President Donald Trump has tapped Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as the acting head of the Justice Department after ousting Attorney General Pam Bondi. He named his former personal lawyer in the interim in a social media post on Thursday.
Blanche is a former federal prosecutor-turned-lawyer with a formidable reputation in white-collar crime, per People Magazine. Working as part of Trump’s legal team in several high-profile criminal cases, he is one of Trump’s trusted allies. The President appointed him as the Deputy Attorney General in March 2025.
Blanche graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 1996 with a law degree. He then began his career at the Department of Justice and remained there for over 15 years, taking on roles such as a paralegal in the Criminal Division and a contractor.
Before Blanche entered private practice, he worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York for nearly a decade, where he honed his skills in one of the most powerful criminal prosecution offices in the country. It was while working here that he sharpened his knowledge of white collar crimes such as complex money laundering and tax fraud cases.
Blanche later joined major law firms such as Cadwalader before becoming a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. By 2023, he went out on his own to co-found his own firm as he had became known for working with high net worth clients and corporate executives, who appreciated his knowledge as a defense attorney.
During his time in private practice, he defended Trump’s ex-chairman Paul Manafort, and also represented Rudy Guiliani’s associate Igor Fruman in 2022.
Trump is naming his personal lawyer Todd Blanche as the new acting Attorney General after firing Pam Bondi.
Blanche spoke with Ghislaine Maxwell shortly before she was transferred to a minimum security prison last year. pic.twitter.com/CbR4DW1iHv
— Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) April 2, 2026
Trump was the first President to face criminal charges, and Blanche was right beside him. This was when Blanche’s reputation reached new heights as he defended Trump who was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. At the time he said, “I have been asked to represent Trump in the recently charged DA case, and after much thought and consideration, I have decided it is the best thing for me to do and an opportunity I should not pass up.” He ended up representing Trump in three criminal cases between 2023 and 2024.
It was also these cases he was referencing when he revealed that all the prosecutors who had been involved in prosecuting Trump were no longer working at the DOJ. He said, “There is not a single man or woman at the Department of Justice who had anything to do with those prosecutions.” He continued, “Director Patel has cleaned house there too.”
Recently, he made a statement about Jeffrey Epstein that made headlines. “We will always investigate any evidence of misconduct, but as you know, it’s not a crime to party with Mr. Epstein,” while defending the financier’s friend.
In his personal life, Blanche has been married to his wife Kristine for nearly 3 decades. They rounded out their family with two children , and have one grandchild to boot.
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) April 2, 2026
Trump took to Truth Social, and fired Bondi after 14 months in office. He penned, “Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year. Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country, with Murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900.”
The President then stated, “We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future.” Interestingly, when Trump fired Kristi Noem, he also immediately placed her into another position as the special envoy for the Shield of the Americas.
Trump continued when he announced the interim “Deputy Attorney General, and a very talented and respected Legal Mind, Todd Blanche, will step in to serve as Acting Attorney General. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Trump’s move to fire Bondi comes as she faces backlash for how she handled the Epstein files. He was also reportedly frustrated because she failed to prosecute his adversaries quickly enough.
