Todd Blanche, Trump's former lawyer, is the new Attorney General of the United States
The Senate ratifies his appointment, after he has exercised the office in an interim capacity for months
WashingtonDonald Trump already has a new attorney general, a man of his utmost confidence. Todd Blanche, who was the president's lawyer and who until now held the interim position, has been confirmed by the United States Senate. Blanche's confirmation marks the culmination of the process by which Trump has transformed the Department of Justice into his personal retribution ministry. Blanche assumed the role of interim attorney general in the spring after the US president dismissed Pam Bondi without giving any public explanation.
It was later revealed that in private the leader had expressed his displeasure with Bondi for not being efficient enough in pursuing his political enemies. For example, when Blanche took on the role of interim attorney general, he re-indicted the former FBI director, James Comey, whom the president considers his great enemy. The first indictment Bondi filed quickly fell when it reached the judge's desk.
At the beginning of this week, Blanche's ratification was already considered a done deal, after two Republican lawmakers who had blocked the appointment changed their stance. This was after Blanche made concessions in the agreement that Trump closed with the tax agency (IRS, in its English acronym).
Two months ago, the interim attorney general put his signature on the judicial agreement that the president had reached with the tax agency, for which he obtained tax immunity for himself and his family. The IRS, which is under executive control, made this concession in exchange for the Republican withdrawing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit he had filed against his own government. In July, a federal judge determined that the whole thing sought to "manipulate the judicial process" and concluded that it had been acted in bad faith.
Beyond tax immunity, the agreement with the IRS also allowed the president to create a discretionary fund of 1.8 billion dollars to compensate the victims of alleged political persecution by the administration of Joe Biden. Among others, the assailants of the Capitol, who had already been pardoned by Trump, were encouraged to claim compensation. The fund was ultimately canceled due to strong bipartisan pressure.
Purge in the Department of Justice
Before taking on the role of acting attorney general, Blanche had already fully entered the government as the number two at the Department of Justice. As deputy attorney general, he played a key role in Trump's crusade to purge the Department of Justice, and he was also the one in charge of overseeing the release of thousands of documents on the Epstein case.
Several voting rights groups have warned of the danger posed by such a loyalist figure as Blanche controlling the Department of Justice heading into the November elections. After all, it is this department that can decide whether to open an investigation into electoral fraud. Accusations that Trump already used in the past – and continues to maintain – to try to interfere in the results of the 2020 elections, which he lost.
Blanche, finally, sees the fruit of the risky decision he made in 2023, when he left the law firm where he worked to take charge of Trump's defense in the criminal trials he had. At that time, the Republican was a social pariah after the assault on the Capitol and the possibility of him running for re-election was not even on the table. The now attorney general, who had been registered as a Democrat until relatively recently, has finally seen his loyalty rewarded.
