President Donald Trump is expected to nominate acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to the position in a permanent capacity as soon as Wednesday evening, according to several reports.Blanche has led the Department of Justice in an acting capacity since former Attorney General Pam Bondi’s firing in April. Blanche also once served as a personal lawyer to Trump.The expected nomination would place one of Trump’s closest legal allies atop the DOJ after months leading the agency on an interim basis.
Top Democratic lawmakers have already spoken against Blanche’s possible nomination.
“There is no world in which Todd Blanche could earn my vote,” Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) said Wednesday night. “As far as I’m concerned, he should resign. Todd Blanche is a crony. Todd Blanche is a loyalist. He has no business as the nation’s top law enforcement official.”
“Todd Blanche is not qualified to be the deputy attorney general, the acting attorney general, and he certainly is not qualified to be the United States attorney general,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) added. “Todd Blanche has been acting like Donald Trump’s lawyer, which was his former position, but he has failed to transition in terms of behaving in the best interest of the American people.”
