Blanche recusal – Acting AG Todd Blanche was told last year to recuse from DOJ matters involving Trump personally, raising ethical and political stakes.
A high-stakes ethics warning quietly delivered inside the Justice Department is now colliding with the realities of the Trump era, as acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faces intensified pressure over which cases he can oversee.
Less than two weeks after Blanche took on his role as deputy attorney general in March 2025. the department’s top ethics lawyer told him he needed to recuse from legal cases involving President Donald Trump in his personal capacity.. The briefing was described to CNN by a former senior Justice ethics official. who said the meeting took place after the ethics lawyer—Joseph Tirrell—prepared a printed PowerPoint presentation on the department’s ethics rules.
The meeting was reportedly the first time Blanche was formally told that recusal would be required in matters tied to Trump personally.. Blanche and his then-top deputy, Emil Bove, were in the conference room.. At roughly the same time. a separate ethics issue was raised for Bove: the department’s top career lawyer advised that Bove might have a conflict of interest related to his involvement in firings of Justice Department lawyers.
Recusal itself is not a simple administrative step, especially under the current political climate.. The report highlights how past experience in the Trump era has shown that stepping aside can carry serious consequences. including in the case of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. who recused himself from oversight of an investigation that later became the Mueller probe.
Now, with Blanche serving as acting attorney general, the ethical dilemma is sharper.. The report says his previous work included representing Trump in criminal prosecutions brought by the Justice Department—meaning the current role places him on the other side of matters in which Trump is the central figure. particularly those where Trump claims the justice system was used to target him.
Those matters include investigations involving former government officials whom Trump alleges were wrongly prosecuted through the criminal justice system.. The report also describes the scope of the cases tied to Trump’s allegations as reaching individuals connected to two lines of federal prosecution after his first term: mishandling classified records in Florida and efforts Trump says were designed to overturn his 2020 election loss.
The account further notes that Blanche previously served as Trump’s primary defense lawyer in both federal court cases tied to these prosecutions. and that both matters were dismissed before they reached full resolution in court.. Against that background. the report describes the core practical tension Blanche faces: oversee investigations the president cares about and risk legal exposure in court. or recuse and risk political retaliation.
As part of his onboarding. Blanche signed an ethics pledge laid out by Tirrell. according to the former ethics official and a document submitted to the Office of Government Ethics.. The pledge required Blanche not to participate for at least a year in department matters involving past clients of the Blanche Law Group. the small private firm Blanche used to represent Trump in the criminal cases.
The department’s regulations cited in the report also prohibit a leader from participating in a criminal investigation or prosecution if they have a personal or political relationship with anyone involved in. or with an interest in. that investigation or prosecution.. In other words. the conflict analysis was not limited to one narrow past relationship; it extended to how connections could overlap with ongoing or future enforcement decisions.
A Justice Department spokeswoman said Wednesday that Blanche is complying with ethical obligations. The statement said he is recused from many cases before the department and that in any ongoing cases where he previously represented someone, he is recused.
While the department did not initially name which matters Blanche has recused from. the report says it was the first public acknowledgment by the Justice Department that Blanche has recused from some investigations.. After the report was published, the department sent CNN an additional statement clarifying how the ethics obligation could apply.
In the follow-up statement. the department’s spokeswoman said that if the department is investigating something related to the president that Blanche previously worked on as counsel. then he would hypothetically recuse.. The spokeswoman added that this remains hypothetical, underscoring that the department’s public explanation stayed cautious and non-specific.
The ethical question is now being played out amid a broader effort described in the report as aimed at reinvigorating a conspiracy investigation connected to Trump.. The report says Blanche has installed Joe diGenova, a former U.S.. attorney for the District of Columbia. to push forward what diGenova has outlined as a broad conspiracy against Trump spanning from the 2017 Russian election interference inquiry to the aborted Special Counsel Jack Smith prosecutions that ended in 2024.
That investigation. as described. has potential targets in federal matters with limited major criminal cases outside Trump-related prosecutions. with diGenova based in Fort Pierce. Florida.. Among those mentioned as possible targets is John Brennan. the former CIA director. described as a priority for Trump in efforts to prosecute political foes.. Brennan, the report notes, denies wrongdoing.
The report also says that last week. a spokesperson told CNN Blanche had not recused himself from the investigation into Brennan. while the department has repeatedly declined to comment on the matter.. Inside the Justice Department. the report states Blanche has delegated oversight of the so-called conspiracy investigation to top aides and that he has not participated in meetings on the probe in recent months.
