Todd Blanche, der neu bestätigte Generalstaatsanwalt von Präsident Donald Trump, übernimmt die Leitung eines Justizministeriums, dessen Glaubwürdigkeit bei Richtern nach Warnungen von Rechtsexperten durch politisch motivierte Strafverfolgungen gelitten haben soll. Das Ministerium hat traditionell eine Unabhängigkeit von direktem Einfluss des Weißen Hauses gewahrt, eine Norm, die auf dem Grundsatz beruht, dass die Bundesstrafverfolgung frei von politischer Weisung handeln sollte. Nach Angaben der CNN-Korrespondentin für Kriminalität und Justiz, Katelyn Polantz, war Blanches Vereidigung aus einem weiteren Grund bemerkenswert: Zwei persönliche Anwälte Trumps waren zu der Veranstaltung im Oval Office anwesend.

Im Gespräch mit CNN-Moderatorin Brianna Keilar erläuterte Polantz die Bedeutung der Anwesenden. "Both in these roles and also two lawyers that as the attorney to Donald Trump, then leading the Justice Department, came under immense criticism for what they did whenever they got to the Justice Department," sagte sie.

Polantz verwies auf die sich wandelnde berufliche Konstellation zwischen zentralen Figuren. "Todd Blanche had been the Deputy Attorney General. Emil Bove is now a judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals — he's Senate-confirmed for life there. Blanche, now as the Attorney General, it's possible he will have cases before Bove," sagte sie. "It's not that unusual for judges to be swearing in people, but it is unusual to have two personal lawyers to Donald Trump there now in the Oval as Todd Blanche becomes the Attorney General."

Polantz stellte außerdem fest, dass es ungewöhnlich sei, dass ein neuer Generalstaatsanwalt ein so hohes Maß an institutioneller Kritik erhalte wie Blanche. Sie zitierte Stacey Young, die geschäftsführende Direktorin von Justice Connection, einer Organisation, die eine Reihe ehemaliger Laufbahnbeamter im Justizministerium vertritt.

"[Young] says, 'As [deputy attorney general], Blanche used that time to shred DOJ's institutional norms, destroy important offices, re-victimize sex crime survivors' — that would be Epstein victims — 'eviscerate accountability for January 6th, and attack the career workforce,'" zitierte Polantz Young. "Nearly 20,000 career employees have left the department, many of whom were fired or forced out for doing their jobs. This is a generational loss of institutional knowledge and expertise that will be impossible to replace at the Department of Justice."

Die von Young beschriebenen Abgänge spiegeln eine breitere Spannung zwischen politischer Führung und verbeamteten Karrieremitarbeitern im Ministerium wider, wo nichtpolitische Staatsanwälte traditionell vor Entlassungen aufgrund ihrer Fallzuweisungen geschützt waren. Polantz fügte hinzu: "Now, today is the day that Blanche will formally come into office as Attorney General, who'd be clapped in by the people in that office, including many of these career employees who have seen their colleagues fired really just for doing their jobs, for being assigned to certain cases that this administration has wanted to remove them over. It really is a spectacular turn of events for Todd Blanche — being the defense attorney attacking the Justice Department, now leading it as Attorney General."

Nun, da er vom Senat bestätigt wurde, steht Blanche vor der Aufgabe, Trumps Agenda umzusetzen und zugleich seine eigenen rechtlichen Probleme im Blick zu behalten.

"As Blanche assumes his new role, now with the imprimatur of Senate backing, walking a tightrope between satisfying Trump and fulfilling an attorney general's obligations to the rule of law is likely to only grow more perilous," schrieb Jeremy Roebuck von The Washington Post am Sonntag. "Over the next several months, the Justice Department is expected to make a number of charging decisions in sensitive cases of keen interest to the president."

Roebuck berichtete weiter, dass "prosecutors in Florida have been at work for months on what Trump allies have referred to as a 'grand conspiracy' investigation of former Obama- and Biden-era officials, including former CIA director John Brennan, who they say engaged in a long-running scheme to violate the president's civil rights through efforts to undermine his presidency — allegations Brennan denies."

Der Journalist schloss: "Meanwhile, department investigators continue to seek evidence to back Trump's unproven assertions that the 2020 election was stolen, that there exist broad left-wing conspiracies to oppose his second-term agenda and that his critics, including former FBI director James B. Comey, deserve to be put in prison."