Who Is Todd Blanche, Trump’s Former Lawyer and the New Acting Attorney General?

Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general and President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, will step in to serve as acting attorney general following Pam Bondi’s ouster, Trump announced on Thursday. 

The President called Blanche “a very talented and respected legal mind” in his post on Truth Social announcing the change.

“Pam Bondi led this Department with strength and conviction and I’m grateful for her leadership and friendship,” Blanche wrote on X in response to the President’s announcement. “Thank you to President Trump for the trust and the opportunity to serve as Acting Attorney General. We will continue backing the blue, enforcing the law, and doing everything in our power to keep America safe.”

Read more: Pam Bondi Ousted as Trump's Attorney General

Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Blanche, 51, represented the President in three of the four criminal cases he has faced. In the hush-money trial in which Trump was ultimately convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a 2016 payment to an adult film star, Blanche served as his lead defense attorney. He also defended Trump—to more favorable results—in the federal cases brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith over his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election and mishandling of classified documents. Both cases were dismissed after Trump won reelection in 2024.

Trump nominated Blanche to be deputy attorney general, the No. 2 position at the Justice Department, following his return to the White House last year. Blanche was confirmed to the position by the Senate last March.

During Blanche’s tenure as deputy attorney general, the Justice Department’s traditional independence from the White House has eroded as Trump has sought to transform it into a tool to prosecute political adversaries.

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas, last week, Blanche bragged that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had “cleaned house,” firing any and everyone who worked on the cases against the President.

“There isn’t a single man or woman with a gun, federal agent, still in that organization that had anything to do with the prosecution of President Trump,” Blanche said.

Three former FBI agents who worked on cases against Trump and were then ousted have since cited Blanche’s comments as evidence in a lawsuit against the Administration, in which they allege that the firings were “illegal.”

Blanche also led the Justice Department’s talks last year with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s long-time associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, and has defended the department against criticism over its handling of the release of files on the disgraced financier. 

“I’m not trying to defend Epstein. I’m not,” Blanche said during an appearance on former Trump administration spokesperson Katie Miller’s podcast last month. “I do defend the work that that this department is doing today, right now, which is going after every single perpetrator anywhere. And if there’s a narrative that exists that we’re ignoring Epstein victims, that is false.”

Blanche served as a federal prosecutor for years before working for several prominent law firms, including WilmerHale and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. In April 2023, he became a founding partner at Blanche Law, his latest position before Trump tapped him to join the Justice Department.

Read more: Who Is Lee Zeldin? Possibly Trump’s Next Attorney General

Trump’s decision to oust Bondi as Attorney General comes after he is understood to have grown increasingly frustrated with her inability to meet his demands to pursue his political enemies and with her handling of Epstein’s case.

Bondi said following Trump’s announcement that over the next month she “will be working tirelessly to transition the office of Attorney General to the amazing Todd Blanche before moving to an important private sector role.”

It is unclear how long Blanche will serve as acting Attorney General. Trump is reportedly considering nominating Lee Zeldin, the current Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, as a permanent successor for Bondi.