Senate confirms former Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche as deputy attorney general

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led Senate voted Wednesday to confirm Todd Blanche as deputy attorney general, placing President Donald Trump's former criminal defense attorney in a key Justice Department post at a time of turmoil in the agency.

Blanche, who just months ago was defending Trump against indictments brought by the department, will be the second in command under Attorney General Pam Bondi, another close Trump ally. He was confirmed in a 52-46 vote.

Blanche is entering amid upheaval from firings, resignations and forced transfers of career officials in the Trump administration's push to purge the agency of employees seen as disloyal to the president's agenda.

During his confirmation hearing, Blanche sought to assure Democrats that politics would play no role in his decisions as deputy attorney general. Blanche said Trump's Justice Department will work to restore the “American people’s faith in our justice system" after what he described as “partisan lawfare” targeting the president.

Blanche is a former federal prosecutor who was a key figure on Trump’s defense team, both in the two criminal cases brought by the Justice Department and the New York hush money case, which ended in a conviction of 34 felony counts.

Special counsel Jack Smith has defended the cases he brought accusing Trump of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss and hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Both of those cases were withdrawn after Trump’s November presidential win because of longstanding Justice Department policy prohibiting the federal prosecution of a sitting president.

Emil Bove, another former Trump defense attorney who has been acting as the Justice Department's second in command while Blanche awaited confirmation, will now became the principal associate deputy attorney general.

Bove has rattled the department with actions in his first weeks, including demanding the names of thousands of FBI agents who participated in the investigation into the Jan. 6 attack, and ordering the dismissal of New York Mayor Eric Adams' corruption case.