Todd Blanche

Todd Wallace Blanche is an American attorney and former federal prosecutor who currently serves as Acting United States Attorney General, a position he has held since April 2026. Born in 1974, Blanche spent eight years as a federal prosecutor in the violent-crimes division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York before transitioning to private practice. He gained national prominence representing President Donald Trump in multiple high-profile criminal cases beginning in 2023, including the New York prosecution over concealed payments and federal cases involving classified documents and election-related matters. Following Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election, Blanche was nominated and confirmed by the Senate as United States Deputy Attorney General in March 2025, a position he continues to hold alongside his acting role leading the Department of Justice.

Early life and career

Todd Wallace Blanche was born on August 6, 1974, in Denver, Colorado. His father, Richard Blanche, was a Canadian hockey player who later managed a religious congregation called Faith Bible Fellowship from the family's basement in Denver. His mother worked as a nurse. The family's religious activities became the subject of local controversy when neighbors complained about the basement congregation, leading authorities to cite it as a zoning violation. Richard Blanche was held in contempt after refusing to cease the gatherings, vowing to continue preaching even if imprisoned and to appeal the ruling through the courts. The Colorado Supreme Court ultimately ruled against the family, and in 1987 the Blanches relocated to Gainesville, Florida, as a result of the dispute.

Blanche attended the New Mexico Military Institute, where he distinguished himself as an athlete. In 1992, he enrolled at Louisiana State University but transferred after one year to Beloit College, where he participated on both the basketball and baseball teams. By 1994, Blanche had transferred again to American University in Washington, D.C. He later explained that his interest in politics drew him to American University and that he also wanted to be closer to Kristine, a biology student at Catholic University of America whom he had met while in Australia. The two married and eventually had two children together.

While attending American University, Blanche secured an internship at the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, which subsequently became a full-time position. Seeking to advance his legal career, he moved to New York to work as a paralegal in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York while attending Brooklyn Law School in the evening. He graduated cum laude from Brooklyn Law School in 2003, completing his formal legal education after years of balancing work and study.

Following law school, Blanche joined the law firm Davis Polk as an associate. He also served temporary clerkships with two federal judges: Denny Chin of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and Joseph F. Bianco of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. These clerkships provided him with valuable judicial experience early in his legal career.

In 2006, Blanche returned to the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York as an assistant United States attorney, beginning what would become an eight-year tenure as a federal prosecutor. He was assigned to the office's violent-crimes division, where he handled serious criminal matters and eventually rose to become co-chief of the division. During this period, he worked alongside Alvin Bragg, who would later, as Manhattan District Attorney, prosecute the case against Donald Trump in which Blanche served as defense counsel. Blanche also ran the district's branch office in White Plains, New York, working alongside prosecutor Mimi Rocah. According to colleagues and media reports, Blanche was regarded highly enough during his prosecutorial career that he was considered a potential candidate for a federal judicial nomination.

In 2014, Blanche left the United States Attorney's Office and entered private practice, joining the prominent law firm WilmerHale. Three years later, in 2017, he moved to Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, where he became a partner. His practice at Cadwalader focused on white-collar criminal defense and complex litigation.

By June 2019, Blanche had begun representing Paul Manafort, the former campaign manager for Donald Trump, who faced state mortgage fraud charges in New York following his federal convictions on other matters. Blanche filed a motion to dismiss the state charges on the grounds that they violated New York's double jeopardy laws, arguing that the state prosecution impermissibly duplicated matters for which Manafort had already been federally prosecuted. In December 2019, a judge dismissed the indictment based on the state's double jeopardy statute, and the New York Supreme Court affirmed this decision in October 2020. Blanche also represented Igor Fruman, a businessman and associate of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani who was implicated in matters related to the Trump–Ukraine scandal, as well as Boris Epshteyn, an attorney associated with Trump's circle. According to reporting, Blanche represented both Manafort and Epshteyn in his personal capacity with the approval of his firm.

