From Trump’s Attorney to Attorney General: The Rise of Todd Blanche

What It Covers

NYT reporter Glenn Thrush traces Todd Blanche's path from federal prosecutor to Trump's personal defense attorney to acting Attorney General, examining how Blanche's high-stakes bet on Trump at his lowest point shaped the DOJ's unprecedented loss of independence and now threatens his own Senate confirmation.

Key Questions Answered

• •The loyalty bet: Blanche left a prestigious white-shoe law firm in 2017 to represent Trump when the former president appeared to be a losing cause. This willingness to absorb professional risk at Trump's lowest moment created the personal bond that ultimately elevated Blanche to the top of the Department of Justice, illustrating how Trump rewards unconditional loyalty over legal credentials.
• •Stall-and-brawl legal strategy: Blanche's core tactic across Trump's federal cases was deliberate delay — filing briefs written like political statements to trigger mandatory judicial review timelines, stretching proceedings month after month. The strategy required no courtroom brilliance, only patience. It succeeded entirely: both federal cases collapsed when Trump won reelection and a sitting president cannot be federally indicted.
• •DOJ restructuring playbook: Within the first six weeks of Blanche's tenure, the National Security Division was effectively dismantled and the Public Integrity Unit was reduced from 30 staffers to 2. Blanche and deputy Emil Beauvais systematically fired or marginalized career staff connected to the Jack Smith investigations, treating prior DOJ service on those cases as disqualifying.
• •The moderating role argument: Blanche's confirmation strategy rests on a single claim: he prevents worse outcomes. Documented examples include advising against prosecuting Fed Chair Jerome Powell, sidelining DOJ official Ed Martin for publicly disclosing grand jury testimony, and warning Trump that prosecuting Letitia James and James Comey carried near-zero conviction probability — advice Trump initially ignored before those cases collapsed.
• •Confirmation math: One Republican vote against Blanche on the Senate Judiciary Committee kills the nomination in committee. Senator John Cornyn, ousted in his primary partly due to Trump's opposition, remains uncommitted and objects specifically to a DOJ agreement granting Trump and his family immunity from IRS tax investigations — a deal Blanche has refused to walk back, unlike the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund.