We’ve worked with Todd Blanche. He shouldn’t be attorney general.

Former SDNY prosecutors write in an op-ed for MS Now that the judgment Blanche has displayed since becoming a senior Justice Department leader should disqualify him.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche at a press conference in the Oval Office. (Source: White House)

This article was written by Mimi Rocah and Perry Carbone, and first published in MS Now. It is being reprinted with the authors’ permission.

Todd Blanche is an experienced prosecutor and lawyer. Those are necessary qualifications to serve as attorney general, but they are far from sufficient. The office demands more, including a willingness to exercise judgment based solely on the law and the interests of the American people. Since becoming part of the Justice Department leadership in March 2025, Blanche has repeatedly demonstrated that he cannot be trusted to exercise that independence. For that reason, the Senate Judiciary Committee should reject his nomination to be attorney general.

We write as lawyers who worked alongside Blanche for several years in the Southern District of New York and once considered him a close friend. SDNY is known for its independence from politics and outside influence. Our office pursued investigations and cases vigorously, whether the target was rich, politically connected or famous, regardless of which political party was in power. As federal prosecutors, we were taught that our duty was to pursue justice fairly, impartially and independently — not to bring or win cases at all costs, to advance political agendas or to serve powerful individuals.

In our view, Blanche has turned his back on these principles. It has been painful to watch many of his actions as deputy attorney general and acting attorney general, especially his participation in the firing of career prosecutors and FBI agents based purely on political considerations. We regarded Blanche highly at SDNY, but we feel obligated as former officers of the Justice Department to speak plainly — as did more than 1,200 other DOJ alums opposing his nomination. Our concern is not political; all presidents are entitled to appoint senior Justice Department officials who share their law enforcement priorities. Our concern is institutional: whether the Justice Department will continue to exist to serve the American people and whether Americans will have faith in its decisions and actions.

This week brought further reason for doubt. On Monday, the federal judge overseeing President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS denounced the case as an exercise in self-dealing “brought for an improper purpose — to gain the imprimatur of judicial legitimacy for a ‘settlement’ that had no viable basis in law or fact.” The judge referred all government attorneys involved, including Blanche, to state bar agencies for potential disciplinary proceedings. Blanche, formerly Trump’s personal attorney, announced a “settlement” that would have created a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that Trump pledged to share with supporters; he also signed an addendum to grant Trump and his family immunity from tax claims predating the settlement. In other words, Blanche used Justice Department powers to help facilitate a facially frivolous lawsuit against an agency the president controls and then claimed to settle it, including by signing away the IRS’ enforcement authority. This is Blanche acting to benefit Trump personally, not in the interests of the American public.

As acting attorney general, Blanche has been open about his willingness to allow Trump to dictate who the Justice Department prosecutes. In an April press conference, Blanche said that Trump ‌has a “right” and a “duty” to shape federal probes of individuals who had investigated him. Blanche has overseen several indictments of individuals publicly criticized by the president, including an absurd second indictment of former FBI Director James Comey for a “threat” made via seashells. Just last week, a judge appointed by Trump ruled that the dismissals Blanche oversaw of convictions against members of the Proud Boys for conduct related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riots were “without regard to the seriousness of the conduct at issue.” The judge made clear that the dismissals were sought because Trump wanted them, not because they were warranted based on fact or law.

A Justice Department run as the president’s personal firm is not a strong one. There are already many examples of this: The repeated dismissals of DOJ indictments such as the failed revenge indictments against Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James; grand juries’ rejections of cases such as the attempted seditious prosecution of senators; the subpoena of Jerome Powell, at the time the Federal Reserve chair, that a judge dismissed as a “fishing expedition.” Add to all that the exodus of experienced professionals from the Justice Department and the loss of trust by many federal judges. Blanche is not only transforming the Justice Department into a political institution; he is also eroding its traditional strengths.

There is also the Epstein issue. As deputy attorney general, Blanche interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell. Simply put, he gave a convicted sex trafficker a platform to lie about her conduct, without pushback, before she was rewarded with a prison transfer — actions that appear motivated by a desire to solve a political crisis for the president. Little wonder many Epstein survivors say Blanche “betrayed” them.

Some, such as former Attorney General Bill Barr, have argued that Blanche’s prosecutorial experience qualifies him to be attorney general. But Blanche’s training makes the actions he has already taken all the more disturbing, because he knows that the DOJ should not be used as a tool of personal power. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina has warned that he will be watching for “even a whiff” that the Justice Department would not operate independently under Blanche. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana was more stark, saying he needs to be convinced that Blanche is “the attorney general who used to be the president’s personal attorney” — not the other way around. Sen. John Cornyn has said that once confirmed, Blanche “won’t be the president’s lawyer.” They and every other senator should remember that Blanche pledged to keep political and personal interference out of the Justice Department in his last confirmation hearing — with the above results.

Attorney General Robert H. Jackson said in 1940 that a prosecutor “seeks truth and not victims, … serves the law and not factional purposes.” Surely that applies to the office of attorney general. Together, we have spent almost five decades as federal prosecutors under attorneys general appointed by presidents of both parties, carrying out their law enforcement priorities whether we agreed with them or not. But the attorney general has a clear client: the United States. Todd Blanche has shown himself unable or unwilling to stop prioritizing the interests of Donald Trump above all else.