Donald Trump’s habit of turning courtroom allies into federal power players is back under scrutiny after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, his former criminal defense lawyer, appeared before senators while seeking to lead the Justice Department permanently.
At a confirmation hearing last week, Sen. John Kennedy asked Blanche whether he and Trump were friends. Blanche replied, “I’m his lawyer,” then corrected himself: “was his lawyer.” The exchange landed because Blanche now leads a department whose client is the United States, not the president personally.
Blanche defended Trump in three criminal cases before joining the administration. As deputy attorney general, he has led the Justice Department since April, after Pam Bondi left the attorney general’s job, and Trump now wants him confirmed for the top post.
According to Vox’s analysis, the pattern reaches beyond Blanche. John Sauer, another former Trump lawyer, is solicitor general. Emil Bove, Justin Smith and Matthew Schwartz, who worked on Trump legal matters, have lifetime seats on federal appeals courts, one step below the Supreme Court.
Presidents have appointed confidants before. John F. Kennedy made his brother attorney general, and Lyndon Johnson put Abe Fortas on the Supreme Court after Fortas represented him in a 1948 election dispute. Critics say the Trump cases are different because several appointees handled criminal matters tied to the president himself.
Blanche has also drawn scrutiny over politically charged prosecutions. In one New Jersey case, video filed in court showed an officer saying Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was being arrested “per the deputy attorney general of the United States.” The misdemeanor trespass case was dropped two weeks later.
At the dismissal hearing, a federal magistrate judge warned prosecutors against “using the immense power of the government to pursue weak cases or to make examples without sufficient cause.”
