Trump to nominate Todd Blanche for attorney general

Trump to – President Donald Trump says he will nominate Todd Blanche as attorney general after Pam Bondi was fired in April. Blanche, an acting top Justice Department official and former personal lawyer to Trump, has moved quickly on major initiatives including a propose

For weeks, Todd Blanche has tried to make himself the obvious next attorney general. On Wednesday night, President Donald Trump answered that question in front of the cameras.

At a dinner at the White House. Trump said he plans to nominate Blanche formally on Thursday and declared. “We are going to make him permanent attorney general. ” speaking at a Rose Garden event. The move sets up a high-stakes fight over who controls the Justice Department—and how much of that power will feel tied to Trump’s political future.

Blanche comes to the nomination after he was elevated into an acting role at the Justice Department following Pam Bondi’s firing in April. In the weeks since. Blanche has positioned himself as a favorite for the permanent job by pursuing aggressive initiatives that have drawn furious reactions from Democrats and other critics. One of those initiatives—the proposed “Anti-Weaponization Fund”—stretched into a political crisis inside and outside the Justice Department.

The proposal would have created nearly $1.8 billion in money meant to compensate Trump’s allies for alleged political persecution. It also ignited a bipartisan firestorm, forcing the Justice Department to scrap the idea earlier this week in an extraordinary reversal.

Blanche’s rise was not quiet. He was brought into the Justice Department as deputy attorney general and then elevated after Bondi’s ouster over her failed efforts to prosecute what Trump and his allies describe as political opponents. Blanche. meanwhile. insisted he wasn’t auditioning for the permanent post. even as his public moves since taking over signaled a determination to prove loyalty to Trump.

That is exactly the accusation Democrats and other critics have leveled at him: that he still operates like Trump’s personal lawyer, carrying out what they describe as a campaign of retribution.

The fund was also a flashpoint for Republican lawmakers. The $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” prompted backlash from Republicans in the Senate, where Blanche will now need support to be confirmed as attorney general.

Even as Blanche has maintained that he feels no pressure from the president. the Justice Department’s direction under his watch has fueled the broader fight over politicization. The Justice Department has advanced its pursuits of longtime Trump foes. and Blanche has rejected accusations that the administration politicized the department. He has said he is focused on correcting what he contends were past abuses by the Biden administration.

That posture was sharply tested in April when former FBI Director James Comey was indicted over a social media photo of seashells arranged on a beach that officials said constituted a threat to the president. Comey has slammed the case as politically motivated and has said he wouldn’t be surprised if the Justice Department pursues additional indictments against him.

Blanche also expanded the Justice Department’s reach through appointments. He separately appointed Joseph diGenova—an 81-year-old former Justice Department prosecutor from the Reagan administration—to oversee a Florida-based investigation into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired over the last decade to undermine Trump.

The “Anti-Weaponization Fund” controversy brought the most immediate backlash. and Blanche faced another pressure point: whether violent offenders could be eligible for payments. The administration said the fund was meant to compensate people who feel they were unjustly investigated and prosecuted under past administrations. but critics seized on the possibility that people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riot could be considered for payments. Blanche refused to publicly rule out that prospect.

By Tuesday, the political blowback had already reshaped Blanche’s decisions inside the department. Blanche told lawmakers that the Justice Department would not move forward with the plan after the fallout stalled legislation needed to fund Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies.

Blanche’s nomination now lands him back at the center of a question that has followed him since he joined the administration: was he brought in to manage justice, or to prosecute a political story?

Before Justice Department leadership. Blanche came to public prominence as part of Trump’s defense team. including during the Republican’s hush money trial in New York. He has said that role gave him a firsthand look at what he contends was the weaponization of the criminal justice system against Trump—an argument that supporters cite as the reason he should be trusted with the attorney general job. even as critics warn it is exactly why he should not.

Trump’s decision to nominate Blanche for attorney general. made concrete with a formal Thursday timeline. ensures the fight will move quickly from the Justice Department’s internal decisions to the Senate—where the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” backlash and the accusations of personal-lawyer politics will all collide with the reality of confirmation votes.

Todd Blanche attorney general Donald Trump Justice Department Pam Bondi Anti-Weaponization Fund James Comey Joseph diGenova Senate confirmation