MIKE DAVIS: Why Todd Blanche is the man for this moment
President Trump has just announced his intention to nominate Todd Blanche to serve as the next attorney general of the United States. Blanche is an outstanding choice by President Trump. A former federal prosecutor and big-law partner, he put everything on the line to defend Trump against politicized, weaponized, unlawful, and bogus prosecutions–political persecutions–by many Democrat prosecutors and judges, in many Democrat hellholes across America.
Since March 2025, Blanche has served as Trump’s deputy attorney general – the Trump Justice Department’s No. 2 and chief operating officer. And for the last several months, Blanche has served as the acting attorney general. In other words, Blanche has spent the last 15 months bringing much-needed reforms and accountability at the Justice Department. But much more must get accomplished to restore public confidence in our justice systems. Blanche is uniquely qualified to finish the job. He’s the right man, at the right time, for the right job.
Blanche's career is defined by public service and sacrifice – not partisanship. Out of law school, he clerked for then-U.S. District Judge Denny Chin of the Southern District of New York. Chin then received an appointment from President Obama to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Blanche later clerked for then-U.S. District Judge Joseph Bianco of the Southern District of New York. Bianco went on to receive an appointment to the Second Circuit from President Trump, where he continues to serve with distinction. Blanche's service to two well-regarded judges at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum illustrates that he is not a hack but rather one trusted to apply the law fairly.
Blanche continued his distinguished public service as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. He understands, like his former mentee and now-Third Circuit Judge Emil Bove, that every federal prosecutor in America reports to the deputy attorney general, who reports to the attorney general, who reports to the president, who is elected by all Americans. This is how we have democratic accountability–and not a deep state.
While in the Southern District, Blanche co-led the violent crimes unit and the White Plains, New York division during nearly a decade of sterling service. While Blanche does not bash the police like government lawyers in prior leftist administrations, he has not hesitated to hold corrupt officers accountable when they betray the public's sacred trust. For instance, he secured a robbery conviction against former NYPD Officer Miguel Burgos.
After his service in the Southern District of New York ended, Blanche became a partner at a prestigious New York law firm. He had decades of substantial earnings ahead of him. Partners at these New York law firms rake in millions each year. But Blanche sacrificed it all because he saw a grave injustice he was uniquely equipped to combat.
Trump has been the victim of an unprecedented Democrat lawfare campaign that has done incalculable damage to the Republic. Democrat government officials at both the state and federal levels targeted him mercilessly, attempting to throw him off several state ballots, bankrupt him several times, and imprison him for life–four times. Those legal affronts prompted Blanche to step up and defend Trump, including against 91 counts stemming from four indictments brought by three Democrat prosecutors: Biden Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who brought bogus charges in the District of Columbia and Florida; Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis; and the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
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Even though Trump was as prominent a client as any in American history, many lawyers shied away from defending him. After all, leftists had undertaken an effort, known as the 65 Project, to disbar Trump's prior lawyers. Blanche, however, was undaunted, refusing to cower in the face of the threat to his career that representing Trump posed.
Thanks to Blanche and other accomplished attorneys, like now-U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer and now-Judge Bove, Trump mounted vigorous defenses against the four indictments. No doubt, save for the excellent U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in the Southern District of Florida, Democrat judges in the Democrat jurisdictions where Trump faced charges yearned to send him to prison for the rest of his life. Despite the conviction in the New York case, an absurdity that appellate review should reverse, Trump avoided that horrible fate and instead conducted a winning presidential campaign that earned him a clear electoral mandate. Had he not had lawyers of Blanche's caliber, the outcome could have been different for the president and the nation.
Blanche has continued his exceptional service in the Justice Department, first as deputy attorney general and then as acting attorney general beginning this April. He’s fired bad actors, hired good ones, closed bad cases and opened good ones.
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A recent example illustrates the quality of Blanche's leadership. Blanche spearheaded an indictment of the leftist Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a vile organization that has fomented racial division for decades. The SPLC allegedly paid money to racists to stir up strife including, for example, the Ku Klux Klan. The SPLC allegedly scammed its donors, pretending to combat racism while funding it, as Blanche detailed in announcing the indictment.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder famously described himself as Obama's "wingman." Former Attorney General Merrick Garland dutifully complied when President Biden complained through an April 2022 New York Times article that Trump and his supporters were not being prosecuted fast enough. Garland authorized the Mar-a-Lago raid a few months later and illegally appointed special counsel Smith a few months after that. By 2023, Trump faced a barrage of indictments.
Democrats' supposed fears about Blanche's lack of independence ring hollow in light of their deafening silence during the repugnant tenures of Holder and Garland. Republicans should not fall for any of the spurious attacks that are sure to come Blanche's way. Instead, they should stand strong, just as they did in confirming Bove. Blanche will make an exceptional attorney general of the United States, and the Senate must plow through Democrat obstruction and confirm him immediately.
Blanche is a bold and fearless warrior for the Constitution. He put everything on the line to defend Trump against — and beat — the Democrats’ unprecedented, republic-ending lawfare. Blanche is now bringing much-needed and overdue accountability in the Trump Justice Department. As a former federal prosecutor, former defense attorney, and current acting attorney general, Todd Blanche is uniquely qualified to serve as President Trump’s next attorney general. The Article III Project strongly supports Trump’s nomination of Blanche, and we will fight like hell for his Senate confirmation.
Todd Blanche is the man for this moment.