{"id":6664,"date":"2026-07-15T12:48:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T07:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=6664"},"modified":"2026-07-15T12:48:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T07:48:27","slug":"new-york-city-bar-opposes-todd-blanches-ag-nomination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=6664","title":{"rendered":"New York City Bar Opposes Todd Blanche&#8217;s AG Nomination"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-body\">\n<div id=\"attachment_5696530\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5696530\" class=\"wp-image-5696530 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/am14.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/01\/blanche-4.jpeg\" alt=\"Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche looks on during an announcement at Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, D.C., Nov. 19, 2025.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/01\/blanche-4.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/01\/blanche-4-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/01\/blanche-4-150x100.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/01\/blanche-4-768x512.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5696530\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Francis Chung\/POLITICO via AP Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The New York City Bar Association released a letter it sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee opposing the nomination of <strong>Todd<\/strong> <strong>Blanche<\/strong> as Attorney General, denouncing him for his \u201cmisplaced loyalty\u201d to President <strong>Donald Trump<\/strong> and numerous egregious ethical issues.<\/p>\n<p>Blanche previously served as Deputy Attorney General during <strong>Pam Bondi\u2019s<\/strong> tenure leading the Department of Justice, and became interim Attorney General after her ouster.<\/p>\n<p>Keeping the gig on a permanent basis, however, requires Senate confirmation, and Blanche has drawn notably vocal opposition for multiple reasons, including his past work as Trump\u2019s\u00a0personal lawyer, his role in shepherding the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/pro-trump-police-union-finally-breaks-silence-and-condemns-jan-6-pardons-but-also-swipes-at-biden\/\">pardons<\/a> for the January 6 Capitol <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/crime\/jan-6er-pardoned-by-trump-sentenced-to-life-for-child-sex-abuse-tried-to-bribe-victims\/\">rioters<\/a>, the handling of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/politics\/trump\/trump-claims-the-epstein-story-has-boosted-his-approval-rating-to-best-numbers-ive-ever-had\/\">Epstein files<\/a>, and his controversial <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/crime\/seven-revelations-and-wild-claims-from-ghislaine-maxwells-interview-transcripts\/\">interview<\/a> with <strong>Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s<\/strong> former girlfriend and accomplice, <strong>Ghislaine Maxwell<\/strong> \u2014 not to mention her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/crime\/no-puppies-for-child-sex-traffickers-ghislaine-maxwell-denied-key-perk-at-her-new-cushy-prison-camp\/\">transfer<\/a> shortly thereafter to Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan in Bryan, Texas, a minimum-security facility that is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/tv\/elie-honig-explains-whats-so-unusual-about-doj-transferring-ghislaine-maxwell-to-minimum-security-prison\/\">not commonly used<\/a> to house inmates convicted of crimes as serious as Maxwell\u2019s. The move to this \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/crime\/no-puppies-for-child-sex-traffickers-ghislaine-maxwell-denied-key-perk-at-her-new-cushy-prison-camp\/\">cushy prison camp<\/a>\u201d was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/epstein-victims-trump-administration-for-giving-ghislaine-maxwell-preferential-treatment\/\">sharply criticized<\/a> by several of Epstein and Maxwell\u2019s victims.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, more than 1,200 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/politics\/1200-former-doj-employees-urge-senate-to-reject-todd-blanche-over-culture-of-fear\/\">former DOJ employees<\/a> signed a letter urging the Senate to not confirm Blanche. The signatories included those who had worked for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allrisenews.com\/p\/blanche-letters-rnla-rebuke-support\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">both Republican and Democratic administrations<\/a> and cited multiple \u201ccorruption and abuses\u201d during Blanche\u2019s time at the DOJ, including \u201cvindictive prosecutions\u201d of Trump\u2019s political opponents, the \u201cerasure of accountability for January 6,\u201d and the \u201cmishandling of the Epstein files.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other groups of attorneys and judges have sent their own letters opposing Blanche\u2019s nomination. <a href=\"https:\/\/l4gg.docsend.com\/view\/kbtff85btpgb68wc?clid=eyJpIjoiOWFUclM0cmctc0pmMHpHejU0TzA3IiwiaCI6IiIsInAiOiIvYmxvY2tibGFuY2hlc2lnbmVkIiwidCI6MTc4MzcwMDY4NX0.6RiN-H6G5FLDIYN0eNJgTtbVJHarV35m0pQ2ef9-QnI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lawyers for Good Government<\/a> gathered more than 2,600 signatures from attorneys, and another coalition of <a href=\"https:\/\/joycevance.substack.com\/p\/101-former-judges-ask-the-new-york\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">101 former judges<\/a> have filed a complaint with the New York State Bar Association\u2019s Attorney Grievance Commission requesting an investigation be initiated into Blanche for violation of the state bar rules of professional conduct.<\/p>\n<p>The New York City Bar Association added its voice to the chorus of opposition in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nycbar.org\/reports\/oppose-todd-blanche-attorney-general-nomination\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">letter<\/a> signed by City Bar President <strong>Matthew<\/strong> <strong>Diller<\/strong> and Rule of Law Task Force Chair <strong>Susan J. Kohlmann<\/strong> and addressed to Sens.<strong> Chuck Grassley<\/strong> (R-IA) and <strong>Dick Durbin<\/strong> (D-NY), the chairman and ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement on its website, the NYC Bar urged the committee to reject Blanche\u2019s nomination and listed five categories of reasons why: \u201cpolitically motivated prosecutions, violations of constitutional rights and court orders, misplaced loyalty to the President, the weakening of the Department of Justice, and questions of professional ethics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blanche \u201chas taken actions that we believe make him unfit to lead an ethical and independent department of justice that is essential to our nation\u2019s democracy,\u201d the letter said. \u201cMr. Blanche\u2019s record\u2014particularly the actions he has undertaken as Deputy Attorney General and Acting Attorney General\u2014conclusively demonstrates his lack of commitment to the integrity, professionalism and independence that the Senate should require and the American people should expect of the highest law enforcement official in the land.