Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Wednesday, August 5, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.) Trump ballyhooed the appointment of Todd Blanche to become the nation’s 88th attorney general with the exaggerated claim, “Todd Blanche is a STAR, and everyone knows it!”
Some star.
It is to the shame of the U.S. Senate that Blanche is now confirmed. It is the worst appointment of the second Trump administration. Yes, you heard me — worse than Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard or Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem put together, because he will serve only President Trump, not our precious rule of law.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who cast the deciding vote, said in an absurd statement that Blanche “is not perfect … but the choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche,” it is “between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general who … may not be as good as Mr. Blanche.”
Really?
Blanche has proved himself a petty bureaucrat jumping at Trump’s call; a lawyer of distinction he is not.
Ask the more than 1,200 of Blanche’s Department of Justice colleagues who urged the Senate to reject his nomination. Ask the 35 former federal judges from across the country who have argued he committed a fraud on the court. Incumbent federal judges have said that the Justice Department under his aegis is no longer entitled to the presumption of regularity. He has lied to the courts once too often. In July, a judge forced Blanche’s prosecutors to withdraw subpoenas served on New York Times reporters at their homes, finding serious irregularities.
Under Blanche, grand juries have refused to return indictments. The government reportedly could not persuade a single grand juror to sign off on proposed criminal charges against six Democratic lawmakers who released a video encouraging members of the military to refuse illegal orders. A grand jury refused to indict a man for assault who threw a sandwich at a federal agent.
It’s not that he lost. It’s about what kind of attorney general prosecutes cases like this. Where is the judgment?
Blanche tried to install Lindsey Halligan as the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia to mount a vindictive case against Trump’s enemy, former F.B.I. director James Comey. But judges, finding she had been improperly appointed, dismissed the case against Comey, as well as a separate one Halligan tried to bring against New York Attorney General Letitia James. Comey later moved to dismiss a ridiculous second indictment, in which he was charged with photographing an arrangement of seashells on a beach.
Before leaving the Justice Department, Halligan kept using the U.S. attorney title, despite the court’s ruling. Blanche defended her actions in a response that displayed, as a presiding judge put it, “a level of vitriol more appropriate for a cable news talk show.”
Under Blanche, the Justice Department has suffered a flight of career attorneys. Seasoned lawyers who worked on Trump prosecutions have been fired. Others have flocked for the exits, finding that politicized prosecutions are inconsistent with principled governmental service.
The 50 Senate Republican votes to confirm Blanche came after his appointment was nearly derailed when Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) threatened to vote against him over the deal he struck this spring to resolve Trump’s questionable legal claims against the IRS.
They wanted written assurances that the Justice Department would not move forward with aspects of the settlement, including a proposed $1.8 billion slush fund for people like the Jan. 6 insurrectionists who claimed they were victims of “politicized” prosecutions under Obama and Biden. The slush fund was the kettle calling the pot black.
Both senators said that Blanche had allayed their concerns in statements issued last Sunday purporting to impose limits on the deal. The statements were worthless. As Tillis switched his vote in favor of Blanche, he seemed to acknowledge that they could be reversed by the president.
Several GOP lawmakers said they were somewhat reassured by the “concessions” Tillis and Cornyn had extracted from Blanche. Strange because even if the anti-weaponization fund isn’t revived, Trump can still make payouts to allies through individual settlements. Blanche has also essentially left in place the deal that shields the president, his sons and their businesses from past tax claims. The release is said to be worth $600 million.
“There is enough weasel room in these documents to drive a truck through,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).
Then, there is the elephant in the room: the Epstein files, with the drip-feed, heavily redacted disclosure Blanche handled, not to mention his callous mistreatment of Epstein’s victims. A New York Times report by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan exposed that Blanche handled the Epstein case as a matter of politics, and key decisions were made by Blanche in collaboration with the White House.
In 1940, Attorney General Robert Jackson declared in the prosecutor’s creed that, “the citizen’s safety lies in the prosecutor who tempers zeal with human kindness, who seeks truth and not victims, who serves the law and not factional purposes, and who approaches his task with humility.”
Blanche has been confirmed to serve “factional purposes.” If he is not “perfect,” he should not have been confirmed.
James D. Zirin is a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York and a published legal analyst.
Add as preferred source on Google Tags Bill Cassidy Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Department of Justice Donald Trump Epstein files Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kristi Noem Lindsey Halligan North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis Pete Hegseth Pete Hegseth Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse Todd Blanche Todd Blanche confirmation Trump administration trump anti-weaponization fund trump irs settlement Tulsi Gabbard United States SenateCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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