From Trump's Hush Money Lawyer to Acting Attorney General: Todd Blanche's Corrupt Ascent

Pam Bondi is out, and Todd Blanche is in. Trump's former personal lawyer, the man who defended him in the hush money trial where a jury found Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts, is now the acting attorney general of the United States.

The promotion completes a neat circle of corruption: the same lawyer who protected Trump from accountability for paying hush money to a porn star now runs the Justice Department that's supposed to hold the powerful accountable.

This isn't just a conflict of interest. It's the culmination of a career built on defending the corrupt, attacking the rule of law, and aligning with the far-right fringe that has captured the American legal system.

Adams speaking to the media outside of Changing Lives Christian Center.

The Eric Adams Corruption Cover-Up

Before he was acting attorney general, Blanche made his mark as deputy attorney general by orchestrating one of the most blatant abuses of prosecutorial power in recent memory: the dismissal of a criminal corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

The case was solid. Federal prosecutors had built a bribery and fraud case against Adams, charging him with accepting campaign contributions from Turkish officials in exchange for political favors. It was the kind of public corruption prosecution the Justice Department is supposed to pursue.

But Adams was a Democrat, and in Trump's DOJ, that was the wrong kind of corruption.

According to reporting from Reuters and The New York Times, Blanche personally ordered the head of the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan to seek dismissal of the charges. When three career prosecutors — Celia V. Cohen, Andrew Rohrbach, and Derek Wikstrom — refused to sign the dismissal documents, Blanche placed them on administrative leave.

He didn't stop there. According to The New York Times, Blanche demanded that the prosecutors "express regret and admit some wrongdoing by the office in connection with the refusal to move to dismiss the case" before he would consider reinstating them.

They resigned instead.

This is how corruption works in the Trump era: career prosecutors who follow the evidence are punished, and political appointees who do the president's bidding are rewarded. Blanche didn't just dismiss a corruption case — he punished the prosecutors who wouldn't break the law for him.

May 21, 2024: Donald Trump sits in court with his attorneys Emil Bove (left) and Todd Blanche at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York.

From Defending Trump to Running the DOJ

Blanche's path to the Justice Department began in April 2023, when Trump hired him to defend against the hush money indictment in Manhattan. Blanche, a partner at the white-shoe firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, resigned from the firm to take the case.

"I have been asked to represent Trump in the recently charged DA case, and after much thought/consideration, I have decided it is the best thing for me to do and an opportunity I should not pass up," Blanche wrote in an email obtained by POLITICO.

The opportunity was defending a former president accused of paying $130,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels to cover up an affair before the 2016 election. The prosecution alleged that Trump falsified business records to conceal the payment.

A jury disagreed with Blanche's defense. On May 30, 2024, Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts.

Blanche didn't just lose the case. He attacked the process. Judge Juan Merchan criticized Blanche for using "casual language" in court filings, for improperly accusing the Manhattan District Attorney's Office of prosecutorial misconduct, and for not directly answering questions.

None of that mattered to Trump. What mattered was loyalty.

After Trump's victory in November 2024, Blanche was nominated for deputy attorney general. He appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 12, 2025, where he acknowledged that he remained the president's lawyer but insisted their close ties wouldn't be a problem.

The Senate confirmed him 52-46 in March 2025.

6 Federalist Society member Supreme Court Justices

The Federalist Society Connection

Blanche isn't just a Trump loyalist — he's embedded in the far-right legal infrastructure that has been reshaping the American judiciary for decades.

He's a member of the Federalist Society, the conservative legal organization that has placed hundreds of judges on federal courts and dominates Republican judicial appointments. In November 2025, Blanche delivered a "Fireside Chat" at the Federalist Society's annual lawyers' conference.

What he said there should terrify anyone who believes in an independent judiciary.

"What happened the past four years within the United States Department of Justice, I'm going to say a Latin term: batshit crazy," Blanche told the audience, drawing laughter.

