Trump’s AG Pick Hit With Massive Revolt of DOJ Veterans

Politics admin July 7, 2026 0 Comments

Trump’s AG Pick Hit With Massive Revolt of DOJ Veterans

A staggering revolt has sprung up against President Donald Trump’s attorney general pick.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche took the reins, ostensibly on a temporary basis, after his superior, Pam Bondi, was fired in April for her botched handling of the Epstein files and for failing to nail the president’s enemies.

Blanche, the president’s former personal attorney who represented him in major criminal cases, including the New York hush money trial, immediately set about delivering Trump’s revenge tour—to the point that the 80-year-old wants him to take the post permanently.

But a group of 1,205 Justice Department alums has dissented, urging the Senate Judiciary Committee, a panel of 22 Senators that oversees the department, to reject Blanche.

Citing apparent “corruption” under the 51-year-old former prosecutor, the signatories demanded that the panel’s Chair, Republican Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, and its ranking member, Democratic Illinois Senator, step in before his confirmation hearing on July 15.

Their letter was obtained by Politico’s Playbook. It said “corruption and abuses…have defined” Blanche’s tenure, but his MAGAfication of the workforce is just as worrying.

“But we want to focus on an area that deserves just as much attention: Todd Blanche’s degradation of DOJ’s apolitical career workforce,” it added.

“The culture of fear Blanche has instilled within DOJ’s workforce must end,” the signatories wrote. “Respect for career professionals must return. Would-be job applicants need to believe the Justice Department lives up to the virtue in its name. And instead of exhibiting fealty to the president, the Attorney General must heed John Adams’ admonition that our republic remains a ‘government of laws, not of men.’”

It comes after Blanche was shot down by a federal judge, who refused his request to dismiss a lawsuit over the release of the government’s Epstein files, allowing the case to proceed.

On Monday, Emmet G. Sullivan ruled that journalist Katie Phang’s lawsuit challenging the Justice Department’s handling of the records should continue. The judge had previously found that Blanche violated the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a law signed by Trump last year requiring the DOJ to release its Epstein-related files.

The dispute centers on redacted emails and other records the DOJ has withheld. Sullivan ordered the department to unredact the names of senders and recipients in certain emails and to produce FBI interview notes from a woman who accused Trump of sexually assaulting her as a minor after allegedly being introduced to him by Jeffrey Epstein. Trump has denied the allegation.

Blanche has argued that the redactions are lawful and maintained that the department has released all responsive records. A Justice Department spokesperson criticized Sullivan’s ruling, while the judge concluded that Blanche’s legal team had not defended the underlying merits of the withholding, instead arguing only that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.

Since he replaced Bondi in April, Blanche has been Trump’s wall of defense regarding the Epstein files. He has also pursued investigations involving Trump’s political opponents and tried to deliver his highly controversial and ill-fated “Anti-Weaponization Fund” initiative.

The White House and the DOJ have been contacted for comment.