Todd Blanche Recusal Shock: Acting AG’s Trump Ties Ignite DOJ Firestorm

WASHINGTON — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is under intensifying bipartisan scrutiny after newly released documents show the Justice Department’s top ethics lawyer instructed him in March 2025 to recuse himself from any matters involving Donald Trump, his former client, only days into his tenure as deputy attorney general. Blanche received a printed ethics presentation and signed a pledge acknowledging the conflict, yet he has since overseen key decisions touching on probes that the former president has publicly decried, according to a CNN investigation published Thursday morning. The revelations arrive as House Oversight Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) circulates a memo alleging Blanche personally approved bonus payouts to FBI agents accused of misconduct, payments Democrats claim were meant to curry loyalty inside the bureau during politically sensitive investigations. GOP leaders have responded by scheduling a May 21 Judiciary Committee hearing titled “Justice in the Balance: Conflicts at the Top,” where Blanche is expected to testify. Key takeaways: • Ethics red flag: Department regulations bar officials from participating in criminal matters involving former clients for at least one year; Blanche’s recusal window technically expired this March, but ethics experts say ongoing Trump-adjacent probes still pose “an insurmountable conflict,” in the words of former DOJ adviser Benjamin Grimes quoted by CNN. • Limited firewall: The career attorney who delivered the recusal briefing, Joseph Tirrell, was fired four months later amid a broader purge of DOJ ethics staff, thinning internal oversight. • DOJ’s stance: A department spokeswoman maintains Blanche “is recused from many cases before DOJ,” but declined to specify which ones, calling questions about Trump-related investigations “hypothetical.” • Political stakes: Blanche, viewed by allies as a front-runner to become permanent attorney general next year, has championed a “weaponization review” targeting earlier probes of Trump advisers. Critics warn that any prosecutorial decisions he signs could be overturned if courts find his involvement violated ethics rules. Blanche rose to national prominence defending Trump in the since-dismissed classified-documents and election-interference cases, then followed former Attorney General Pam Bondi to Main Justice. After Bondi’s resignation in February, President Trump tapped Blanche as acting AG, praising him as “a fighter who knows the system inside out.” Legal scholars say Congress ultimately wields the clearest leverage. Should Blanche refuse full recusal, lawmakers could subpoena the ethics memo, compel sworn testimony from department officials, or even restrict DOJ funding until an independent special counsel is appointed. With election-year politics sharpening every Justice Department move, the battle over Blanche’s conflicts now threatens to overshadow the agency’s broader agenda — and to define whether he secures the top job he is widely believed to be auditioning for.