The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche, President Trump’s criminal defense attorney, to the No. 2 position at the Justice Department, where he has vowed to end the kind of investigations and prosecutions that led to indictments against his client. Blanche’s nomination as deputy attorney general, with oversight of the FBI; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and other federal law enforcement agencies, passed 52 to 46 in a mostly party-line vote, the New York Times reports. A former federal prosecutor in New York, Blanche was in private practice when he agreed to take on Trump as a client, assembling and managing a legal team to defend him against four separate indictments. He was Trump’s attorney in his New York State trial last year on charges of falsifying business records. Trump was convicted of all 34 counts, but Blanche denounced the case as a misuse of prosecutorial power.
Blanche told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he was “frustrated” by what he called the unfair treatment of his client by judges and prosecutors. “That’s power, and that’s power that’s corrupted,” he said. Blanche is the most prominent of several lawyers who have represented Trump who are poised to take senior positions within the Justice Department. Democrats have raised concerns that their elevation will create inherent ethical conflicts, but Blanche and the other Trump lawyers have downplayed such concerns. Blanche confirmed that his “attorney-client relationship with President Trump remains,” but added that he “will not violate my ethical obligations.” He added, “I don’t think President Trump is going to ask me to do anything illegal or immoral, I say that with experience and firsthand knowledge.”