Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche traveled to Florida on Monday the place he met with a brand new prosecutor tapped to deal with some of the essential circumstances to President Donald Trump — the investigation into former CIA director and Trump critic John Brennan.
The assembly comes as Blanche fights to show he’s the person to ship on Trump’s greatest precedence: prosecuting the president’s political adversaries.
Less than two weeks in, Blanche has taken public steps towards delivering on Trump’s agenda by making modifications to the crew investigating Brennan, releasing a much-anticipated report on anti-abortion protests, and overseeing an effort to vacate the convictions of members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers concerned within the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol.
Trump has recommended Blanche’s work as appearing attorney general to date, and, based on present and former administration officers who spoke to NCS, the job seems to be his to lose.
But officers say Blanche should nonetheless cope with most of the hurdles that plagued the tenure of former Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier than her latest firing.
Like Bondi, he should face low morale amongst prosecutors and the persistent controversy surrounding the discharge of the Jeffrey Epstein information.
The excessive profile prosecutions of Trump’s political foes should survive judges and grand juries who’ve to date rebuffed most of the makes an attempt.
And buy-in from profession prosecutors tasked with the investigations isn’t assured.
“There are many prosecutors out there who are opposed to the president’s agenda and are not interested in doing the kinds of cases that are important to the White House,” Civil Rights Division Chief Harmeet Dhillon lately advised NCS.
Blanche should face these challenges whereas different prime Justice Department officers try to show their capability to hold out Trump’s agenda if he can not.
While in Florida to talk at a authorized occasion Monday, Blanche met with Jason Reding Quiñones, the US attorney for the southern district of Florida; justice official Christopher-James DeLorenz; and newly put in Counselor to the Attorney General Joseph diGenova, based on a Justice Department official. The assembly has not but been reported.
DiGenova will now work on the investigation into Brennan, which is concentrated on one of many president’s longest standing political grievances — the 2017 intelligence evaluation that discovered Russia interfered within the 2016 presidential election to assist him.
For Trump, prosecutions like Brennan’s — and the pursuit of debunked claims of a stolen 2020 election — are prime of thoughts. He beforehand complained on to Justice Department officers that he has not been happy with the slow-moving progress.
Some prosecutions that did transfer alongside shortly since fell aside. In November, a federal decide dismissed the fees towards New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey. The Justice Department tried a number of occasions to re-indict James, however didn’t persuade a grand jury to convey prices.
In February, a grand jury rejected legal prices towards six Democratic lawmakers who posted a video urging service members to defy unlawful orders from the Trump administration.
The job of delivering on Trump’s agenda took a toll on Bondi, who sources said believed that she was at occasions being requested to do the not possible.
Bondi declined to remark for this story.
When she first took workplace, she shaped the “Weaponization Working Group” which was tasked with investigating actions by prosecutors in the course of the earlier administrations who Trump officers allege had been politically motivated.
Their targets embrace the circumstances introduced by James, in addition to former particular counsel Jack Smith, and the sprawling prosecution towards these concerned within the US Capitol riot. The group was tasked with issuing public experiences that might help legal prices.
By the time Bondi left workplace in early April, nonetheless, the group had not produced a single report.
Associate Attorney General Stan Woodward, the second highest rating official on the Department, defended the tempo of the weaponization group work to NCS.
“It is incumbent upon us not to simply label those travesties as weaponization, but to prove it and go find the evidence of weaponization,” he mentioned. “And that takes time.”
In his first week in workplace, Blanche oversaw the discharge of the group’s first report — one which alleged the Biden Justice Department was biased in the way it went after abortion protesters. The division fired 4 prosecutors who labored on the circumstances.
The report was important to some Republicans, however the group nonetheless has not produced something associated to the individuals whose investigations resulted in legal prices towards the president.
“Part of the reason the weaponization work has been difficult is that you need people who are MAGA and who are really competent,” mentioned Chad Mizelle, former chief of employees for Bondi. “Many career prosecutors are not interested in this kind of work. It’s a very small group of people.”
Mizelle labored alongside Blanche and notes that even when the Justice Department can convey a case towards certainly one of Trump’s political adversaries, they are going to be up towards prime protection attorneys.
In the top, although, Mizelle mentioned he’s “confident” Blanche will probably be profitable in these prosecutions.
