Todd Blanche during a media briefing with President Donald Trump in June.
Photo Credit: Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post
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According to Barbara Perry and Sarah Wilson from UVA Miller Center, the U.S. Attorney General is expected to exercise “independent legal judgment”—especially in specific investigations and prosecutions—rather than act as the president’s personal lawyer or political enforcer.
That’s certainly isn’t what we should expect from the next acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, recently appointed by Trump to replace Pam Bondi.
He appears to be appointed for one reason: to be an attack dog and go after Trump’s enemies with vengeance.
Blanche has a sordid reputation for aggressively, pit bull style, arguing that prosecutions of Trump were politically motivated.
We should expect more of the same from the new acting AG.
As deputy AG, Blanche described the administration as being in a “war” with “rogue activist judges.”
Blanche has plenty of experience as an attack dog. He was one of the criminal defense attorneys for Trump with the New York hush‑money case, where Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He also defended Trump with the federal classified‑documents case and the federal election‑interference case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, both later dismissed after Trump’s 2024 reelection.
Blanche represents the first acting attorney general in modern history to have been the president’s personal criminal defense lawyer, which critics argue, undercuts the appearance of DOJ independence.
Clearly, though, his most important responsibility will be to shut down inquisitive minds—about the Epstein files that could weaken and inflict irreparable harm to the Trump administration and his allies.
Sounds like a tall order that could only be filled by a sycophant to the president and a ruthless attack dog.
–Bill Lucey
April 3, 2026
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