USA Trump's ex-defender Blanche to remain Attorney General
US President Donald Trump wants to make his former personal lawyer and current interim Attorney General Todd Blanche permanent head of department. He will make the formal nomination on Thursday, Trump said in a video published on the X platform by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino. The US Senate, in which Trump's Republicans have the majority, must confirm the nomination. There could also be resistance in the ranks of the president's party.
04.06.2026, 08:03
SDA
At the beginning of April, Todd Blanche took over the office on an interim basis following the dismissal of Attorney General and Trump confidante Pam Bondi. Bondi's leadership style and her handling of the files on the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are seen as the reasons for her dismissal.
Blanche was previously Deputy Attorney General and is considered a loyal supporter of Trump. In May, he reached a highly controversial agreement with the US Internal Revenue Service on behalf of the US President, according to which Trump's and his family's previous tax returns may no longer be audited and companies and foundations associated with him were granted a kind of general amnesty.
The plans for a compensation fund for alleged victims of politically motivated criminal prosecution, which Trump had pushed through Blanche and the Department of Justice at short notice, also met with criticism in the US Senate. Republicans expressed considerable concerns. The plan was ultimately rejected.
Blanche was once a prosecutor in New York and later a personal lawyer for Trump. Before the Republican's re-election, he was part of his defense team in the New York criminal proceedings concerning the unlawful accounting of hush money payments to a porn actress.
