Blanche’s close ties with Trump make him clear choice for attorney generalpublished at 14:49 BST
Bernd Debusmann Jr
White House reporter
For the last several years, Todd Blanche has been something of a fixture in Donald Trump’s life – a fact that’s likely to be brought up repeatedly in today’s hearing.
Their working relationship dates back to at least 2023, when Blanche left his partnership at a prominent law firm to join Trump’s defence team ahead of his arraignment in the Manhattan “hush money” case.
Ultimately, Blanche took part in three of the four criminal cases Trump faced before returning to office.
With Trump back in office, Blanche became the second-highest-ranking figure in the Justice Department, largely tasked with overseeing the vast entity’s day-to-day operations under then Attorney General Pam Bondi.
This relationship made Blanche a clear choice for Trump when Bondi lost her position, despite ferocious criticism from those who accused him of politicising the department and blurring the independence of the judiciary.
Those close ties were also on full display yesterday, when Trump posted that Blanche “stood by my side” to fight the “lawfare” from his political opponents.
Some of those perceived opponents of Trump on the Senate committee will now also be calling into question his work as Trump’s personal attorney and in the Justice Department.
