Blanche was tapped to lead the Justice Department after it was announced that former Attorney General Pam Bondi would be leaving.
After President Donald Trump announced on April 2 the departure of Pam Bondi as his attorney general, his former personal attorney, Todd Blanche, was named to replace her as the head of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Blanche was involved in Trump’s criminal defense effort in his 2024 New York trial. Later, he was tasked with handling the release of files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Blanche Responds to Decision
Following the president’s announcement on Truth Social, Blanche wrote that he believed Bondi led the DOJ with “strength and conviction,” and he said, “I’m grateful for her leadership and friendship.”
“Thank you to President Trump for the trust and the opportunity to serve as Acting Attorney General,” he wrote in a post on X shortly after Trump made his statement. “We will continue backing the blue, enforcing the law, and doing everything in our power to keep America safe.”
Trump similarly described Bondi in favorable terms, calling her a “Great American Patriot” and saying that she would be transitioning into a “much needed and important new job in the private sector” after leaving the Justice Department. Under Bondi’s tenure, violent crime has dropped across the United States, he said.
Blanche, the president wrote, is a “very talented and respected legal mind” who will be the acting attorney general. It’s not clear whether Trump plans for Blanche to undergo the Senate confirmation process to become the attorney general or whether he’ll choose another person to lead the DOJ.
Led DOJ Epstein Files Release
As deputy attorney general, Blanche led the DOJ’s task force that handled the release of files related to Epstein and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
Last year, he announced the release of more than 3 million pages of documents, including photos and videos, in response to Congress’s passage of the “Epstein Files Transparency Act.”
As the files were being released, starting in December 2025, Blanche defended the DOJ’s work and said that a significant amount of effort was needed to redact the names of victims who were included in the documents before they could be released to the public. Several members of Congress, including Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), had accused the department of slow-walking the files’ release.
Blanche also interviewed Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence on sex trafficking charges, as part of an ongoing investigation related to Epstein in July 2025. Transcripts of the interview were released in August 2025, and Maxwell said at one point that she does not believe Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019.
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” in February, Blanche indicated that there would be no new charges in connection with the Epstein files.
“I can’t talk about any investigations, but I will say the following, which is that in July, the Department of Justice said that we had reviewed the files, the Epstein files, and there was nothing in there that allowed us to prosecute anybody,” Blanche said at the time.
Regarding the photos that were released in the tranche of files, he said that some of them are “horrible,” but they don’t necessarily allow the DOJ to prosecute somebody.
Served as Trump Attorney
Before he was tapped as deputy attorney general under Bondi, Blanche worked as Trump’s personal attorney and notably was involved in his defense in his 2024 New York jury trial.
In May 2024, a jury convicted Trump on multiple charges of falsifying business records in connection with payments that prosecutors said were mislabeled during the 2016 election. Trump had pleaded not guilty and accused prosecutors of engaging in a political witch hunt ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
As an attorney, Blanche also represented former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Trump 2016 campaign manager Paul Manafort, and Boris Epshteyn, who is currently the senior counsel to Trump.
Blanche worked as a federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York and later worked for multiple prominent law firms such as Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft and WilmerHale.
After Trump’s win in the presidential election, Blanche was nominated by Trump to be deputy attorney general. He was later confirmed in a 52–46 Senate vote in March 2025.
Fired Interim US Attorneys
In several instances earlier this year, Blanche was the DOJ official to confirm that multiple U.S. attorneys who were appointed by courts were terminated just hours after they were named.
On Feb. 20, he announced the firing of James Hundley on social media shortly after he was unanimously chosen by judges to replace former Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
“[Eastern District of Virginia] judges do not pick our US Attorney. POTUS does. James Hundley, you’re fired!” Blanche said in a post on X.
About a week earlier, he similarly announced the firing of Donald Kinsella, who was appointed to serve as the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York.
“Judges don’t pick U.S. Attorneys, @POTUS does,” he wrote. “See Article II of our Constitution. You are fired, Donald Kinsella.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