As for profession prosecutors who could resist these sorts of investigations, it might need to do with the power of these circumstances, mentioned NCS Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig.
“DOJ prosecutors generally do not shy away from challenging, boldface cases; if anything, they’re more likely to be drawn towards high-stakes matters,” mentioned Honig, a former state and federal prosecutor. “So when you see career, nonpolitical prosecutors expressing doubts about certain cases with political overtones, that’s typically because they simply don’t see the proof to support a criminal charge. DOJ prosecutors are aggressive but they’re not reckless, and they won’t bring a charge that they don’t believe will stick.”
But in an administration that has seen a rift between these devoted to conventional conservatism and diehard Trump loyalism that has develop into known as being “MAGA,” some nonetheless query whether or not Blanche is prepared to do what it takes to ship on what the president desires.
One senior administration official questioned whether or not Blanche has accomplished sufficient to help the MAGA motion.
“Todd is running the show at DOJ, but he has not done enough to support MAGA,” the official mentioned.
Others disagree.
“Todd Blanche put everything on the line to defend President Trump for many years, including representing President Trump in court daily for many years,” mentioned Mike Davis, a longtime Trump authorized adviser. “He doesn’t need to prove his MAGA credentials to anyone.”
The MAGA base has repeatedly criticized the division’s dealing with of the Epstein information.
In February 2025, Bondi advised Fox News that the Epstein shopper listing — which the division later mentioned there was no proof of ever present — was sitting on her desk. Her division additionally hyped “Epstein binders” of data and handed them out to MAGA influencers, however ultimately that preliminary launch contained data that was already within the public area.
As Bondi repeatedly stumbled, Blanche turned the division’s major spokesman on the investigation and ultimately oversaw the discharge of thousands and thousands of paperwork.
His controversial visit to Ghislaine Maxwell in July 2025 and his assertion that no prices are anticipated within the Epstein matter until new data comes ahead had additionally confronted scrutiny.
“First of all, the Epstein situation was the original sin of this Justice Department and Todd doesn’t get us away from that,” mentioned senior administration official
The Justice Department, although, has defended its Epstein efforts.
“The Acting Attorney General met last year with Ghislaine Maxwell and her attorney because she had never met with law enforcement, and it was in the public interest to determine if she had information that had previously not been shared. The entire interview is publicly available,” a Justice Department official mentioned lately.
“As for the file production, all files responsive to the law were released after reviewing millions of documents in a very short timeframe to comply with the Act,” the official mentioned. “Despite it being a popular talking point on social media, any Attorney General will see the same, that all files have been released.”
If Blanche can not fulfill the president, there are a number of high-profile Justice Department officers who seem poised to step-in.
Over the previous couple of months, US Attorney Jeanine Pirro — a well known TV persona with a direct line to the president — has sought the limelight.
She arrange a tip line for any data relating to former Rep. Eric Swalwell amid allegations of sexual abuse, and he or she held a press convention scorching a federal decide for blocking DOJ subpoenas towards Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Pirro’s capability to function with extra autonomy than different US attorneys — at occasions having surprised the White House together with her work — has raised questions on whether or not she’s auditioning for the attorney general job.
In response to ideas that she could wish to step into the function, Pirro issued a press release to NCS saying: “As United States Attorney for D.C., I have seen firsthand the competence, experience, and leadership ability of Todd Blanche. With over 15 years in the Department of Justice and a unique relationship with the president, he is the best person to run the Department of Justice.”
Dhillon, the hard-charging civil-rights chief, has additionally been floated as a doable decide for the job. She has labored to reshape the division to concentrate on reversing DEI initiatives and concentrating on antisemitism.
She advised NCS, “Todd is the President’s choice and I fully support it. I have a great working relationship with him. He is very supportive of rank and file and career lawyers in the building at main justice.”
According to the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, Blanche can serve within the function of appearing attorney general for as much as 210 days, so the place doesn’t must be completely stuffed till November.
Even if Blanche will get the job, Trump’s previous attorneys general have all, ultimately, been fired, changed, or resigned.
If he doesn’t get the job, although, Blanche recently told reporters he gained’t maintain it towards the president.
“If he chooses to nominate somebody else and asks me to go do something else, I will say: ‘Thank you very much, I love you, sir.’”