Trump picks his defense lawyers for top Justice Department posts
By Andrew Goudsward and Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday picked three members of his criminal defense team, including lead attorney Todd Blanche, to serve in senior roles at the Justice Department.
Trump nominated Blanche, who defended him at trial this year in a criminal case over hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, to serve as deputy attorney general, the second-highest position at the Justice Department.
"Todd is an excellent attorney who will be a crucial leader in the Justice Department, fixing what has been a broken System of Justice for far too long," Trump said in a statement.
The deputy attorney general provides day-to-day supervision of the more than 110,000 employees of the Justice Department and also oversees the FBI and other investigative agencies.
Rod Rosenstein, who served in the role during Trump's first administration, called Blanche a "highly credible" nominee for deputy attorney general.
Blanche, a former federal prosecutor, is representing Trump in two federal cases over his efforts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election and his retention of classified documents after leaving office in 2021. Both cases are expected to wind down before Trump returns to the White House in January.
Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the hush money case. He had been scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 26, but all proceedings in the case are now on hold.
Trump also selected John Sauer, who successfully urged the U.S. Supreme Court to give Trump broad immunity in the 2020 election case, as his solicitor general. The solicitor general represents the U.S. government before the Supreme Court.
The moves come a day after Trump picked former Representative Matt Gaetz, a Republican firebrand, as his nominee for attorney general.
The selections are the latest instance of Trump turning to loyal defenders to serve key roles in his administration. Trump has vowed to radically reshape the Justice Department, which has drawn his ire over its investigations and prosecutions of himself and several of his associates.
Both nominations are subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
Trump also tapped a third member of his legal team, Emil Bove, to serve as Blanche's top deputy and to be acting deputy attorney general while Blanche awaits confirmation.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Andrew Goudsward in Washington; Additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington; Editing by Diane Craft and Jamie Freed)
