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President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he expects acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to become the permanent head of the United States Department of Justice.
“Tomorrow I’m instructing Dan and everybody else that’s involved in that very complicated process, which is gonna go I think very quickly, that we are going to make [Blanche] permanent attorney general,” the president said.
The president previously shared the plans during an interview on the “Pod Force One” podcast.
“He’s a very talented guy. Todd’s doing a very good job at DOJ,” the president said.
When asked whether Blanche would become the next U.S. attorney general, President Trump replied, “I think he will.”
The confirmation would require Senate approval. Republicans currently hold a narrow 53-47 majority in the Senate.
Blanche’s term as acting attorney general is expected to expire in late October, though it could be extended if the president submits a formal nomination.
Blanche has recently faced backlash over a now-abandoned Justice Department proposal to create a $1.8 billion compensation fund for alleged victims of government “weaponization.”
The proposal generated bipartisan criticism and threatened to complicate negotiations over a $72 billion immigration enforcement funding package backed by the administration. Blanche announced Tuesday that the Justice Department would not move forward with the fund.
A Justice Department official said Blanche was not involved in the original negotiations surrounding the proposal, which emerged from President Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the handling of his tax records. However, Blanche later defended the idea publicly as a way to compensate people who believed they had been unfairly targeted by government agencies.
Blanche, who became acting attorney general in April following the departure of former Attorney General Pam Bondi, has earned praise from conservatives for pursuing cases involving the Southern Poverty Law Center and former FBI Director James Comey. President Trump also said he was more satisfied with the Justice Department’s recent pace of action than earlier in his administration.
