Blanche officially takes over at DOJ
He previously served as Trump’s personal lawyer
What happened
President Trump’s former personal lawyer Todd Blanche was sworn in as U.S. attorney general last week, after a contentious confirmation fight focused on whether he would exert independence as the nation’s top law officer or serve at the whim of a president who regards the Justice Department as a tool of political vengeance. Blanche—who has led the DOJ in an acting capacity since Trump’s April firing of AG Pam Bondi—was approved by the Senate 50 to 49, with two Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joining all Democrats in opposition. “The country needs an attorney general who will check the worst impulses of this administration,” said Murkowski. But Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who cast a decisive yes vote after expressing doubts about Blanche, said the choice was “not between perfection and Mr. Blanche,” but between Blanche and another acting AG “who may not run the department effectively.”
Blanche faced particular scrutiny over his role in settling a lawsuit Trump brought against the IRS. Settlement terms included the creation of a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund—widely derided as a slush fund for Trump allies, including pardoned Jan. 6 rioters—and an agreement giving Trump and family members immunity from tax audits. Two GOP senators, John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, held up Blanche’s advancement in the Judiciary Committee over those measures, but voted yes after Blanche provided written assurances that the fund was “rescinded” and that tax immunity would not apply to future audits. Democrats excoriated their colleagues for approving Blanche. “We’re surrendering any shred of integrity left,” said Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.).
What the columnists said
Senate Republicans’ rubber-stamping of Blanche is “shameful,” said Ruth Marcus in The New Yorker. Sure, Trump could have kept him on as acting attorney general, “but the symbolism matters.” Under Blanche’s leadership, the DOJ has pursued “flimsy prosecutions of Trump’s political adversaries” and purged its workforce of perceived enemies. Missteps and misstatements have cause numerous cases to flop in court, damaging the department’s credibility with judges, and its botched handling of the Epstein files has even alienated members of the MAGA base. It’s all “on Blanche,” and a yes vote “represents a ratification” of his malfeasance.
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Cornyn and Tillis were “played for fools,” said Chris Brennan in USA Today. Blanche’s written assurances on the weaponization fund and audits have “zero value” as legal documents—legal settlements can’t be amended by one party. Trump clearly wants to resurrect his slush fund, and you can bet Blanche will do his bidding. Indeed, Blanche wasted no time showing his true colors, said Edith Olmsted in The New Republic. Just hours after he was sworn in, the DOJ’s office of legal counsel argued Trump could claim executive privilege over his communications with “private advisers”—essentially anyone he’s ever talked with—which could limit Democrats if they retake the House and start investigating the president’s corruption spree.
Blanche will soon take aim at abortion rights, said Rachel Rebouché in The Nation. In a recent call with religious leaders, he vowed to ensure that the 2022 Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade “becomes permanent in every single state.” His apparent goal is to use the “archaic” 1873 Comstock Act to “impose a blanket ban on mailing abortion medications”—drugs that today account for the majority of abortions in the U.S.
Blanche has a daunting job ahead, said Jeremy Roebuck in The Washington Post. In Trump’s second term the DOJ has “been ravaged by firings, departures, and low morale.” And he’ll face “competing pressures” from congressional critics, “an attorney general’s obligations to the rule of law,” and “a president intent on seeing his enemies put on trial.” Charging decisions loom in a number of “sensitive cases,” including a months-long investigation into former Obama- and Biden-era officials, among them former CIA director John Brennan, who Trump allies claim violated Trump’s civil rights by conspiring to undermine his presidency.
Blanche’s confirmation drives home just how much Trump has “dismantled” long-standing norms, said Julian E. Zelizer in Foreign Policy. When President Nixon weaponized the Justice Department during Watergate, Americans woke up to the perils of “allowing the nation’s chief law enforcement officer to serve as an agent of the president.” A “firewall” has held since then, but with loyalist Blanche in charge, the DOJ is once again “a presidential instrument, wielded to target opponents and reward supporters.” It’s “a dangerous moment for a democracy that depends on the rule of law.”
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