Nomination and confirmation In October 2024, documents obtained by
ABC News indicated that Blanche was being considered as potential nominees for
deputy attorney general and
White House counsel, in addition to
director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, if Trump were to win the 2024 presidential election. Following Trump's victory in the election the following month, Blanche was expected to have a position in his administration. On November 14, Trump named Blanche as his nominee for deputy attorney general. Blanche appeared before the
Senate Committee on the Judiciary on February 12, 2025. He defended Trump against perceived allegations of prosecutorial impropriety and cited his experience in defending Trump to claim that the president would not ask him to "do anything illegal or immoral". In his testimony, Blanche claimed that he had no knowledge of plans to dismiss the
criminal corruption case against
New York City mayor
Eric Adams; a draft letter by the interim
United States attorney for the Southern District of New York,
Danielle Sassoon, indicated that Blanche was on the "same page" about dismissing the case. The committee voted to advance his nomination on February 27 in a 12–10 vote along party lines. On March 5, Blanche was confirmed by the
Senate in a 52–46 vote largely along party lines.
Initial actions On March 6, Blanche was sworn in. Hours later, he issued a memorandum shifting hiring for the
Department of Justice towards the
Mexico–United States border in an effort to bolster Trump's
immigration policy. The order sought an exemption from the
federal hiring freeze. Blanche also issued a directive titled "Operation Take Back America", which reorganized the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and
Project Safe Neighborhoods to prioritize immigration enforcement, including the removal of undocumented immigrants with criminal records and the prosecution of individuals who obstructed deportations in
sanctuary city jurisdictions. He dismissed Liz Oyer, the
pardon attorney. Oyer claimed that she was removed after she rejected Blanche's request to add the actor
Mel Gibson to a list of individuals who should have their gun rights restored. After
The New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence contradicted Trump's assertion that the
government of Venezuela was directing the
Tren de Aragua syndicate to commit crimes—a finding that was used as the impetus for invoking the
Alien Enemies Act—Blanche announced a leak investigation. That month, Blanche proposed combining the
Drug Enforcement Administration with the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In April 2025, Blanche dismissed Erez Reuveni, the acting deputy director of the
Office of Immigration Litigation, for conceding in court that
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man, should not have been deported. That month, he barred the Department of Justice's lawyers from attending
American Bar Association events and disbanded the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team; according to financial records, Blanche had several hundred thousand dollars in cryptocurrency. According to camera footage released in a court filing, Blanche ordered the arrest of
Newark mayor
Ras Baraka over
an incident involving an immigration detention center. In a statement in June, Blanche argued that in attorney general
Merrick Garland's tenure, the Department of Justice excessively prosecuted cases citing the
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and that the department would shift from prosecuting bribery cases overseas to conduct that harmed the United States's ability to compete abroad. As attorney general
Pam Bondi sought to fire employees at the Department of Justice, including ten staffers who worked for
Jack Smith, the special counsel who indicted Trump twice, Blanche urged Bondi not to fire more employees, according to
The New York Times. Concurrently, several Trump loyalists were installed across U.S. attorney's offices in New York and
New Jersey. According to the
Times, Blanche told Trump that the
U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York was particularly important as it covered
John F. Kennedy International Airport, the largest air passenger gateway into
North America, and that he should rely on veteran prosecutors. Blanche disagreed with judges who appointed a federal prosecutor,
Desiree Leigh Grace, to succeed
Alina Habba as the interim
United States attorney for the District of New Jersey, asserting that Trump had the right to remove Grace.
