The Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP) hosted the acting head of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) earlier this month for an official visit to Bethel and Emmonak.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche began his two-day trip to Alaska on July 7 in Anchorage, where he held a press conference to announce a cash settlement connected to the Port of Alaska.
The following day, Blanche traveled to Bethel and Emmonak for meetings with tribal and local leaders hosted by AVCP. According to a social media post, Blanche was joined during the visit by other DOJ officials, U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska Michael Heyman, members of the Orutsararmiut Native Council, and representatives from the offices of Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan.
On social media, the tribal consortium said that the visit was an opportunity to discuss concerns about public safety, energy costs, and salmon crashes. Meetings during the visit also covered AVCP’s service model, advocacy priorities, and a recently announced initiative to improve emergency response in the region, known as the Western Alaska Public Safety Emergency Response System.
Plans for Blanche’s visit to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta were not shared publicly beforehand. In an email, a DOJ spokesperson said Blanche had mentioned a visit to rural Alaska in an interview, but the spokesperson did not provide further details.
The Association of Village Council Presidents declined to comment on July 22 about Blanche’s visit.
The trip comes as national media attention is focused on the question of whether Blanche will be confirmed as U.S. attorney general. He faced criticism in a recent Senate confirmation hearing for his handling of the Epstein files, a stalled $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund he helped to craft, and his attempts to prosecute President Donald Trump’s perceived political foes. Prior to joining the U.S Department of Justice, Blanche served as Trump’s personal attorney.