In February 2023, as Donald Trump faced imminent indictment in New York over allegations involving concealed payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, Trump appointed Epshteyn to assemble a legal defense team. Epshteyn asked Blanche to assist in identifying potential attorneys. In April 2023, one day before Trump's scheduled arraignment, Trump added Blanche himself to the defense team. That same month, Blanche founded his own firm, Blanche Law. Media reports indicated that both Epshteyn and Manafort had referred Trump to Blanche based on their prior working relationships. Blanche subsequently led Trump's defense in the New York criminal trial and also represented him in federal prosecutions involving classified documents and election-related obstruction allegations.

Cabinet tenure

Following Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election, the president-elect announced in November 2024 that he would nominate Blanche to serve as United States Deputy Attorney General, the second-ranking position in the Department of Justice. Blanche was confirmed by the United States Senate in March 2025 and began serving in that capacity.

In May 2025, President Trump dismissed Carla Hayden from her position as Librarian of Congress and designated Blanche to serve as acting Librarian of Congress while Blanche continued in his role as Deputy Attorney General. The appointment immediately generated controversy and legal challenges. Staff members of the Library of Congress and Hayden herself disputed the president's authority to remove Hayden and to appoint Blanche without Senate confirmation to the librarian position. Critics argued that Robert Newlen, who served as principal deputy librarian, was the lawful successor to Hayden under the statutory framework governing the Library of Congress. The legality of Blanche's appointment to lead the library remained disputed.

In April 2026, President Trump removed Pam Bondi from her position as United States Attorney General. Blanche, in his capacity as Deputy Attorney General, became Acting Attorney General, assuming leadership of the Department of Justice. The specific mechanism and date of the succession have not been publicly detailed beyond the fact that the transition occurred in April 2026. As Acting Attorney General, Blanche oversees the operations of the Department of Justice, including its various divisions, United States Attorneys' offices across the country, and federal law enforcement components such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In June 2026, President Trump formally nominated Blanche to serve as United States Attorney General, seeking Senate confirmation for him to hold the position on a permanent basis rather than in an acting capacity. As of the available information, Blanche continues to serve as Acting Attorney General while the nomination process proceeds. Throughout his tenure leading the Department of Justice in an acting capacity, Blanche has maintained his Senate-confirmed position as Deputy Attorney General, which he has held since March 2025.

Blanche's path from private defense attorney representing the president in criminal matters to leading the Department of Justice represents an unusual trajectory in the history of the office. His tenure has been marked by the complexities of serving in multiple high-level roles simultaneously and by legal questions surrounding at least one of his appointments.

Legacy

As Blanche continues to serve as Acting Attorney General, any comprehensive assessment of his legacy remains premature. His career trajectory—from federal prosecutor to high-profile defense attorney to senior leadership of the Department of Justice—reflects the varied paths attorneys may take through different sectors of the legal profession. His work as a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York contributed to the office's handling of violent crimes over nearly a decade, and his subsequent defense work involved some of the most politically sensitive criminal cases in recent American history.

The circumstances of Blanche's appointment to acting leadership of the Department of Justice, following his role as personal defense counsel to the president who appointed him, will likely be a subject of historical analysis and debate regarding the relationship between the executive branch and the administration of justice. His simultaneous service in multiple roles, particularly the disputed appointment as acting Librarian of Congress, has raised questions about the scope of executive appointment authority and the proper interpretation of statutory succession frameworks.

Blanche's tenure as Acting Attorney General occurs during a period of significant attention to the Department of Justice's independence and its role in the constitutional system. How his leadership is ultimately evaluated will depend in part on decisions and policies implemented during his time in office, the outcome of his nomination to serve as Attorney General on a permanent basis, and the broader context of the Department's work during this period. His confirmation as Deputy Attorney General by the Senate in March 2025 established him as the first person in that role under the administration, but his elevation to acting leadership of the department came through executive action rather than a separate confirmation process.

The legal community's assessment of Blanche's career will likely weigh his contributions as a prosecutor, his effectiveness as a defense attorney in high-stakes matters, and his stewardship of the nation's principal law enforcement agency during his time as its acting leader.