Another ethics thread in the account centers on Emil Bove and the department’s internal dispute over so-called “anti-weaponization” efforts.. In early 2025. a top career lawyer and an ethics expert reportedly wrote a memo to then-Attorney General Pam Bondi raising concerns that Bove was overseeing efforts to purge Justice Department employees tied to Trump-related prosecutions.
According to the report, the memo was copied to the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility and Inspector General.. It said Bove had worked on investigations of January 6 Capitol riot defendants when he was a prosecutor in New York’s Southern District of New York. and therefore should not be involved in the department’s anti-weaponization plans.. The report says the author of the memo was pushed out shortly after the message was delivered.
Despite that warning, the report says Bove continued to oversee the Weaponization Working Group created by Bondi upon taking office.. The report frames that effort as aimed at undoing what Trump has described as unfair Justice Department actions. including rewriting January 6 rioter prosecutions.. Bove reportedly left the department later to become an appeals court judge.
The report notes that it is not known whether Blanche has sought internal guidance since the briefing with Tirrell. even though he said during his Senate confirmation hearing last year that he would follow the department’s ethics guidance provided to staff.. Benjamin Grimes—described as a former deputy director of DOJ’s Professional Responsibility Advisory Office—said it has been typical in past administrations for senior officials to seek advice when conflicts are a close call.
Grimes also pointed to how conflicts of interest are not unusual across different administrations.. The report cites examples from the Biden era. including Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco recusing herself from investigations involving President Joe Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents and an investigation into Hunter Biden. with the account noting that an internal memo recorded the recusal but wasn’t publicly released.
It also references earlier precedent from the George W.. Bush administration. describing how Attorney General John Ashcroft recused himself from an investigation involving the leak of former CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity. citing his close political relationship with President Bush and other potential witnesses.
Still. the report argues that the Justice Department in the second Trump term has broken from many institutional norms. including traditional separation between the White House and the department.. Grimes raised concerns that Trump could effectively be Blanche’s only superior capable of deciding whether the conflict could be overcome. and he said that kind of conflict may be “insurmountable.”
That concern extends beyond recusal decisions to the practical risk of information flow. the report says. including the possibility that Trump might seek details from the Justice Department that could benefit him personally.. Since the meeting with Tirrell. the report says the Trump administration has “gutted” both the department’s career ethics staff and its office of professional responsibility. without replacing senior advisers in headquarters who had previously handled some of the most difficult questions.
The ethics lawyer at the center of the recusal warning. Tirrell. was fired in July and has since sued the Justice Department seeking compensation. according to the report.. It also says that career employees in the Office of Professional Responsibility. including a director of a unit tasked with preventing attorneys from crossing ethical lines that could endanger their law licenses. were also removed.
The report adds that shortly after Tirrell’s firing. Blanche took an unusual step of interviewing convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell while she is serving time in prison.. The report says Blanche asked Maxwell about her interactions with Trump before he became president. and that Maxwell said Trump had done no wrong.
As Blanche’s ethics challenges continue, the report frames how press moments are adding fuel to the concern. It says the administration’s press conferences often emphasize federal law enforcement acting in line with Trump’s wishes and, at times, retribution.
The report highlights remarks made by Blanche in his first press conference as acting attorney general. including that he told Trump. “I love you. sir.” It presents this as part of the environment in which ethical obligations are being tested. not only by rules but by public conduct and the perception of alignment.
Legal implications remain a central part of the story.. The report says the possible consequences for Blanche. if he does not recuse from investigations involving Trump personally. may be limited in the short term.. It explains that if future criminal charges arise tied to Trump-related matters or to issues where Trump could have a personal interest. defense attorneys could challenge those prosecutions in trial-level courts—arguing that cases were not handled appropriately if Blanche played a decision-making role.
Still, the report notes that much of the enforcement “backstop” may fall to lawmakers who can demand answers from Blanche now that he leads the department. Grimes is quoted in the report as saying Congress needs to act if it becomes untenable for either Congress or the public.
For now. the recusal issue remains unresolved in practice: the Justice Department says Blanche is complying. while refusing to specify the cases affected. and the investigation landscape continues to evolve under delegated oversight.. In a political era where ethics decisions are closely watched. the question of what Blanche can do—and what he must step away from—has become part of a much larger public debate about how power and independence are handled inside the country’s top legal institution.
Todd Blanche recusal acting attorney general ethics DOJ Trump investigations Joseph Tirrell firing Emil Bove conflict memo Joe diGenova conspiracy probe