President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Todd Blanche, an attorney who led the legal team that defended the Republican at his hush money criminal trial , to serve as the second-highest ranking Justice Department official.
A former federal prosecutor, Blanche has been a key figure on Trump's defense team both in the New York case that ended in a conviction in May, and the federal cases brought by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith.
"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 said in a statement Thursday announcing his pick.
If confirmed as deputy attorney general by the Republican-led Senate, Blanche would manage the day-to-day operations of the sprawling Justice Department, which Trump has vowed to radically overhaul.
The announcement comes a day after the president-elect said he had chosen as attorney general Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, a Trump loyalist who once faced a Justice Department sex trafficking investigation that ended in no charges.
