Defense Attorney in Hush Money Trial Named Trump's Deputy AG Pick

WASHINGTON—Todd Blanche, the personal defense attorney for President-elect Donald Trump in his hush money trial involving AVN Hall of Famer Stormy Daniels, was tapped to serve as the Deputy Attorney General of the United States. The deputy is the second-most important lawyer in the U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who was previously accused of sex trafficking, was named as Trump's pick for Attorney General. Gaetz was named as Trump's AG pick days before the House Ethics Committee, led by fellow Republicans, would release a reportedly scathing report about Gaetz's alleged ethical misconduct as a member of Congress. Blanche has vigorously defended Trump in the case brought against his client in Manhattan by District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Prosecutors for Bragg's office were able to win a unanimous guilty verdict against the president-elect in a criminal scheme that placed Trump at the very top of efforts to interfere in the 2016 election, which he won.  Trump's 2016 election interference focused on money laundering and the falsification of business records to cover up payments made to Daniels through Michael Cohen, a former attorney and fixer for the president-elect and his family. The president-elect's win on election day in 2024 brings him back to the White House under the umbrella of broad presidential immunity powers defined by a conservative U.S. Supreme Court. AVN has reported extensively on the ongoing legal battles between Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump.  If Blanche is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he will oversee the Department of Justice's day-to-day operations. Trump has alleged that the Department of Justice, even during his first stint as president, was against him and part of the "deep state." “Todd is an excellent attorney who will be a crucial leader in the Justice Department, fixing what has been a broken System of Justice for far too long,” Trump posted via Truth Social. Blanche previously served as a prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.  In addition to Blanche, Trump's defense attorney Emil Bove was named principal associate deputy attorney general. According to NPR, Bove will serve as the acting deputy attorney general while Blanche faces the confirmation process before the U.S. Senate and the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Bove aided Blanche in defending Trump despite the loss handed to the president-elect by a jury of his peers under New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan. Merchan has yet to sentence Trump on 34 felony convictions. He delayed his decision on whether to vacate the Trump convictions based on the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity. At the time of this writing, Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on November 26. However, he might avoid sentencing in general.