Trump picks his defence lawyers for top Justice Department posts

WASHINGTON — US President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday (Nov 14) picked three members of his criminal defence team, including lead attorney Todd Blanche, to serve in senior roles at the Justice Department.

Trump nominated Blanche, who defended him at trial in 2024 in a criminal case over hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, to serve as deputy attorney-general, the second-highest position at the Justice Department.

"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.

The deputy attorney-general provides day-to-day supervision of the more than 110,000 employees of the Justice Department and also oversees the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other investigative agencies.

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Rod Rosenstein, who served in the role during Trump's first administration, called Blanche a "highly credible" nominee for deputy attorney-general.

Blanche, a former federal prosecutor, is representing Trump in two federal cases over his efforts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election and his retention of classified documents after leaving office in 2021.

Both cases are expected to wind down before Trump returns to the White House in January.

Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the hush money case. He had been scheduled to be sentenced on Nov 26, but all proceedings in the case are now on hold.

Trump also selected John Sauer, who successfully urged the US Supreme Court to give Trump broad immunity in the 2020 election case, as his solicitor-general. The solicitor-general represents the US government before the Supreme Court.

The moves come a day after Trump picked former Representative Matt Gaetz, a Republican firebrand, as his nominee for attorney-general.

The selections are the latest instance of Trump turning to loyal defenders to serve key roles in his administration. Trump has vowed to radically reshape the Justice Department, which has drawn his ire over its investigations and prosecutions of himself and several of his associates.

Both nominations are subject to confirmation by the US Senate.

Trump also tapped a third member of his legal team, Emil Bove, to serve as Blanche's top deputy and to be acting deputy attorney-general while Blanche awaits confirmation.

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