Acting AG #ToddBlanche was told last year to recuse from #DOJ matters involving #Trump
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Acting AG #ToddBlanche was told last year to recuse from #DOJ matters involving #Trump
It was less than 2 weeks after Todd Blanche took on his role of deputy attorney general in March 2025 when the Justice Department’s top #ethics lawyer delivered some straightforward yet inconvenient news: His recusal from legal cases that involved Trump in his personal capacity was necessary.
#law #LegalEthics #corruption
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/14/politics/todd-blanche-recusal-trump-investigations-brennan -
Acting AG #ToddBlanche was told last year to recuse from #DOJ matters involving #Trump
It was less than 2 weeks after Todd Blanche took on his role of deputy attorney general in March 2025 when the Justice Department’s top #ethics lawyer delivered some straightforward yet inconvenient news: His recusal from legal cases that involved Trump in his personal capacity was necessary.
#law #LegalEthics #corruption
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/14/politics/todd-blanche-recusal-trump-investigations-brennanThe official conducting the briefing, Joseph Tirrell, handed #ToddBlanche & his then-top deputy #EmilBove, who was also in the conference room, a printed PowerPoint presentation on #ethics, acc/to a former senior #DOJ ethics official who described the meeting.
The meeting…is the first time Blanche was formally informed he would need to recuse himself from cases involving #Trump.
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The official conducting the briefing, Joseph Tirrell, handed #ToddBlanche & his then-top deputy #EmilBove, who was also in the conference room, a printed PowerPoint presentation on #ethics, acc/to a former senior #DOJ ethics official who described the meeting.
The meeting…is the first time Blanche was formally informed he would need to recuse himself from cases involving #Trump.
…Recusal, however, is a word that comes with treacherous consequences in the #Trump era — including in the case of former AG #JeffSessions who Trump tormented after he recused himself from overseeing what eventually became the #Mueller investigation. Blanche’s choice is either to oversee investigations Trump cares deeply about but risk damaging their viability in court or to recuse himself & risk incurring Trump’s wrath. [he will undoubtedly not recuse]
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…Recusal, however, is a word that comes with treacherous consequences in the #Trump era — including in the case of former AG #JeffSessions who Trump tormented after he recused himself from overseeing what eventually became the #Mueller investigation. Blanche’s choice is either to oversee investigations Trump cares deeply about but risk damaging their viability in court or to recuse himself & risk incurring Trump’s wrath. [he will undoubtedly not recuse]
Now serving as acting attorney general, #ToddBlanche finds himself in an ethical quandary. His previous role representing #Trump in #criminal prosecutions brought by the #DOJ means that he is switching sides, overseeing the department’s investigation of the former government officials whom Trump claims unfairly used the criminal justice system to target him.
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