Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche arrives to address a press conference at the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building on April 7, 2026 in Washington, DC.
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President Donald Trump on Monday nominated Todd Branch to be attorney general, and he has been serving in the role on his behalf for more than two months.
President Trump said he would ask the Senate to confirm Blanche as attorney general to replace Pam Bondi, who he fired on April 2.
The nomination comes weeks after Blanche convinced the Justice Department to grant Trump, his family and the Trump Organization immunity from prosecution or enforcement by the Internal Revenue Service in connection with tax returns filed before the settlement of Trump’s controversial $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS.
Blanche, who currently serves as deputy attorney general, served as President Trump’s criminal defense attorney from January 2021 to January 2025, when he was out of office.
Blanche has faced strong criticism from senators, including some Republicans, since she was nominated as a substitute, and will need their support to win confirmation.
Those lawmakers and good government advocates have accused Branch of authorizing the creation of the Justice Department’s so-called anti-weaponization fund as part of a settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.
The $1.8 billion fund was designed to compensate alleged victims of prosecutorial overreach by the Justice Department under the Biden administration.
Acting U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche prepares to testify at a hearing of the House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Commerce, Judiciary, Science, and Related Agencies on June 2, 2026, at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC.
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Critics of the fund said it could be disbursed to people convicted of assaulting police officers and other crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, invasion of the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters who were protesting the election of former President Joe Biden.
Blanche told a House subcommittee on June 2 that in response to these criticisms and a federal judge’s injunction blocking the fund’s operations, the Justice Department has permanently abandoned the fund’s plans.
But he refused to put that promise into writing, raising concerns that the Justice Department might seek to revive the fund in the future. And the next day, President Trump said he was unsure about the fate of the fund.
A lawsuit challenging the legality of the fund is pending.
Blanche told the subcommittee at the same hearing that the agreement protecting Trump from prosecution related to tax returns filed before the settlement remains in effect.
“Look, look, I just want to say this: Save America PAC (President Trump’s political action committee) paid you nearly $10 million between March 2024 and December 2024 to serve as President Trump’s personal attorney,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., told Branch during the hearing.
“Oh my god, don’t you think there’s a conflict of interest in what you’re doing here as acting attorney general of the United States?” DeLauro asked.
He replied, “What do you mean by conflict?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Blanche added.
“Donald Trump has been involved in the most corrupt business in presidential history, and Todd Branch clearly doesn’t realize it,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement Monday about Branch’s nomination.
Mr. Bondi told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in a private interview in late May that he had appointed Mr. Blanche to comply with a law requiring the Justice Department to release all files on notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The ministry has faced criticism for not redacting the names of some victims as required when releasing the files and for withholding many documents.
Trump is the only president to face criminal charges. Blanche served as his attorney in three of those cases.
In two of the cases, Mr. Trump is charged in separate federal courts with trying to reverse his loss to Mr. Biden in the 2020 presidential election and with storing classified government documents at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, after leaving the White House. Both cases were dropped by the Justice Department due to the department’s policy not to prosecute sitting presidents after Trump is elected president in 2024.
In a third case, a state court jury in New York City convicted Trump in May 2024 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to $130,000 in hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels by his personal attorney at the time, Michael Cohen, just before the 2016 election.
As a result of this incident, Trump was sentenced to be unconditionally removed from office just before he took office as president.
