The Daily Fuckup

President-elect Donald Trump on Nov. 14, 2024, said Todd Blanche would be his pick for deputy attorney general, putting one of his recent defense lawyers on track for the Justice Department’s No. 2 post. Blanche led Trump’s defense in the New York hush-money case and represented him in other criminal matters. If confirmed, he would help run the department that once prosecuted Trump and now sits at the center of Trump’s promised overhaul of federal law enforcement. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/31e05c8bc960d112adf3f1eacc7bd047?utm_source=openai))

The choice was not a legal problem on its face. But it immediately raised the standard Washington question that follows appointments built around personal loyalty: whether the person chosen can act as a department official first and a former member of the president’s legal team second. The Justice Department says the deputy attorney general advises and assists the attorney general, oversees department operations and can exercise the attorney general’s authority when delegated. That makes the job far more than a ceremonial perch. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/dag/?utm_source=openai))

Blanche’s selection fits a broader Trump pattern of elevating lawyers and aides who stood closest during his legal fights. That may reflect trust, and it may reflect a president-elect who prefers familiar operators in top posts. It also means the department’s second-ranking official would arrive with an unusually direct personal connection to the man whose administration he would be helping to run. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/31e05c8bc960d112adf3f1eacc7bd047?utm_source=openai))

Supporters of the pick can argue that Blanche knows high-stakes litigation, understands the criminal justice system and has spent years inside the kinds of cases that can consume a Justice Department. Critics will see something else: a senior law enforcement job going to someone whose public profile is tied to defending Trump himself. That does not prove the department will be bent to personal ends. It does, however, make the appearance problem impossible to miss. Public confidence in the Justice Department depends on the belief that its leaders serve the law, not the president’s private circle. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/dag/?utm_source=openai))

The practical significance is straightforward. The deputy attorney general is one of the most powerful people in federal law enforcement, and whoever holds the office helps shape how investigations are run, how prosecutors are managed and how the department presents itself in politically sensitive cases. Trump’s move toward Blanche therefore says less about a single lawyer than about the kind of Justice Department Trump appears ready to build: one anchored in confidence from the president-elect, even if that invites fresh doubts about independence from him. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/dag/?utm_source=openai))