Handling of the Epstein case and Maxwell meeting In July 2025, criticism over the Department of Justice's handling of the
Epstein files, a set of documents associated with the deceased sex offender
Jeffrey Epstein, mounted. The controversy led to an open dispute between Bondi and the leadership of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, particularly its
deputy director,
Dan Bongino. Blanche wrote on
X that he had signed off on the memorandum determining that "no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted" in the investigation into Epstein alongside Bongino and the bureau's
director,
Kash Patel; the post insinuated that Bongino and Patel were as responsible for closing the inquiry as Blanche and Bondi. Bondi and Blanche later requested that a court unseal grand jury testimony from his second federal indictment. According to
The Wall Street Journal, Bondi and Blanche informed Trump that his name was in the Epstein files in May. In leading certain responsibilities of the handling of the Epstein files,
The New York Times described Blanche as having an "unusual, Janus-faced position". Although Blanche's involvement with Trump, an Epstein associate, was not believed to be a conflict-of-interest, it presented a complex situation. According to the
Times, he personally signed the Department of Justice's motion to unseal grand jury testimony in the case against
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's accomplice, after the prosecutor who worked on the Epstein and Maxwell cases,
Maurene Comey, was fired. Additionally, Blanche had a personal relationship with David Oscar Markus, Maxwell's counsel. In July, Blanche requested a meeting with Maxwell. In preparation for the meeting, Blanche allowed Markus to access grand jury testimony, a move that could have allowed Maxwell to obtain information useful in seeking an appeal for her conviction.
Dick Durbin, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, requested transcripts of Blanche's two-day meeting with Maxwell. In August, the Department of Justice released transcripts of the interview, indicating that Maxwell affirmed the official narrative of the Epstein case, though she stated that she believed
Epstein's death was a murder, not a suicide. Maxwell additionally stated that she had not seen Trump "in any inappropriate setting in any way." Blanche defended Maxwell's transfer to a minimum security prison a week after his meeting, claiming Maxwell had experienced "numerous threats against her life."
Department conflicts In July 2025,
Bloomberg Law reported that
Chris Kise, who represented Trump alongside Blanche in the
classified documents case, had appealed to Blanche to give leniency to former
Puerto Rico governor
Wanda Vázquez Garced, arguing that Vázquez Garced was the victim of political prosecution. Blanche agreed and ordered prosecutors to strike a deal with Vázquez Garced's defense. The following month, Bondi and Blanche conflicted with
Ed Martin, the director of the
Weaponization Working Group, over his stunt requesting that
New York attorney general
Letitia James resign and going to her residence to personally inspect her property. Bondi and Blanche defended
Erik Siebert, the
United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, against claims that Siebert had not done enough to investigate James and
James Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation whom Trump had
dismissed in May 2017 and the father of Maurene Comey. In particular, Blanche and Siebert questioned the validity of a criminal case against James as
Bill Pulte, the director of the
Federal Housing Finance Agency, sought to have her indicted on allegations of mortgage fraud, according to
The New York Times. After Trump appointed
Todd Gilbert as the
United States attorney for the Western District of Virginia in July, officials within the Department of Justice directed him to open an investigation into the handling of classified documents in the
Mueller special counsel investigation. After Gilbert stated that he did not believe there was sufficient evidence for a grand jury indictment, aides to Bondi and Blanche accused Gilbert of consulting with Zachary Lee, whom they alleged was serving the interests of the prior
Biden administration. Blanche spoke with Gilbert and encouraged him to pursue the case, offering additional resources. That month, Blanche threatened to prosecute officials in
California who arrest federal officers conducting immigration enforcement in
sanctuary jurisdictions. Additionally, after Trump appointed
Lindsey Halligan to
prosecute James in October, neither Bondi nor Blanche were informed of James's indictment in advance. Blanche oversaw the
grand conspiracy investigation, led by U.S. attorney for the District of Southern Florida
Jason Reding Quiñones. At the
Conservative Political Action Conference in March 2026, Blanche said he did not understand objections to deploying ICE officers to polling places for the
2026 midterm elections, stating: "Why is there objection to sending ICE officers to polling places?" Federal law generally prohibits the deployment of armed federal law enforcement at polling places.
Immigration enforcement In January 2026, following the
killing of Renée Good in
Minneapolis, Blanche—who oversaw the
Federal Bureau of Investigation—stated that the bureau would "ensure that evidence is collected and preserved". He asserted that a civil rights investigation did not have to be conducted into Good's death, actively resisting efforts to open an inquiry; stated that an "insurrection" had occurred in the state over opposition to
Operation Metro Surge, repeating Trump's claims suggesting that the
Insurrection Act could be invoked; and accused Minnesota governor
Tim Walz and Minneapolis mayor
Jacob Frey of committing "terrorism". After the
killing of Alex Pretti that month, Blanche defended the agents who shot Pretti, but sought a tempered response to the ambiguity surrounding a bystander video. ==Librarian of Congress appointment==