Todd Blanche, whom President Donald Trump named to temporarily lead the Justice Department after Pam Bondi was ousted Thursday, has held two critical positions in his last two jobs.
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Most recently, he served for more than a year as deputy attorney general, the No. 2 spot overseeing the department’s daily operations. But just as crucially, he was also Trump’s personal attorney.
Blanche helped Trump survive multiple criminal casesbetween his terms in office, defending him from prosecutors and appearing by his side during his conviction in New York in a hush money case. The president has said he did nothing wrong.
Blanche, 51, a Denver native, is “a very talented and respected Legal Mind,” Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing the move.
Blanche has other attributes that appeal to Trump. He projects confidence, commands broad respect, has an understanding of “the mission at hand” and is a skilled public communicator — something Trump values deeply, according to a person close to the White House who has knowledge of Trump’s discussions.
Bondi, on the other hand, struggled in the spotlight, the person said.
A longtime loyalist who was on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment, Bondi also wasn’t delivering results on some of his key priorities, including the investigations into his political foes.
It’s not clear whether Blanche will have better success; the Justice Department efforts to prosecuteFederal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, former FBI DirectorJames Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia Jamesandsix Democratic lawmakershave so far been blocked by the courts or turned down by a grand jury.
Blanche has of late been taking on more of a public-facing role, including at a Justice Department news conference and with appearances on right-wing podcasts. He also recently appeared at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where hetold the crowd that no one who worked on the investigationsinto Trump — more than 200 people in all — was left at the FBI or the Justice Department.
“There is not a single man or woman at the Department of Justice who had anything to do with those prosecutions,” he said.
Within days of Blanche’s comments,three fired FBI employeessued, citing his comments at CPAC as evidence that the firings were “illegal.” The Justice Department didn’t comment on the lawsuit.
His public comments about the case ofKilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man the Trump administration wrongly deported to El Salvador last year, are being used by Abrego’s attorneys. They said they believe Blanche’s public comments about the case could establish that Abrego was hit with criminal charges as punishment, “rather than a genuine desire to prosecute him for alleged criminal misconduct.”
Blanche started his career working for the Justice Department, including in the office of the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
