Before picking Todd Blanche to help lead and now run the Justice Department, President Donald Trump was his client.
Blanche, whom Trump elevated Thursday from deputy attorney general to acting U.S. attorney general, rose to prominence representing the president in criminal cases that consumed the four years between his first and second terms. Blanche, a former federal prosecutor and law firm partner, led Trump’s criminal defense team, representing the Republican in matters including his New York hush money case, which ended in his conviction on 34 felony counts, and a pair of federal cases brought by special counsel Jack Smith, both of which have been abandoned. In a social media post, Trump called Blanche “a very talented and respected Legal Mind.”As deputy attorney general, Blanche was the Justice Department’s second-in-command. Working under Attorney General Pam Bondi, he managed the department’s day-to-day operations and became one of its most vocal defenders and visible public faces. He oversaw the release of government files on Jeffrey Epstein and appeared frequently on TV news programs. Here’s a look at Blanche’s career and his rise to running the Justice Department: Blanche, 51, attended Brooklyn Law School at night while working as a paralegal at the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, and graduated cum laude. Originally from the Denver suburbs, he completed his undergraduate studies at American University in Washington, D.C. Blanche served as a law clerk for federal judges Denny Chin and Joseph Bianco, both now members of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and was a federal prosecutor for eight years in the same U.S. attorney’s office where he had started as a paralegal. He spent two years as co-chief of the office’s violent crimes unit, overseeing about two dozen prosecutors and cases involving killings, kidnappings, and other violent crimes.
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