More than three years ago, President Donald Trump turned to New York defense attorney Todd Blanche to step into a legal firestorm that threatened multiple criminal convictions and could cost Trump’s business hundreds of millions of dollars.
Now, Blanche is slated to formally undertake the permanent role as the face of the president’s campaign of retribution against those who he believes tried to improperly target him for nearly a decade.
His confirmation as the attorney general by the Senate isn’t assured. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sudden death left the Judiciary Committee Republicans with just one vote to lose, a razor thin margin of error that has given the few Republicans with hesitations an ability to negotiate with the department on matters most important to them.
Blanche has been prepping for Wednesday’s high-stakes Judiciary Committee hearing for more than a week, betting on his track record of cracking down on gang activity, fraud and drug trafficking, as well as enforcing the administration’s hardline immigration approach as the ticket through the confirmation process, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
He has participated in at least one practice run of the hearing, one of the sources said, and has also focused on ways to fight back against allegations that he is operating based solely on the whims of the president and not in the interest of the United States, a separate source said.
