Trump to nominate Todd Blanche as permanent attorney general
· UPIJune 4 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump said he plans to nominate Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to take over the job permanently after Pam Bondi was fired in April.
Trump said he would send Blanche's nomination to the U.S. Senate in remarks during a private dinner Wednesday evening in the White House Rose Garden, NBC News and The Washington Post reported.
Blanche took over for Bondi on April 2 after Trump announced that she was leaving the administration for a private sector job, although sources at the time said that Trump had been "more and more frustrated" that she had not successfully "executed his vision."
Since taking over, the former deputy attorney general has indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on fraud charges, indicted former FBI Director James Comey over a social media post, ended the federal death penalty moratorium and negotiated a controversial settlement between Trump and the Internal Revenue Service after a contractor leaked his tax returns to the media.
"Tomorrow, I'm instructing Dan and everybody else that's involved in that very complicated process, which is going to be, I think, very quickly," Trump said in remarks during the dinner, according to video posted to social media by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino.
"We are going to make him permanent attorney general," Trump said.
Blanche is a former federal prosecutor who was Trump's personal attorney, representing the president in his New York hush money case and other legal issues before he was hired by the Trump administration last year.
Blanche was confirmed as deputy attorney general last year on a party line 52 to 46 vote.
In recent weeks, however, Republicans in the Senate have bucked Trump on some issues -- most significantly the proposed $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" to compensate people who claim they were preyed on by the federal government during improper trials.
The fund was part of Blanche's settlement between the president and the IRS, which is part of Trump's executive branch, over the $10 billion lawsuit.
The settlement also exempts Trump and his family from IRS audits or fines for the rest of their lives.