WASHINGTON, D.C. — Todd Blanche has previously served as Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, and he never stopped acting like one. At his first press conference as acting attorney general, he told Trump: “I love you, sir.” It wasn’t a gaffe – it was an honest description of how he’s approaching the job.
As Deputy Attorney General and now Acting Attorney General, Blanche has weaponized the Justice Department to protect the president, retaliate against his enemies, and enrich his allies. Now the Senate faces a simple question: Will it confirm an Attorney General who sees his job as serving the American people, or serving Donald Trump?
Here are key instances of what Blanche has already done with power:
FEBRUARY 2025: Blanche Lied Under Oath About Dropped Charges Against NYC Mayor Eric Adams
- When Senator Peter Welch asked whether Washington directed the dismissal, Blanche testified: “I don’t know.” A letter later unsealed in court documents that DOJ official Emil Bove stated that Blanche was “on the same page” with “no need to wait” for his confirmation, placing his awareness more than two weeks before he testified. When prosecutors refused his order, Blanche placed them on administrative leave and demanded they “admit wrongdoing,” leading to the resignations of three senior prosecutors.
MARCH 2025: Blanche Refused Recusal, Then the Ethics Official Was Fired
- Less than two weeks after Blanche became Deputy AG, ethics official Joseph Tirrell delivered a formal briefing establishing that recusal from Trump-related cases was legally required. Blanche had testified at his confirmation hearing that he would follow guidance from career ethics staff. Blanche did not recuse himself from investigations of Trump’s perceived enemies, and in July, the administration fired Tirrell and dismantled the entire Office of Professional Responsibility.
MAY 2025: Blanche Ordered Arrest of Sitting Mayor During Congressional Oversight Visit
- Blanche ordered the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka during a lawful congressional inspection of a detention facility. A federal magistrate later called the dropping of the trumped-up charges behind the arrest an “embarrassing retraction,” acknowledging it had no legal basis.
JULY 2025: Blanche Conducted Private Nine-Hour Interview with Epstein Accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, Excluding Prosecutors
- Blanche conducted a nine-hour private interview with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. The prosecutors who built the Maxwell case were excluded. Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, is a close personal friend of Blanche’s who had previously hosted him on his podcast and praised him as doing “an amazing job.”
AUGUST – NOVEMBER 2025: Blanche Pursued Retaliatory Prosecution of NY Attorney General Letitia James Three Times
- Blanche supervised a grand jury investigation targeting Attorney General Letitia James before a federal judge dismissed the case. The grand jury rejected two subsequent re-indictment attempts, and Blanche opened a third investigation into James’ personal finances.
SEPTEMBER 2025: Blanche Threatened Federal Investigation of Anti-Trump Protesters
- After Trump publicly demanded RICO charges against protesters who heckled him at a Washington restaurant, Blanche went on CNN to defend the threat, stating that “organized” protest networks could face federal investigation for speech that “inflict[s] harm and terror and damage to the United States.”
FEBRUARY – MARCH 2026: Blanche Declared Epstein Review “Effectively Over,” Stonewalled Congress
- Blanche declared the Epstein document review “effectively over” despite millions of pages remaining withheld, then appeared on Fox News to argue that “it isn’t a crime to party with Mr. Epstein.” Weeks later, during a House Oversight Committee briefing, he dismissed those references as “uninvestigable.”
APRIL – MAY 2026: Now Acting AG, Blanche Launched a Coordinated Campaign of Political Retribution
- As acting AG, Blanche deployed the DOJ against Trump’s perceived enemies. He dropped an ill-founded criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to clear a political obstacle to Trump’s chosen Fed replacement. He secured an indictment of former FBI Director James Comey on baseless charges, the second attempted prosecution against an official who investigated Trump’s 2016 campaign. He also opened a criminal investigation relating to E. Jean Carroll, who won $88 million from Trump for sexual assault and defamation, despite Blanche’s clear conflict of interest as Trump’s personal lawyer in those cases.
MAY 2026: Blanche Backs $1.8 Billion Slush Fund and Shields Trump From IRS Investigations
- Blanche backed a $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded IRS settlement creating an “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to distribute payouts to January 6 defendants and Trump allies, with an addendum that purports to bar the IRS from pursuing any tax inquiries of Trump and his businesses based on past filings. Under mounting pressure, Blanche testified before the House Appropriations subcommittee that the DOJ would not move forward with the fund. The fund was abandoned, but the IRS shield provision protecting Trump and his businesses from tax inquiries remains.