The confirmation by the Senate of President Trump’s defense lawyer, Todd Blanche, as deputy attorney general gives Attorney General Bondi her right hand man as she aims to build a “new Department of Justice.”  

Mr. Blanche’s confirmation by a 52-to-46 margin was conducted along party lines, meaning he did not secure a single Democratic vote. Mr. Blanche replaces the acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, whose brief tenure was defined by the dismissal of charges against Mayor Adams. A wave of resignations ensued. Mr. Bove will serve as Mr. Blanche’s principal associate deputy attorney general.

Mr. Blanche, like Mr. Bove, previously served as a prosecutor at the Southern District of New York, the office that was upended by the command to drop the charges against Mr. Adams that was delivered to the acting United States attorney, Danielle Sassoon. She departed rather than obey that order, and alleges a quid pro quo between the Trump administration and the mayor in respect of immigration.

The new deputy attorney general secured the support of more than 100 of his fellow SDNY prosecutors, who in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee called him a “fundamentally good and decent man.” Mr. Blanche will continue to serve as Mr. Trump’s criminal defense lawyer. When questioned by Senator Schiff about that arrangement, Mr. Blanche testified under oath: “There will be conflicts, and I will not violate my ethical obligations.”

Mr. Blanche, who until 2023 was a registered Democrat in New York — he has since switched party allegiances — migrated to corporate law after his stint as a prosecutor. He eventually landed at the oldest firm on Wall Street, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. His clients there included Mayor Giuliani and the erstwhile chairman of Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign, Paul Manafort. From there, Mr. Blanche was brought into Mr. Trump’s orbit.   

Mr. Blanche formed his own law firm to represent Mr. Trump in the hush money criminal case brought by the district attorney of New York County, Alvin Bragg. Mr. Trump was eventually found by a jury to be guilty  on all 34 counts of falsification of business records, though he was sentenced by Judge Juan Merchan to only an unconditional discharge. Mr. Blanche is quarterbacking Mr. Trump’s appeal of that verdict.

Despite Mr. Blanche’s failure to secure a dismissal or acquittal for his client, the attorney displayed a courtroom mien that could have endeared him to Mr. Trump. Mr. Blanche raised during closing arguments the possibility that Mr. Trump could be jailed. Allusions to possible sentencing are typically verboten within earshot of a jury. Judge Merchan responded to such a reference by declaring, “That was outrageous, Mr. Blanche. Someone who’s been a prosecutor as long as you have, someone who’s been an attorney as long as you have knows that is highly inappropriate.” 

At an earlier hearing, over a gag order imposed on Mr. Trump, Judge Merchan asserted that Mr. Blanche was “losing all credibility with the court.” The attorney asserted that his client was “allowed to respond to political attacks” and argued, unsuccessfully, that Judge Merchan ought to recuse himself on account of alleged political bias. The judge donated $35 to Democratic causes in 2020.

Mr. Blanche also had a hand in crafting Mr. Trump’s defense in the two criminal cases brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, both of which ended in dismissal. Mr. Blanche’s signature victory was the ruling by Judge Aileen Cannon that Mr. Smith was unlawfully appointed by Attorney General Garland. The judge also decided to drop the charges against Mr. Trump and his two co-defendants and employees, Waltine Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.

Mr. Blanche was also effective in securing the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity in Trump v. United States after both the trial judge, Tanya Chutkan, and the riders of the District of Columbia Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals both determined that there was no criminal immunity for official presidential acts. The Nine held that there is a presumption of immunity for that subset of action.

The attorney who argued Trump before the Supreme Court, John Sauer, is Mr. Trump’s nominee to be America’s next solicitor general, the country’s highest appellate litigator.