{"id":308,"date":"2026-06-04T17:08:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T17:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=308"},"modified":"2026-06-04T17:08:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T17:08:02","slug":"trumps-attorney-general-pick-has-exactly-one-qualification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=308","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s attorney general pick has exactly one qualification"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In May 2025, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Democrat, arrived at an ICE detention facility in his New Jersey city and asked for a tour. Though he was initially let inside the facility\u2019s gate, he was soon confronted by about a dozen federal law enforcement officers and asked to leave. And so he did.<\/p>\n

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For a moment, that seemed like it would be the end of this incident, but then one of the officers had a phone call. A video, later submitted to a federal court, shows this officer turning to his fellow law enforcers after the call and informing them, \u201cWe are arresting the mayor right now, per the deputy attorney general of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That deputy attorney general was Todd Blanche, who is now the acting leader of the Department of Justice. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced that he would nominate Blanche to become the Senate-confirmed attorney general of the United States.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The practical stakes of this nomination are fairly low. Federal law provides that if the attorney general\u2019s job is vacant, \u201cthe Deputy Attorney General may exercise all the duties of that office.\u201d And the Senate already confirmed Blanche as deputy AG (or \u201cDAG\u201d as the job is known within the DOJ). So, Blanche has already been leading the Justice Department since former Attorney General Pam Bondi\u2019s exit in April, and, one way or another, he will continue to do so.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But Trump\u2019s decision to nominate Blanche reveals the president\u2019s confidence in a man who has distinguished himself solely by his willingness to act as Trump\u2019s toady. If he\u2019s officially confirmed, that is not likely to change.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Blanche is Trump\u2019s goon<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Blanche was Trump\u2019s personal lawyer before he arrived at the Justice Department. As DAG, Blanche oversaw the Justice Department\u2019s criminal investigations and prosecutions, including the DOJ\u2019s 93 regional US Attorneys\u2019 offices and law enforcement agencies such as the FBI.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That means that Blanche\u2019s involvement in the Baraka arrest wasn\u2019t an isolated incident \u2014 at a hearing formally dismissing the charges against Baraka, a federal magistrate judge scolded the DOJ for \u201cusing the immense power of the government to pursue weak cases or to make examples without sufficient cause.\u201d Blanche was the senior Justice Department executive overseeing political prosecutions targeting a wide range of Trump\u2019s perceived enemies, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Trump reportedly decided to remove Blanche\u2019s predecessor, Bondi, in part due to the president\u2019s belief that Bondi \u201cwas not moving forcefully enough against the White House\u2019s supposed political enemies.\u201d Since taking over Bondi\u2019s job duties, Blanche appears to have worked hard to reassure Trump that he will not make the same mistake.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Although a federal court dismissed the first round of federal charges against Comey, the Blanche-led department reindicted Comey for posting a picture of seashells arranged to form the numbers \u201c86 47.\u201d \u201c86\u201d is restaurant slang often used to say that an item should be removed or is unavailable. \u201c47\u201d is a reference to Trump, the 47th US president.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A message saying that the sitting president should be removed is obviously protected by the First Amendment, but Blanche\u2019s Justice Department claims that the former FBI director was threatening Trump\u2019s life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Similarly, under Blanche\u2019s leadership, the Justice Department reportedly launched a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, a magazine writer who won $88.3 million in damages against Trump after a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation.<\/p>\n

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Blanche\u2019s primary qualification for the attorney general job, in other words, appears to be his eagerness to use the awesome power of the Department of Justice as a weapon against people who have previously slighted or fought Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Blanche was also the face of Trump\u2019s $1.8 billion \u201cslush fund\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Blanche was also a central figure in a Trump-led scheme that closely resembles embezzlement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Last month, Blanche\u2019s Justice Department announced the creation of a $1.776 billion \u201cAnti-Weaponization Fund\u201d that could be used to distribute money from the US Treasury to Trump\u2019s allies, including participants in the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol. The fund would have been administered by five people chosen by Blanche.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A DOJ press release announcing the fund states explicitly that the fund was \u201cestablished\u201d by the \u201cAttorney General,\u201d a role that is being carried out by Blanche.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One problem with this fund is that the Constitution prohibits money from being drawn from the Treasury without congressional approval. The Justice Department was apparently involved in the fund as part of a scheme to get around this constitutional requirement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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While Congress never authorized this slush fund \u2014 indeed, the slush fund appears to have been killed due to bipartisan opposition to it in Congress \u2014 there is an existing federal law that permits the Treasury to pay plaintiffs who successfully sue the federal government. So Trump filed a fake lawsuit against the United States. His lawyers then \u201csettled\u201d this lawsuit with the Justice Department, which is led by Blanche, who is also Trump\u2019s former personal lawyer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In a different presidential administration, a Cabinet official\u2019s involvement in such a scheme would lead to their resignation, or worse. Again, Todd Blanche effectively conspired with Trump to steal nearly $1.8 billion from the US government. He also humiliated Trump and antagonized Congress by signing off on this scheme.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But in the Trump administration, loyalty is valued far more than competence or adherence to the law. As acting AG, Blanche repeatedly targeted Trump\u2019s perceived enemies and he helped orchestrate one of Trump\u2019s most cockamamie schemes. So, instead of demanding his resignation, Trump wants to promote Blanche.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One open question, however, is whether Blanche will be successful as Trump\u2019s enforcer. Bondi turned out to be a rank incompetent when she took over the Justice Department, and DOJ\u2019s Bondi-era attempts to target Trump\u2019s enemies largely fizzled. Blanche\u2019s inept management of the $1.8 billion slush fund may be an early sign that he is no better.<\/p>\n

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See More:<\/span><\/p>\n
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  • Criminal Justice<\/li>\n
  • Donald Trump<\/li>\n
  • Policy<\/li>\n
  • Politics<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Blanche passed his loyalty test to Trump.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump\u2019s attorney general pick has exactly one qualification - American Living Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=308\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump\u2019s attorney general pick has exactly one qualification - American Living Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Blanche passed his loyalty test to Trump.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=308\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Living Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-04T17:08:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanlivingreport.com\\\/?p=308#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanlivingreport.com\\\/?p=308\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanlivingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b970e3bc484fe2e26860a4380d70de8\"},\"headline\":\"Trump\u2019s attorney general pick has exactly one qualification\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-04T17:08:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanlivingreport.com\\\/?p=308\"},\"wordCount\":1058,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanlivingreport.com\\\/?p=308#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanlivingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/845095594dfaa1b8facde4a387f25d59.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanlivingreport.com\\\/?p=308#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanlivingreport.com\\\/?p=308\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanlivingreport.com\\\/?p=308\",\"name\":\"Trump\u2019s attorney general pick has exactly one qualification - 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