(AFP) – President Donald Trump on Monday nominated his former personal lawyer Todd Blanche as US attorney general on a permanent basis, setting up a potential confirmation battle with the Senate. Blanche, 51, has been serving as acting attorney general since Pam Bondi departed in April. Since then he has pursued a number of indictments against Trump’s political enemies. The former Justice Department number two also controversially defended a $1.8 billion “slush fund” to compensate Trump’s political allies, which the administration has since dropped.
The White House said it had formally sent Blanche’s nomination to the Senate in a notice posted Monday on its website. Trump had told guests at a White House Rose Garden dinner last week that he intended to nominate him. But it is unclear whether Blanche will have enough support in the US Senate, which has to approve the nominations of senior administration officials such as the attorney general.
Republicans in Congress have dealt Trump a series of setbacks in recent weeks as his approval ratings decline over the economy and the Iran war, with just five months until crucial midterm elections. They have been particularly irate about the so-called anti-weaponization fund pushed by Blanche, which would have given compensation to Trump allies prosecuted under his predecessor Joe Biden. Democrats have also denounced the fund.
“Donald Trump has been engaged in the most corrupt enterprise in the history of the Presidency. Todd Blanche apparently has not noticed,” said Dick Durbin, the ranking Democratic member on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Blanche was a member of Trump’s legal defense team in his New York trial over alleged “hush money” paid to porn star Stormy Daniels. He was also in the defense team for two federal cases brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith — for allegedly mishandling classified documents and seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Trump fired Blanche’s predecessor Pam Bondi after months of strained relations over her handling of the release of Justice Department files about late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
© 2024 AFP
