Todd Blanche, Department of Justice, Project 2025

Todd Blanche

Branch: ExecutiveAgency or Office Type: Cabinet DepartmentAgency or Office: Department of JusticeAppointment Status: Pending Senate ConfirmationRisk(s): Partisan Rule of Law, Democratic Backsliding

Announced as Trump’s pick for Deputy Attorney General

President-elect Donald Trump has picked Todd Blanche to be Deputy Attorney General at the Justice Department. The Deputy Attorney General serves as the second-highest-ranking official at the Justice Department, immediately behind the Attorney General.

Todd Blanche served as Trump’s criminal lawyer, defending him in criminal trials regarding the alleged mishandling of classified documents at Mar-A-Lago, attempts to subvert the 2020 election, and payment of hush money to Stormy Daniels (for which Trump was convicted on 34 felonies).

As noted by journalist Liz Dye in her “Public Notice” Substack, Blanche was “chosen not for [his] actual qualifications, but for [his personal relationship] with Trump himself. There is simply no universe in which [he] will stand up to Trump the way that [his predecessors] Rosenstein and Donoghue did when the chips were down.” That is, a Justice Department run by Trump loyalists may not act with independence, as it did in 2020 when the department’s leaders prevented Trump from weaponizing it to steal the election, and may even weaponize the department to prosecute political enemies.

In 2019, Blanche defended Paul Manafort, Trump’s previous campaign manager, in a case involving state mortgage fraud charges in New York.

WHAT DOES PROJECT 2025 SAY ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Project 2025 calls for politicizing law enforcement and the U.S. judicial system, including:

Terminating all FBI investigations/activities into Russian collusion, MAGA operatives, January 6th suspects, Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) violations, and more.

Curtailing the independence of the FBI, including by eliminating the agency’s General Counsel’s Office and pushing Congress to end the 10-year term for the FBI Director in order to make the FBI Director dependent on the President’s approval–abandoning a key Nixon-era reform.

Pursuing “legal action” against local District Attorneys and officials that the Administration claims are “refusing to prosecute criminal offenses in their jurisdictions.”

Expanding the investigation of leaks, including using powerful tools to identify records of unauthorized disclosures to the media.

PRECEDING CONTEXT FOR PROJECT 2025

– Trump tried to weaponize DOJ to overturn the 2020 election. Per CNN: “Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of Trump’s attempted coup was how he relentlessly tried to weaponize DOJ to nullify President Joe Biden’s victory. The Democratic-run Senate Judiciary Committee investigated Trump’s conduct and concluded in a recent report that he ‘grossly abused the power of the presidency.’”

– Throughout his Presidency, Trump repeatedly called to prosecute his opponents. As reported in Vox:** **“He told Hillary Clinton that once he won, she’d be ‘in jail.’ He said that John Kerry ‘should be prosecuted.’ He wants Adam Schiff ‘questioned at the highest level for Fraud & Treason.’ John Bolton, he says, should be ‘in jail, money seized.’ James Comey should face ‘years in jail.’” In July 2024, Trump also amplified social posts calling for televised military tribunals of Liz Cheney.

HOW ARE THESE POLICIES POSSIBLE?

– The President largely controls DOJ through the Attorney General, who is removable by the President without cause. DOJ could try to take legal action against local District Attorneys but would likely face challenges.

– Any sense of DOJ’s independence has resulted from presidents following norms that Trump began to unravel and could continue to erode.

– Federal and local prosecutorial discretion (the ability of prosecutors and law enforcement to exercise judgment in which cases and violations to pursue) is a bedrock principle that Trump could deploy to punish those he dislikes and favor what he prefers.