President Donald Trump has nominated former personal defense attorney Todd Blanche to lead the Justice Department permanently.
President Trump nominates Todd Branch as attorney general
President Donald Trump announced during remarks at a private dinner on June 3 that he plans to nominate Todd Branch for attorney general.
President Donald Trump has nominated former personal attorney Todd Branch to be his permanent attorney general, weeks after Branch, as acting attorney general, signaled a willingness to pursue new legal strategies and boundary-pushing policies to advance Trump’s agenda.
Since becoming acting attorney general in early April, Blanche has overseen the Justice Department’s new prosecution of President Trump’s target James Comey and the department’s efforts to create a so-called “anti-weaponization fund” that could pay rewards to Trump supporters convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
President Trump said at a private dinner in the White House Rose Garden on June 3 that he plans to nominate Branch to the permanent committee that oversees the Justice Department. The White House formally announced the nomination in a news release on June 8, announcing that Branch’s nomination now goes to the Senate, which will decide whether Branch is confirmed to the position.
Leading Democratic politicians voiced their opposition to Blanche’s nomination on June 8, but unless they have several Republican members on their side, they will not be able to vote to reject Blanche’s nomination.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, posted on social media: “Todd Blanche is not a neutral law enforcement officer. He has never relinquished his primary role as Donald Trump’s chief defender in court.”
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, was quick to voice his support for Branch in a June 8 statement, saying he is “well qualified and dedicated to restoring law and order across our country.”
Blanche served as Trump’s personal attorney in several cases, including the Manhattan criminal trial in which Trump was convicted of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. Trump appealed the ruling before being appointed deputy attorney general by President Donald Trump in 2025.
Blanche said the Justice Department would not move forward with creating the so-called “anti-weaponization fund” because it faced stiff resistance from lawmakers of both parties. Lawmakers from both parties were concerned that tax dollars would be used to reward Trump’s allies, which could include participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Mr. Blanche defended the Justice Department’s efforts under his leadership to pursue the latest indictment against Mr. Comey, following the dismissal of a lawsuit filed under President Trump’s most recent administration under the first permanent attorney general, Pam Bondi.
The new lawsuit alleges that Comey threatened to harm or kill President Donald Trump by posting an image of a seashell in the shape of “8647” on social media, prompting widespread criticism, including from voices in the conservative legal community.
Comey shared the post, then deleted it shortly after, saying in a new post that he “didn’t realize that some people would associate these numbers with violence” and that he deleted the post because he opposed “violence of any kind.”
Trump specifically called for criminal charges against Comey, a longtime critic of the president, for his September 2025 social media posts. Comey served as FBI director during the Trump administration, but was fired by the president in 2017.
Mr. Blanche has also, under his leadership, defended the Justice Department against charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has drawn the ire of conservatives in recent years.
The case alleges that the center committed fraud by telling donors that it was soliciting donations to dismantle extremist groups, and then using some of those donations to pay informants for extremist groups. Many legal experts say the charges are unusual and could be difficult to prove.
(This article has been updated with additional information.)
