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Todd Blanche, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, was sworn in as US attorney general on Monday, taking the reins of a Justice Department the president has repeatedly pressured to exact revenge on his political foes.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted video on X of Blanche’s swearing-in ceremony, which was held in the Oval Office with Trump in attendance.
“Congratulations to a great lawyer and an even better man!” Leavitt said.
The 52-year-old Blanche was confirmed as the chief US law enforcement officer by the Senate last week after Republican lawmakers shrugged off Democratic concerns over politicisation of the Justice Department.
He had been serving as attorney general in an acting capacity since Trump fired Pam Bondi in April, in part for failing to successfully prosecute several of Trump’s political enemies.
Bondi notably failed to bring cases to trial against former FBI chief James Comey, an outspoken Trump critic, and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Since replacing Bondi, Blanche has been closely tied to what Democrats have dubbed a Trump “retribution” campaign against the 80-year-old president’s opponents, securing, for example, a new indictment of Comey for allegedly threatening Trump’s life in an Instagram post.
Blanche won Senate confirmation by 50 votes to 49 after the White House persuaded a handful of Republican holdouts to join the “yes” column.
The main sticking point was an attempt to establish a $1.8 billion (€1.5 billion) fund for what Trump calls victims of political prosecutions, likely including the rioters who stormed the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 to prevent Democrat Joe Biden from being certified as president.
The other main issue was an extraordinary move granting immunity to Trump from tax audits.
Blanche ultimately defused the internal party opposition with a written order scrapping the so-called “anti-weaponisation fund” and saying the audit immunity agreement with Trump, his two eldest sons and the Trump Organisation would only apply “retroactively” to the past tax years and not future filings.
Blanche has also come in for criticism from victims of Jeffrey Epstein over the handling of the release of investigative files about the convicted sex offender, a one-time close friend of Trump.
Prior to joining the Justice Department, Blanche represented Trump in his New York trial over alleged “hush money” paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.
He was also on the legal defence team in two federal cases brought against Trump by special counsel Jack Smith for allegedly mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House and for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Both cases were dropped after Trump won the 2024 presidential election.
Additional sources • AP, AFP