President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced at a White House event that he would be moving to make acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche the permanent leader of the Justice Department.
Read more 7 ways being religious can improve your health
Blanche assumed the position after former Attorney General Pam Bondi was dismissed from her position in early April.
Trump made the announcement at a Rose Garden Club dinner, where he said he’d be instructing White House chief of staff Dan Scavino and others to make Blanche the permanent attorney general.
The president admitted that nominating and confirming a new Cabinet leader was a “complicated process” but one he thinks will move “very quickly,” according to a video of Trump’s remarks at the dinner posted online by Scavino.
As acting attorney general, Blanche didn’t undergo Senate confirmation for the temporary position. Now, he will.
President Trump with an announcement tonight at the @WhiteHouse…
Congratulations @TheJusticeDept @DAGToddBlanche—🇺🇸🦅 pic.twitter.com/7C7N0Gjall
— Dan Scavino (@Scavino47) June 4, 2026
Who is Todd Blanche?
Blanche is an attorney and former prosecutor. He served as Bondi’s deputy attorney general, and was confirmed by the Senate to that position in March 2025.
In his personal capacity as a lawyer, he represented several people with ties to Trump, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others.
In 2023, Trump hired Blanche to defend him in the District Attorney’s Office of New York County’s prosecution over hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. He assembled a legal team that defended Trump against four different indictments.
After the 2024 election, Trump announced that Blanche would be his nominee for the No. 2 position at the Justice Department.
He also made Blanche the Librarian of Congress, which was opposed by staff at the Library of Congress who said Blanche also needed confirmation from the Senate for that position.
After serving under Bondi, Blanche was named her successor. Trump dismissed Bondi from her position earlier this year, the first of a few administration officials to leave during his second term.
Trump said Bondi did a great job overseeing the “massive crackdown” on crime across the country and that she would be transitioning to a “much needed and important” job in the private sector.
Read more FanX plans ‘big celebration’ before Salt Palace redesign drastically alters popular event
Blanche assumed the position and talk of him permanently taking the lead at the department reportedly happened quickly.
While serving as acting attorney general, Blanche oversaw several big events, including the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in late April, where a gunman attempted to assassinate Trump and other administration officials.
Most recently, he testified before a House subcommittee on Tuesday and said the administration would drop its plan to create a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” that would pay allies who say they were mistreated under the Biden administration. The plan was widely criticized by both Republicans and Democrats and Blanche confirmed they would not be “moving forward with the fund.”
Will he be confirmed?
Once made official by the White House, Blanche’s nomination would head to the Senate, where he must be confirmed in order to officially lead the DOJ.
His nomination would be taken up by the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he would testify before the committee’s members in hearings before voting on whether to recommend his nomination to the entire Senate.
Then, all 100 senators would debate the nomination, which requires a simple majority of 51 votes.
During Blanche’s 2025 confirmation hearing, Democrats raised concerns that his role in representing Trump in private practice would carry through to his work at the Justice Department and create ethical conflicts.
Blanche downplayed the concerns and said that his “attorney-client relationship” with Trump remains but he won’t violate ethical obligations that the job requires.
“I don’t think President Trump is going to ask me to do anything illegal or immoral,” Blanche said at the time.
The Washington Post reported that some GOP senators have expressed hesitation about supporting Blanche for the role and have raised questions about his recent comments in which he appeared to excuse violence committed by those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
During public comments after being named acting attorney general, Blanche said that he’s grateful for the opportunity and he “did not ask for this job.”
“If he chooses to nominate me, that’s an honor,” he said, adding, “If he chooses to nominate somebody else and asks me to go do something else, I will say, ‘Thank you very much, I love you, sir.’”
Read more Africa’s in a ‘syndemic.’ Here’s why U.S., others should pay attention