President Trump will formally nominate acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to lead the Justice Department, with the paperwork expected Thursday.
Why it matters: Confirmation would keep the Justice Department in the hands of Trump's former criminal defense attorney, who has used his tenure to fight judges, indict former FBI director James Comey and dismiss critics of the department's handling of the Epstein files.
The latest: The president revealed the pick in a video that deputy White House chief of staff Dan Scavino posted to X late Wednesday.
- "We are going to make him permanent attorney general," Trump said in the video, vowing to start the process the next day.
- "Todd Blanche has done an excellent job as acting Attorney General and will continue doing so as Attorney General," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement to Axios. "President Trump has a great relationship with Todd and is very pleased with the job he's done so far. Todd Blanche is an American patriot who fearlessly fought on behalf of President Trump against the Democrats' illegal and unprecedented lawfare campaign."
The intrigue: Trump is elevating Blanche days after his most public setback.
- The acting AG spent weeks defending a nearly $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund, a taxpayer payout to people who say they were wrongly targeted by the government. It was born of the DOJ's settlement of Trump's own lawsuit against the IRS.
- After Senate Republicans balked, especially at the prospect of payouts to Jan. 6 rioters, he killed the fund Tuesday.
- Still, Blanche said the department will keep the settlement's provisions prohibiting the IRS from auditing Trump's past returns.
- Trump has demurred, continuing to call the fund a "beautiful thing" to CNN and saying he doesn't know if it's dead.
Catch up quick: Blanche was Trump's criminal defense attorney, who steered him through his 2024 hush money conviction and the two federal cases brought by special counsel Jack Smith that never reached trial.
- He's run the DOJ on an acting basis since Trump pushed out Pam Bondi in April, frustrated she hadn't delivered prosecutions of his enemies, Axios previously reported .
- As deputy attorney general, Blanche had publicly declared a "war" on judges and state bar associations .
What's next: Blanche cleared the Senate as deputy AG last year 52-46, on a party line vote.
- That was before the revolt over the fund, and before Trump spent the primary season ending the careers of Republicans he deemed insufficiently loyal.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with comment from the White House.
