Trump wants to fill top Justice Department posts with his personal criminal lawyers

On Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump revealed that he would nominate Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), an accused sex offender known for his strong loyalty to Trump, to lead the Justice Department. (Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.) On Thursday evening, Trump announced that three other lawyers with whom he has close personal ties will also be named to the DOJ's top posts.

That means four of the top positions at the Justice Department, the office that initiates federal prosecutions, will be filled by people whose records suggest will serve Trump's personal interests. Three of these four lawyers have strong legal credentials and institutional knowledge and are therefore likely to contribute effectively to the promotion of these interests.

Trump chose Todd Blanche, the defense attorney at his secret trial in New York (the one where he faced charges related to money paid to keep silent about a sexual relationship), as deputy attorney general . This is the No. 2 position at the Ministry of Justice. The DAG, as this position within the department is called, wields considerable power over federal criminal prosecutions. If her nomination is successful, Blanche will oversee the 93 regional U.S. prosecutors who conduct the bulk of all federal prosecutions in the United States. Blanche will therefore have great authority over the people being prosecuted.

Meanwhile, Trump wants John Sauer, the lawyer who represented him in the Supreme Court case ruling that Trump is allowed to use the president's powers to commit crimes, to serve as solicitor general. This role oversees the Justice Department's legal strategy at the Supreme Court, including arguing many of the most important cases. They also decide which cases the DOJ will appeal if the federal government loses a trial court case.

Another of Trump's personal criminal defense attorneys, Emil Bove, will serve as principal deputy attorney general and serve as acting DAG until Blanche or another Trump nominee is confirmed or formally appointed to the position . Unlike the DAG and solicitor general, Boves' new role does not require Senate confirmation. He will therefore be able to access this position from the first day of Trump's second presidency.

This is not the first time a president has attempted to place one of his personal lawyers in a senior government position. President Lyndon Johnson, for example, nominated Abe Fortas, his friend and personal attorney, to the Supreme Court in 1965. If you know anything about Fortas' very brief tenure on the Court, you may know that this appointment didn't end well.

Based on their resumes, all three men are traditionally qualified for these jobs. Blanche and Bove worked as federal prosecutors for nine years before entering private practice. Sauer is a former law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia who previously served as Missouri solicitor general. It's easy to see all three joining the Justice Department without much controversy if they were chosen by, say, President Nikki Haley.

But Trump often talks about using the DOJ to target his political opponents and people he considers enemies. An Oct. 22 NPR report found that Trump made more than 100 threats to prosecute or punish perceived enemies. This includes threatening, in Trump's words, to appoint an actual special prosecutor to prosecute the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family.

Trump also accused former Rep. Liz Cheney, a prominent Republican critic of the new president, of TREASURE and threatened the TELEVISION MILITARY TRIBUNALS. (Which, if it were to actually happen, would likely take place within the Department of Defense's legal structure, but could involve some DOJ personnel.)

Trump's decision to appoint Gaetz, a staunch loyalist, to head the Justice Department is a source of considerable concern amid fears that the United States is sliding into authoritarianism. Historically, the White House has obeyed strict standards prohibiting interference in the Justice Department's prosecutorial decisions, but these standards have no legal force. So someone like Gaetz could completely break down that barrier.

Equally concerning is Trump's decision to appoint his personal lawyers to the DOJ's top positions. Federal lawyers are supposed to represent the interests of the United States, not those of any particular politician, when working for the government. But Trump selected three people who are not just accustomed to representing his personal interests, but who have also likely collected considerable legal fees from him.

The conventional summaries of Blanche, Sauer, and Bove also mean that, if they use their Justice Department positions to further Trump's personal campaign of vengeance, they will likely be quite effective in doing so. As a DOJ outsider known for performative political stunts, Gaetz might struggle to navigate the department's internal bureaucracy or resist its internal culture, which seeks to insulate prosecutorial decisions from the White House.

Blanche, Sauer and Gaetz still need to be confirmed, assuming Trump does not use recess appointments or any other method to circumvent the Senate confirmation process. But if Trump wins his case, his ultra-loyalist attorney general will now be supported by people who are very familiar with the Justice Department and the culture of elite federal lawyers.

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