DOJ lawyers told Todd Blanche to recuse himself from Trump cases last May: official

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was told last year that he must recuse himself on all matters dealing with President Donald Trump since he was, at one time, Trump's personal attorney.

The previously unreported detail was reported Thursday by CNN that "the first time Blanche was formally informed he would need to recuse himself from cases involving Trump. Around the same time, the department’s top career lawyer advised that [ex-Blanche aide Emil] Bove potentially had a conflict of interest by being involved in firings of DOJ lawyers."

The report cited a senior DOJ ethics official who said DOJ official Joseph Tirrell was conducting the briefing when he "handed Blanche and ... Bove, who was also in the conference room, a printed PowerPoint presentation on ethics."

It puts Blanche in an ethical quandary now that he has taken over the department after Pam Bondi was fired, the report explains.

Tirrell observed Blanche signing the ethics pledge, the former official said.

"That pledge included requirements for Blanche to not participate for at least a year in any of the department’s matters involving past clients of the Blanche Law Group, the small private law firm Blanche used to represent Trump in the criminal cases. The department’s regulations also prohibit his participation 'in any criminal investigation or prosecution if he has a personal or political relationship' with anyone who was involved in or has an interest in that investigation or prosecution," said CNN.

The report cited two people briefed on the matter who said a top career lawyer at the DOJ and an ethics expert penned a memo in early 2025 flagging for Bondi that Bove was overseeing the purge of the Justice Department's lawyers involved in Trump cases.

"The memo, copied to the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility and Inspector General, noted that Bove had worked on investigations of January 6 Capitol riot defendants when he was a prosecutor in New York’s southern district. And so he shouldn’t be involved in the department’s so-called anti-weaponization plans, the memo said, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. The memo’s author was pushed out soon after it was delivered last year," said CNN.

Bove ignored it, continuing his efforts oversee the so-called "Weaponization Working Group." Whistleblower accusations began to surface about Bove and he was quickly appointed to a lifetime appointment on the federal bench. The U.S. Senate approved him last summer despite opposition from 75 former judges.

A DOJ spokesperson asked about Blanche's conflicts of interest and ethical concerns, said he "is recused."

That said, CNN noted that the DOJ spokesperson didn't clarify which cases Blanche is recused from, and they have never publicly said he has been recused from any investigations.

Blanche just recently hired former US Attorney Joseph diGenova to restart investigations into the Russia scandal that plagued Trump during his first presidential term. DiGenova will also investigate special counsel Jack Smith, who ended his prosecutions of Trump in 2024 after he was elected.

The report closed by noting that since last spring, the Trump administration has "gutted both the department’s career ethics staff and its office of professional responsibility."

Tirrell, the ethics official who spoke to Blanche about his recusal, was fired in July. He is now one of the many DOJ and FBI employees who is suing the department.

• george conway
• noam chomsky
• civil war
• Kayleigh mcenany
• Melania trump
• drudge report
• paul krugman
• Lindsey graham
• Lincoln project
• al franken bill maher
• People of praise
• Ivanka trump
• eric trump