President Donald Trump will nominate Acting Attorney General Todd Branch as the top permanent prosecutor on Thursday, he said at a private event at the White House on Wednesday night.
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White House Chief of Staff Dan Scavino posted a video Wednesday night of Trump announcing Blanche’s nomination during a speech in the Rose Garden.
“He’s the acting attorney general,” Trump said in the video, referring to Branch. “Tomorrow, I’m going to instruct Dunn and everyone else involved in that very complicated process to make him permanent attorney general, and I think that’s going to happen very soon.”
Scavino captioned the video: “President Trump making an announcement tonight at the @WhiteHouse… Congratulations @TheJusticeDept @DAGToddBlanche.”
Branch became acting attorney general in early April after President Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi, who had been representing Branch. Since taking office, Blanche has taken steps to prove she is an attorney general loyal to Trump, including seeking to prosecute Trump’s enemies and deploying a compensation fund for allies.
Under Blanche’s leadership, the Justice Department secured the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey over his posting of photos of seashells, alleging that the Trump administration threatened Trump’s life. Mr. Comey denied that he used a photo of him with the words “86 47” written in seashells to threaten him.
The April indictment marks the second time the Trump administration has attempted to prosecute Comey. The first indictment was based on charges that he lied to Congress five years ago. A federal judge dismissed the case in November.
The judge ruled that the case and the case against New York Attorney General Letitia James, another Trump target, cannot proceed because the federal prosecutor in the case was “unlawfully appointed.”
NBC News reported that Bondi was fired in part because of his unsuccessful attacks on perceived political opponents of President Trump.
Blanche, a former federal prosecutor, joined the Trump administration after serving as President Trump’s personal attorney. He represented Trump in a hush-money lawsuit in New York that resulted in his conviction on 34 felonies. Mr. Trump denies the charges.
The administration’s proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to compensate people who say the federal government is targeting them has sparked bipartisan outcry. The White House withdrew the proposal, and Blanche told lawmakers Tuesday that the fund would not move forward.
Blanche’s nomination went to the Senate, where he was confirmed as deputy attorney general last year by a vote of 52-46.
