Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche arrives to speak during a news conference at the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Department Building on April 07, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla | getty images
President Donald Trump on Monday Todd Blanche was nominated as Attorney General, a position he has held in an acting capacity for just over two months.
Trump had said he would ask the Senate to confirm Blanch as attorney general to replace Pam Bondi, who was fired by the president on April 2.
Enrollment Comes a few weeks after Blanche passes Justice Department Grant Trump, his family members, and the Trump Organization immunity from prosecution or enforcement actions by the Internal Revenue Service with respect to tax returns filed before the controversial settlement of Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS.
Blanch, who is currently deputy attorney general, previously served as a criminal defense attorney for Trump when the president was out of office from January 2021 to January 2025.
Since being nominated in an acting capacity, Blanch has faced strong criticism from senators, including some Republicans, whose support she would need to receive confirmation.
Those lawmakers, and good government advocacy groups, have criticized Blanche for authorizing the creation of the Justice Department’s so-called anti-gunfire fund as part of the settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS.
The $1.8 billion fund was designed to compensate alleged victims of prosecution by the Justice Department during the Biden administration.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanch prepares to testify during a hearing of the Subcommittee on Appropriations, Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies at the Rayburn House Office Building on June 2, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik | getty images
Critics of the fund said it could pay out people who were convicted of assaulting police officers and other crimes during the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters protesting the election of former President Joe Biden.
Blanch told a House subcommittee on June 2 that the Justice Department had permanently abandoned plans for the fund because of that criticism, and a federal judge’s injunction had temporarily halted the fund’s operations.
But he declined to put that promise in writing, raising concerns that the Justice Department would try to revive the fund in the future. And the next day Trump said he was unclear about the fate of the fund.
Lawsuits challenging the validity of the fund are pending.
During the same hearing, Blanch told the subcommittee that the agreement protecting Trump from prosecution related to pre-filed tax returns would remain in effect.
“You know, look, and I just want to say this: the save america pac (The political action committee controlled by Trump) paid you approximately $10 million between March 2024 and December 2024 to serve as President Trump’s personal defense attorney,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., told Blanche at the hearing.
“My God, don’t you think there’s a conflict of interest in what you’re doing here as acting Attorney General of the United States?” DeLauro asked.
He replied: “What are you saying is a conflict?”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying,” said Blanche.
“Donald Trump has engaged in the most corrupt enterprise in the history of the presidency. Todd Blanche clearly did not care,” Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement on Blanche’s nomination on Monday.
In late May, Bondy told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in a closed interview that he had put Blanch in charge of complying with the law that requires the Justice Department to release all of its files on notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The department has faced criticism for not redacting the names of some victims as required when releasing files and withholding many documents.
Trump is the only president to face criminal charges. Blanche served as his defense attorney in three cases.
In two cases, Trump was convicted in separate federal courts of trying to overturn his loss to Biden in the 2020 election and maintaining classified government documents at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida after leaving the White House. Both cases were dropped by the Justice Department after Trump was elected president in 2024 because the department had a policy of not prosecuting sitting presidents.
In the third case, a New York City state court jury convicted Trump in May 2024 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 hush money payment his then-personal lawyer Michael Cohen paid to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election.
Shortly before assuming the presidency, Trump was sentenced to an unconditional discharge in that case.