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The role of Attorney General is supposed to illustrate America\u2019s \u201ccommitment to the rule of law and equal justice under the law,\u201d the letter continued, and whoever serves in that role \u201cmust therefore be a lawyer of both demonstrated professional excellence and unquestionable ethical standards that assure his commitment to justice and loyalty to the United States Constitution, and not to either his personal interests or those of the President who nominated him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTodd Blanche fails to meet this standard,\u201d the letter bluntly declared. \u201cDespite his formal credentials, Mr. Blanche\u2019s actions, both as Deputy Attorney General and as Acting Attorney General, have repeatedly demonstrated that his primary loyalty is not to the United States Constitution or the rule of law but to President Donald J. Trump, whom Mr. Blanche previously represented as a private attorney and whose personal interests he has continued to protect. As a result, his actions have been detrimental to the Department of Justice and the rule of law. Specifically, Mr. Blanche has compromised the integrity and independence of the Department he has been nominated to lead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Among the examples in the letter that the NYC bar viewed as disqualifying for Blanche were the indictments of former FBI Director <strong>James Comey<\/strong> on \u201cflimsy\u201d and \u201cpatently frivolous charges,\u201d repeated violations of court orders, \u201cwillful and bad faith refusal\u201d to comply with discovery requests, and a lengthy section delving into Blanche\u2019s \u201cmisplaced loyalty\u201d to Trump.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Attorney General\u2019s client is not the President individually but the government of the United States and, by extension, the people of the United States,\u201d the letter said. \u201cPut another way, when the Attorney General is sworn into office, he swears allegiance to the United States Constitution, not to the President who nominated him to his office. His fiduciary duty as a lawyer, therefore, is to the United States government and people of the United States, not the President, whether in his role as president or in his personal capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This \u201cmisplaced loyalty\u201d was revealed in Blanche\u2019s \u201cleading and undisclosed role in seeking to protect President Trump individually from unflattering or potentially incriminating disclosures in connection with the criminal investigation of Jeffrey Epstein\u201d and with his \u201corchestration\u201d of the purported \u201csettlement\u201d of a lawsuit Trump and his family filed against the IRS to create a $1.776 billion \u201cweaponization fund\u201d that was swiftly denounced as a \u201cslush fund.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, Judge <strong>Kathleen Williams<\/strong> with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, an Obama appointee, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allrisenews.com\/p\/judge-nullifies-trump-1776b-fund-settlement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">nullified<\/a> the settlement, finding it was a \u201ccollusive\u201dlawsuit and an\u201cattempt to use the Court to provide some legitimacy to an agreement to confer immunity to people and entities affiliated with the President and to earmark billions of dollars from American taxpayers to redress grievances not defined in the law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The judge even went so far as to refer several of the attorneys involved to their state bar associations for disciplinary proceedings, and ordered the clerk of the court to send her order to the New York Bar, where \u201cdisciplinary proceedings are currently ongoing\u201d against Blanche.<\/p>\n<p>The bar\u2019s letter further excoriated Blanche for his detrimental effect on the DOJ itself:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>During Mr. Blanche\u2019s tenure, some 16,000 employees have left the Department, including FBI agents, investigators, analysts and some 4,000 lawyers. Some have left because of their belief that Mr. Blanche has eroded the professional standards and independence of the Department. Others have been terminated because they worked on matters, including the January 6 insurrection, that the President criticized, because they were related to the President\u2019s perceived enemies, resisted short-circuiting immigration cases, declined to bring vindictive charges, were truthful in court, or were simply discouraged by the Department\u2019s new reluctance to enforce environmental, civil rights, public corruption, drug trafficking or tax laws.Mr. Blanche himself boasted about the firings, noting that the administration had \u201ccleaned house.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2026As a result, in less than two years, the Department of Justice\u2019s credibility with the courts and with the public, established over the course of decades, has been shattered. Federal judges now frequently call out Department of Justice attorneys for false, incomplete and misleading statements in court. The impacts of this hollowing-out of the Department of Justice\u2019s professional capability radiate through the federal government and, in a broader sense, throughout American society, with judges regularly rebuking lack of professionalism by DOJ attorneys and grand juries refusing to hand down indictments.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The letter concluded by arguing that any of the reasons listed therein should be sufficient grounds to disqualify Blanche from serving as Attorney General. \u201cTogether, they demonstrate that, whatever his prior experience or formal credentials, Mr. Blanche is unfit to lead the U.S. Department of Justice. As the group of 100 retired judges said in their grievance complaint, \u2018The country deserves an Attorney General who is above reproach and serves the country without fear or favor, without placing party or personal interest above the law of the nation.\u2019 Mr. Blanche does not meet that test.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nycbar.org\/reports\/oppose-todd-blanche-attorney-general-nomination\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the full letter from the New York City Bar Association here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>New: The Mediaite One-Sheet &#8220;Newsletter of Newsletters&#8221;<\/strong><br \/>Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/subscribe\">Subscribe now!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\nn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\nn.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\ndocument,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Francis Chung\/POLITICO via AP Images The New York City Bar Association released a letter it sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee opposing the nomination of Todd Blanche as Attorney General, denouncing him for his \u201cmisplaced loyalty\u201d to President Donald Trump and numerous egregious ethical issues. Blanche previously served as Deputy Attorney General during Pam Bondi\u2019s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/blanche-4.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}