Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche denied to CBS News that the Justice Department is engaging in a retribution campaign against President Trump's adversaries, pushing back on criticism from former President Barack Obama — but he argued Mr. Trump has vast power to oversee the agency.

The Justice Department — which Blanche has led since last month after serving as second-in-command — has faced months of scrutiny for bringing criminal charges against Trump foes, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Critics also argue the department, which has historically maintained an arms-length relationship with the White House, is losing its traditional reputation as an apolitical agency.

In an interview with CBS News in Phoenix Wednesday, Blanche called allegations that his department is leading a retribution campaign "simply false," saying prosecutors are "doing our jobs" and "making America safe again." 

He said the latest Comey indictment, which accused the former FBI director of threatening the 47th president by posting a photo of seashells arranged to form the numbers "86 47," was just one of the thousands of cases brought by the Justice Department every year. He insisted the case was spearheaded by "local prosecutors" and "local agents."

"I don't even know their names," Blanche said of the North Carolina-based federal prosecutors.

Obama joined the chorus of critics on Tuesday, telling late-night host Stephen Colbert that he's concerned about "the politicization of our justice system" and the risk that "whoever is in charge of the government starts using that to go after their political enemies." His remarks did not mention Mr. Trump personally but appeared to be directed at the president.

"The White House shouldn't be able to direct the attorney general to go around prosecuting whoever the president wants to prosecute," Obama said.

In response to the former president's comments, Blanche pulled out a pocket-sized copy of the Constitution and flipped to the part that lays out how the executive branch works.

"Article Two says, 'the executive power shall be vested in the President of the United States of America.' It does not say that the Attorney General stands off to the side," Blanche said.

He noted that he is a member of Mr. Trump's Cabinet, and argued the president has the right to lead the country "in all areas," including on criminal justice.

"To the extent that President Trump calls me and says that he thinks that we have a problem in this country, whether it's the scourge of drugs, illegal immigration," he said, "every American wants him to do that, and he should."

Comey and James were first indicted last fall on charges of lying to Congress and bank fraud, respectively, but their cases were tossed out on the grounds that the interim U.S. attorney who led the prosecutions was invalidly appointed. Shortly before those charges were brought, Mr. Trump penned a Truth Social post urging Blanche's predecessor, Attorney General Pam Bondi, to look into Comey, James and a third longtime Trump foil, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff. 

Asked whether the president is calling him and directing him to prosecute certain individuals, Blanche said he would not discuss his conversations with Mr. Trump.

"But rest assured, he has much better, bigger and important things to do than to worry about me doing my job," said Blanche. "And I wake up with a very clean conscience every morning. We are absolutely doing nothing but what we should be doing at the Department of Justice."

Blanche also called allegations from Democrats that Mr. Trump is prosecuting his opponents "extraordinarily rich." He pointed to the raft of criminal charges that Mr. Trump faced before returning to office last year, brought by state prosecutors in New York and Georgia and a federal special counsel. Blanche served as Mr. Trump's defense attorney in some of those cases.

"So I welcome criticism. Let's go. But if you're sitting in a glass house, you ought not throw stones," he said.