Todd Blanche: devoted Trump enforcer rewarded with top nomination

Todd Blanche before the House appropriations committee in Washington last week. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Todd Blanche before the House appropriations committee in Washington last week. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images Profile Todd Blanche: devoted Trump enforcer rewarded with top nomination Attorney general pick joined Trump’s legal team in 2023 – there seems little doubt he would be prepared to carry out the president’s wishes Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Todd Blanche’s nomination to be permanently made the attorney general marks the apex of a gamble from a man who bet everything on representing Donald Trump and became one of his most steadfast and punishing enforcers. Trump announced the news at the White House on Monday. The nomination will require Senate confirmation to become permanent. Trump nominates Todd Blanche to serve permanently as attorney general Read more Blanche was a relatively unknown lawyer until he joined Trump’s legal team in March of 2023, just after Trump was indicted for the first time in a New York state case involving a hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels. Blanche, a registered Democrat until a few years ago, resigned a lucrative partnership at a Wall Street law firm to represent the president, essentially betting everything on Trump at a moment when Trump faced mounting criminal charges and the walls seemed to be closing in. Blanche began his career as a paralegal in the US attorney’s office for the southern district of New York and attended law school at night before eventually becoming a prosecutor. Acquaintances have described him to the New York Times as a talented lawyer who is a centrist and competitive. Blanche’s bet on Trump paid off spectacularly. Trump wound up facing no serious consequence in any of the four criminal cases he faced, and Blanche was rewarded with a post as the deputy attorney general, the number two official in the justice department. When Trump fired Pam Bondi in April over frustration at the speed from which the department was moving to prosecute his enemies, Blanche became the acting attorney general and wasted little time in getting things moving. Shortly after he took over, the department moved to vacate seditious conspiracy convictions against the Proud Boys, some of the most serious cases that emerged from January 6. The department fired career prosecutors and released a criticized report accusing them of wrongfully targeting anti-abortion protesters . The justice department also jump-started an investigation into John Brennan and other Obama-era officials the president reviles, charged the Southern Poverty Law Center with a specious 11-count indictment, and filed a new criminal case against former FBI director James Comey over a picture he posted on social media. Experts say the case is likely to be dismissed. In one of his most consequential moves, the department under Blanche negotiated an agreement to resolve a $10bn