The Senate on March 5 confirmed Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, to serve as deputy attorney general, second-in-command of the Justice Department.
The Republican-controlled Senate voted 52–46 to confirm Blanche, with all Democrats opposing his nomination. He will be taking over for Emil Bove, another former Trump defense attorney, who had been serving as acting deputy attorney general until Blanche could be confirmed.
Bove and Blanche both worked on Trump’s defense in various federal and state criminal cases, including his election interference case in Washington and his classified documents case in Florida.
In his new role, Blanche will oversee all 93 U.S. attorneys nationwide, as well as the Justice Department’s law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
While serving as acting deputy attorney general, Bove has overseen the firings of leading FBI officials and prosecutors who worked on former special counsel Jack Smith’s two criminal cases against the president, and those who investigated and prosecuted individuals associated with the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach.
Recently, Bove ordered U.S. attorneys to drop criminal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, which led to eight prosecutors resigning in protest in New York City and Washington.
However, even after Blanche assumes his role, Bove will continue working with him closely as principal associate deputy attorney general.
Pam Bondi, on the day she became attorney general, directed the deputy attorney general’s office to launch a “weaponization working group” that would review the two criminal cases that Smith brought against Trump—the election interference case and the classified documents case. The group is also reviewing Trump’s felony conviction in New York, where he was charged with falsifying records associated with a 2016 $130,000 payment to stop adult performer Stormy Daniels from speaking publicly about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, who denies the encounter took place. An appeal in the case is pending.
Blanche, throughout his confirmation hearing, did not say if he would recuse himself when reviewing the cases he oversaw as Trump’s defense attorney. However, he tried to assure Democrats that he would not allow politics to influence his decisions as deputy attorney general, and said Trump’s Justice Department would work to restore the “American people’s faith in our justice system.”
