium, and it is the department-side companion to the fraud task force announcements Vice President Vance has been fronting.
Scoreboard watch
This briefing carries a dense set of candidate figures for the scoreboard: 4,260 FTO-related arrests and 1,039 alleged attacks prevented; the Memphis totals (nearly 13,000 arrests, 2,000+ firearms, 1,500 gang members, 200+ missing children); and the comparative non-citizen voting prosecution claim.
Sources: The White House, “Attorney General of the United States Todd Blanche Briefs Members of the Media, Sep. 15, 2026” (official upload, embedded above; the upload’s description places the briefing at the White House). All figures and characterizations as stated by the Attorney General at the briefing.
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