WASHINGTON — Matt Gaetz suddenly withdrew Many career attorneys at the Justice Department breathed a sigh of relief Thursday as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general.
However, a few hours later, Trump announced his candidacy Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondia longtime loyalist who supported the former president’s lies about the 2020 election and “terrible” people Employees at the department were trying to make a name for themselves by “going after Donald Trump and weaponizing our legal system.”
Attorneys for the Justice Department now hope that Trump’s selection of Todd Blanch, a critical No. 2 position at the department, can help protect the department’s career civil servants from Trump’s wrath.
People close to Blanche say her past career as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York gives her an understanding of the department’s tradition of barring influence from individual criminal investigations of presidents and politicians..
Some current DOJ officials hope that Blanch, who will oversee day-to-day operations at the department as deputy attorney general, if confirmed, could help prevent the worst-case scenario: Trump using federal law enforcement as a bulwark against his political enemies..
“He’s more of a man than I expected. “Smart, ex-federal prosecutor, with experience as a lawyer, no statutory rape,” he said. He paid a 17-year-old boy for sexThis was denied by the former congressman. “You know, little things like that.”
A close relationship with Trump
Blanche worked as Trump’s chief criminal defense attorney Stormy Daniels hush money business Brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump was at the end has been convicted 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, becoming the first former president to be convicted of a crime.
Blanche, until recently a a registered Democrat, left The law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft will represent Trump in the case in early 2023. Trump’s has been sentenced many times was delayed and it can never happen because he is the president-elect.
Caroline Leavitt, spokeswoman for the Trump-Vance transition team, praised Blanche and said Trump was re-elected by the American people to “change the status quo in Washington.”
“That’s why he has chosen brilliant and highly respected leaders to serve in his Administration, such as respected attorney and prosecutor Todd Blanch,” he said.
He did not respond to questions from NBC News about whether the administration would continue its long-standing policy of limiting White House contacts with DOJ officials and whether Blanch’s career would follow ethics recommendations from DOJ officials.
Some current and former DOJ officials say Blanche’s close relationship with Trump and her legal background have raised concerns. They worry that Blanche will not stand up to Trump, who has repeatedly insulted her after Watergate in her first term. restrictions About contacts between the Justice Department and the White House to stop presidents from using federal law enforcement to target their political enemies.
“He is the president’s personal lawyer in the criminal case. This will be his job,” said one of the law enforcement agencies. “He’s there to protect the president, not the American people.”
Other Justice Department officials were cautiously optimistic that Blanche—one called “the closest thing to a ‘Normal Team’ we’re going to see”—would prevent at least some scenarios. Ever since Trump won the 2024 presidential election and nominated Gaetz, they’ve been juggling.
One Justice Department official said people feel better about Blanche because she is a legal attorney and former Justice Department employee, but “it reflects low expectations.”
New York’s Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah said on MSNBC last week that she worked with Blanche as a federal prosecutor in New York and that Blanche knew what the Justice Department was and how it was designed. function.
“He believes in the vision of the Justice Department doing the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons,” Rocah said. “And I hope and believe that he knows that and that he will continue to do that as he ascends to that role.”
A former colleague described Blanche as a smart and well-rounded attorney who knew the ins and outs of the Justice Department and the independent role she was expected to play. That person expected Blanche to be a moderate relative of Gaetz and unlikely to carry out the illegal order despite her relationship with Trump.
Michael Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general, said Blanche would take on “one of the toughest jobs in government” with “huge” management challenges, and the president’s position as a criminal defense attorney would complicate matters.
“Needless to say, we’ve never encountered this situation before,” Bromwich said. “I think it’s ethically problematic for Blanche. “I think one of the reasons why Trump chose him is because he’s comfortable with Blanche, he can communicate with her, and Blanche has a relationship where she does what Trump wants from her.”
“I think it will be an extraordinarily difficult task for Blanche,” said Bromwich. “I think the ethos and culture he’s fostered in the U.S. attorney’s office is the opposite of how Trump uses the criminal justice system, which is to do what he wants, rewarding his friends and punishing his enemies.”
How Trump’s first deputy attorney general behaved
Trump did not know the deputy attorney general well when he first took office in 2017, and their relationship immediately became vital and volatile.
Rod Rosenstein, career federal prosecutor a reputation After Trump fired FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, he tapped FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel for his nonpartisanship. he gave himself up from the bureau’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
This decision angered Trump, he was offended Sessions and Rosenstein for that. For the next two years, Rosenstein defended Mueller and led his team to complete its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Mueller found that Trump and his team welcomed Moscow’s help during the 2016 election, but found insufficient evidence to prosecute them for coordinating with Russia. Mueller has not reached any conclusions about whether Trump obstructed justice. Rosenstein resigned from the DOJ in 2019.
Blanche will face challenges, Rosenstein told NBC News this week. He said Trump was “very hands-on” and called him directly during his tenure as DOJ’s No. 2.
“President Trump would often call the deputy attorney general, which is me, that he wanted to do something, and sometimes we were able to do it, and sometimes we weren’t,” Rosenstein recalled.
“There is nothing wrong with such a relationship. “I think the president obviously wants to appoint people who are loyal to him,” Rosenstein added. “It’s legal to do that. The risk is that if you prioritize loyalty over competence, you won’t get what you want to achieve.”
But Rosenstein said the deputy attorney general has a duty to prevent attempts by the president or White House officials to improperly influence criminal investigations. According to him, the department’s No. 2 official “must make sure that things are carried out impartially” in all criminal investigations. He added: “Sometimes if the president or someone in the White House wants to pursue a particular case that it’s not appropriate for the department to pursue, that requires saying ‘no.'”
“It’s not hypothetical, is it? This is real in the era of Trump,” said Rosenstein.
In July, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority granted the president “absolute immunity” when it comes to interactions with the attorney general, including ordering criminal investigations of specific individuals. However, this immunity does not apply to the attorney general, deputy attorney general, or other DOJ prosecutors.
“It’s unusual for the president to call for specific individuals to be prosecuted, but it’s not illegal,” Rosenstein said. “However, it would be illegal for department officials to comply with such a request, and therefore you must ensure that you are performing your appropriate role as a Department of Justice official.”
Rosenstein added: “There are certain things the president may want that you cannot do. You just have to say no to him.”
Rosenstein said the deputy attorney general also needs to have the management experience and character to get things done.
“It requires you to know how to run an organization, not just from a partisan point of view, right? You don’t go in and say, ‘Hey, we need to fire all the Democrats and hire all the Republicans.'” Rosenstein said. “You really need people who know how to litigate, who know how to put together and try cases. You cannot send a politician to court to try to win a case. You need a lawyer. And so they have to make sure they have people who know how to do it.”
Blanche must also be able to withstand intense public scrutiny. Rosenstein said the media environment is very different from when he joined the DOJ in 1990, when career officials — even a deputy attorney general — had “very little chance of getting national attention.”
The president himself could be targeted on social media if Blanche stands up to him behind the scenes, as Trump has done with previous Justice Department appointees.
Bromwich, a former DOJ inspector general, predicted that Blanche is on an impossible mission given her experience in Trump’s first term.
“I think it’s going to be very difficult for Blanche to balance the orders she’s getting from the president with what she knows is right,” Bromwich said. “If I were him, I would stay as far away from the Justice Department as I could. I don’t think this is going to end well for him.”