Todd Blanche has spent the last two years betting his entire career on Donald Trump, and on Monday that gamble paid off when Trump announced his nomination to permanently lead the Justice Department as attorney general.
Blanche's rise from relative obscurity to one of the president's most trusted operators happened in less than two years. A registered Democrat until recently, he abandoned a lucrative partnership at a major Wall Street law firm in March 2023 to join Trump's legal team just as the indictments began piling up. He was there from the start of the New York hush-money case involving Stormy Daniels, staying on as Trump cycled through four separate criminal prosecutions without facing serious consequences in any of them.
Those who know Blanche describe him as a talented, competitive centrist with deep law enforcement credentials. He started his career as a paralegal at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, attended law school at night, and became a prosecutor before moving to private practice.
Trump rewarded his loyalty by making him deputy attorney general. When the president fired Pam Bondi in April over frustration with the department's pace in pursuing his perceived enemies, Blanche stepped into the acting role and transformed the Justice Department in ways that have alarmed career lawyers and legal experts.
The moves came fast and relentless. The department moved to vacate serious seditious conspiracy convictions against Proud Boys members from the January 6 prosecutions. Career prosecutors were fired. A report accused those same prosecutors of wrongfully targeting anti-abortion activists. Investigations into Obama-era officials including John Brennan suddenly accelerated. The Southern Poverty Law Center faced an 11-count indictment legal analysts view as specious. A criminal case was filed against former FBI Director James Comey over a social media post, a prosecution experts say will likely be dismissed.
Blanche also signed off on an agreement to resolve a $10 billion lawsuit filed by Trump with a secretive $1.8 billion fund to compensate his allies, a deal that collapsed under bipartisan backlash. In a separate agreement he personally signed, Trump, his family, and related entities received immunity from tax audits on returns filed before the accord was reached.
The transformation has been stark. Career lawyers have departed in large numbers. Federal judges have reprimanded prosecutors for their conduct. Grand juries, typically rubber stamps for indictments, have taken the unusual step of declining to approve charges in some cases. Judges have accused prosecutors of misconduct.
Stacey Young, a former Justice Department lawyer now leading Justice Connection, an advocacy group for former department attorneys, offered a scathing assessment. "Todd Blanche has never stopped acting as Donald Trump's personal lawyer," Young said. "He has used his high position at the department to enter into a corrupt deal with the president and his family, advance vindictive prosecutions, illegally fire career employees, smear whistleblowers, and attack the judiciary."
Young added that Blanche "has abandoned what he learned about blind justice and ethical law enforcement as a career federal prosecutor" and that confirmation would represent "a rejection of the rule of law."
Blanche has shown no hesitation in absorbing political heat for Trump either. He defended the department's handling of a controversial matter when it drew criticism and stood by the controversial $1.8 billion fund agreement when Republicans erupted over it.
His personal allegiance is unmistakable. In April, shortly after becoming acting attorney general, Blanche was asked if he wanted the job permanently. His answer revealed everything about his approach to power and duty. "I did not ask for this job. I love working for President Trump, it's the greatest honor of a lifetime," he said. "If he chooses to nominate somebody else and asks me to go do something else, I will say, 'Thank you very much. I love you, sir.' I don't have any goals or aspirations beyond that."
Author James Rodriguez: "Blanche's nomination confirms what his actions have already made obvious: the Justice Department is now an instrument of presidential will, not an independent arbiter of law."
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