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President Trump has nominated Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general. The White House says it formally submitted his nomination to the Senate, where Blanche may face a bumpy road to confirmation. NPR Justice correspondent Ryan Lucas reports.
RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Todd Blanche made his name on the national stage serving as President Trump's personal attorney, defending him from criminal prosecutions over hush money payments, mishandling classified documents and attempting to overturn the 2020 election. After Trump returned to the White House last year, he tapped Blanche to serve as the No. 2 official at the Justice Department. Blanche stepped into the top job on an acting basis after Trump pushed out his first attorney general, Pam Bondi, in April. Asked days later whether he wanted to be attorney general on a permanent basis, Blanche said this.
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TODD BLANCHE: I love working for President Trump. It's the greatest honor of a lifetime. And if President Trump chooses to keep me as acting, that's an honor. If he chooses to nominate me, that's an honor. If he chooses to nominate somebody else and asks me to go do something else, I will say thank you very much - I love you, sir.
LUCAS: Since stepping into the acting role, Blanche has had two months to audition for the permanent job. And in that time, he has aggressively pursued the administration's agenda and gone after the president's perceived enemies, including a second prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey. Blanche also has defended the proposed $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund and personally signed papers that would shield Trump, his family and businesses from IRS audits of past tax returns. Blanche has won praise from Trump, who signaled last week he planned to formally nominate him. And asked in an interview over the weekend what he would do as attorney general, Blanche told Fox News this.
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BLANCHE: Look, executing on the president's priorities that he has talked about since he was running for president, and that's making this country safe again.
LUCAS: Still, Blanche's recent actions could complicate his narrow road to confirmation in the Senate where Democrats, and crucially even some Republicans, have expressed concerns about his track record at the Justice Department.
Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington.
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