Trump picks his New York hush money defense lawyers for top spots at DOJ

President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday tapped the lawyers who represented him in the New York hush money criminal trial for the No. 2 and No. 3 spots at the Department of Justice.

Todd Blanche, a former federal prosecutor who defended Trump in his Manhattan criminal trial, which ended in Trump’s conviction on 34 counts, and his two federal criminal cases, will be deputy attorney general, the second-highest ranking post at DOJ and the person who runs its day-to-day operations, if confirmed. Emil Bove, who also represented the president-elect in the hush money trial and his two federal criminal cases, will serve as principal associate deputy attorney general.

Blanche is known as a mild-mannered and by-the-books lawyer, in sharp contrast to Trump’s attorney general nominee, the firebrand former congressman Matt Gaetz.

“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 too long,” Trump said in a statement.

Trump described Bove, another former federal prosecutor, as “a tough and strong attorney.”

Blanche and Bove are both alumni of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office, where Blanche was co-chief of the violent crimes unit and of the office’s White Plains division. Bove was co-chief of the office’s national security unit.

Blanche propelled himself to the most prestigious federal prosecutor’s office in the country by attending night classes at Brooklyn Law School while working during the day as a paralegal.

In 2023, Blanche stunned many at the white-shoe law firm where he was a partner, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, and within the broader legal community when he abruptly quit his position at one of the oldest and most prestigious firms in the country to represent Trump. Blanche then formed his own law firm and hired Bove.

Despite his representation of Trump, Blanche remains well-liked by his former colleagues in the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office. Many of them had hoped that Trump might select Blanche to head that office, believing he would be the best-qualified and least overtly political of Trump’s options.