President Donald Trump is soon expected to nominate Todd Blanche to be attorney general, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The nomination could be announced as soon as tonight, the source and another person familiar said. The president mentioned his decision at a private dinner at the White House on Wednesday, the two sources said.
When Trump makes the nomination official, it will end Blanche’s two months serving in the role in an acting capacity since his predecessor, Pam Bondi, was fired. Since then, Blanche, Trump’s firebrand former personal attorney, has taken great pains to prove to the president that he is up for the job.
The White House would not confirm the president’s decision, but in a statement to CNN, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, “President Trump has a great relationship with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and is very pleased with the job he’s doing so far.”
She added, “Todd Blanche is an American patriot who fearlessly fought against the Democrats’ unprecedented lawfare campaign on behalf of President Trump. The President’s entire team at the Department of Justice is doing a great job advocating for sanity, law and order, and policies that keep Americans safe.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Over the past several weeks, Blanche has secured indictments against some of the president’s personal foes including former FBI Director James Comey, rolled back gun control measures and issued subpoenas to journalists for their sources.
But his nomination also comes after two weeks of turmoil at the department over the proposed $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to compensate people who say they were wrongly prosecuted by the government.
After weeks of fierce and unrelenting pushback from the president’s own party, Blanche announced Tuesday that the department was abandoning the effort.