He attacked judges who had ruled against the Trump administration, declaring, "They have a robe on but they are more political or certainly as political as the most liberal governor or district attorney … There's a group of judges that are repeat players, and that's obviously not by happenstance, that's intentional, and it's a war, man."

"It's a war, man."

Those words — the second-highest law enforcement official in the United States declaring war on federal judges — prompted the New York State Bar Association to issue an unprecedented statement denouncing Blanche's "declaration of 'war' on the judiciary and bar association disciplinary bodies."

Blanche also targeted the D.C. Bar, calling it "one of the most activist, obnoxious bars when it comes to going after conservative lawyers."

This is the language of a far-right movement that has abandoned any pretense of respecting the rule of law. Judges who rule the "wrong" way aren't just mistaken — they're enemies in a war.

The Epshteyn Connection

Blanche's rise is inseparable from Boris Epshteyn, the controversial Trump aide who has become one of the former president's most trusted legal advisors.

According to Vanity Fair, Epshteyn was "on the verge of becoming the most trusted legal advisor to the President of the United States — and already his people were taking the top legal slots." That included Blanche, who was Epshteyn's own former attorney before joining Trump's legal team.

The circle extended further: Emil Bove, another of Trump's criminal defense attorneys in the hush money case, served as principal deputy attorney general before Trump nominated him to serve as a federal appellate court judge.

Vanity Fair described this network as Trump's "inner circle of suck-ups," but it's more accurate to call it a corruption network. Lawyers who defended Trump from criminal liability are now running the Justice Department, deciding who gets prosecuted and who doesn't.

Todd Blanche looking smug in the court room as he defends trump on fraud charges.

Defending the Trump Circle

Before he joined Trump's defense team, Blanche represented some of the most controversial figures in Trump's orbit at Cadwalader.

He represented Boris Epshteyn, Trump's fixer. He represented Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign manager who was convicted of financial crimes and conspiracy against the United States. He represented Igor Furman, a former associate of Rudy Giuliani.

This is the client list of someone who built a career defending corruption — and now he's in charge of prosecuting it.

Attacking White-Collar Prosecution

Since becoming deputy attorney general, Blanche has made it clear that he doesn't believe in prosecuting white-collar crime, at least not when it involves Trump's allies.

In December 2025, Blanche warned lawyers who criticized the Justice Department's approach to white-collar crime enforcement.

"If you publicly claim we are not enforcing white-collar crime aggressively enough, but privately insist that your clients are the victims of overreach, we notice that inconsistency," Blanche told hundreds of lawyers at a conference, according to POLITICO.

The nation's second-highest law enforcement official telling lawyers that the DOJ "notices" when their public commentary displeases the government is the kind of thing that would have set off alarm bells in any previous administration. In the Trump administration, it's policy.

Enabling DOJ Politicization

The New York Times has described Blanche's record as deputy attorney general this way: "He has spent the past year or so enabling the wholesale politicization of the Justice Department and losing the trust of many federal judges."

That's the polite way to say it. The impolite way is this: Blanche has spent the past year transforming the Justice Department into a weapon for Trump's political enemies while protecting his allies.

He's fired prosecutors who worked on January 6 cases. He's dismissed charges against Democrats. He's attacked judges who rule against Trump. He's threatened lawyers who criticize the DOJ.

This isn't just incompetence. It's a systematic attack on the rule of law.

What Comes Next

Blanche is the acting attorney general now, but his tenure may be brief. Trump has already floated Lee Zeldin, the former New York congressman who now leads the Environmental Protection Agency, as a potential permanent replacement.

But Blanche's elevation tells us everything we need to know about Trump's priorities. He doesn't want an attorney general who will enforce the law impartially. He wants a loyalist who will protect him and punish his enemies.

Blanche has already proven he'll do both. He protected Trump from criminal liability in the hush money case. He dismissed a corruption case against a Democratic mayor. He's attacked judges and prosecutors who get in the way.

The corruption isn't coming — it's already here.