Trump To Nominate Blanche as Attorney General on Thursday

President Trump will nominate the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, to lead the Justice Department on Thursday. Mr. Blanche represented Mr. Trump as his personal defense attorney before winning the post of deputy attorney general last year. Mr. Blanche has served as the acting attorney general for more than two months. During his time, he has been questioned about the Epstein files, the president’s “anti-weaponization fund,” and the prosecution of Mr. Trump’s political enemies. Mr. Trump made the announcement in the Rose Garden on Wednesday that he would officially nominate Mr. Blanche to take over the DOJ in a permanent capacity. “He’s acting attorney general, and tomorrow I’m instructing Dan [Scavino] and everybody else that’s involved in that very complicated process — which is going to go, I think, very quickly — that we are going to make him permanent attorney general,” Mr. Trump told a crowd in the Rose Garden on Wednesday, according to a video posted on X by his deputy chief of staff, Dan Scavino. Mr. Trump’s relationship with the head of the Justice Department has long been a fraught one, from his first term more than nine years ago until today. He dismissed Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the “Russiagate” probe, and his second DOJ chief, Attorney General William Barr, said that he told Mr. Trump that his claims of fraud in the 2020 election were “bulls–t.”Attorney General Pam Bondi was dismissed in April despite her fierce devotion to the president. She is one of the few administration officials sent packing who was not moved into a different government position in Mr. Trump’s administration. Mr. Blanche is likely to win the support of a majority of senators, given he was confirmed on a party-line vote last year. His confirmation hearing, however, is likely to be rife with tough questions, given his role with handling the Epstein files, the “anti-weaponization fund,” and the prosecution of the president’s enemies.During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last month, Mr. Blanche was questioned by Senator Chris Van Hollen said the acting attorney general was doing Mr. Trump’s “dirty work.”“I’m the acting attorney general,” a defiant Mr. Blanche told Mr. Van Hollen during the committee hearing after being asked about the “anti-weaponization fund.”“The fact that I used to be President Trump’s lawyer is just a fact, but I’m the acting attorney general. So, don’t say the president’s ‘former personal lawyer would do something,’” Mr. Blanche said.“Mr. attorney general, you are acting today like the president’s personal attorney, and that’s the whole problem!” Mr. Van Hollen responded.

Trump To Nominate Blanche as Attorney General on Thursday

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