Acting AG Blanche says he is open to replacing Bondi if Trump nominates him
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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche praised President Donald Trump during a Justice Department anti-fraud news conference and said any decision on whether to permanently replace Pam Bondi was up to the president.
“As for whether or not I want this job, I didn’t ask for this job. I love working for President Trump,” Blanche said in her first public remarks since Bondi’s firing. “This is the greatest honor of my life, and if President Trump chooses to keep me on as interim, that’s an honor. If he chooses to appoint me, that’s an honor.”
Blanche added: “If he chooses to nominate someone else and asks me to go do something else, I will say to him, ‘Thank you very much. I love you, sir.'”
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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche addresses the Justice Department’s fraud efforts during a news conference April 7, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Blanche’s remarks came after Trump announced last week that Bondi would leave his post and that Blanche, his official personal attorney and DOJ deputy attorney general, would serve as acting attorney general indefinitely.
Civil servants can exercise their functions on an interim basis for a maximum period of 210 days. Trump has not named a candidate to take on the role permanently, but he could nominate Blanche. Fox News Digital previously reported that the president also had discussions with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin about taking the job.
Blanche noted that Bondi’s transition out of the department continues. Bondi announced last week that she would take the next 30 days to transfer responsibilities to Blanche.
When asked why she was fired, Blanche replied that “no one has any idea…except the president.” Trump had fired Bondi after she failed to secure indictments against some of Trump’s top political rivals and amid long-running frustrations over her handling of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking cases.
Todd Blanche served as deputy attorney general to Pam Bondi before she was fired by President Trump. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“As for Pam Bondi’s last day on the job, I am the acting attorney general,” Blanche said, adding, “We have been in regular communication over the last few days for an appropriate transition. She is a great supporter of this department.”
Most of Blanche’s remarks focused on the DOJ’s crackdown on fraud, as he highlighted several recent cases totaling more than half a billion dollars in health care and COVID-19 programs.
Blanche cited a series of examples, including prosecutors securing a guilty plea in a $160 million health care enrollment fraud scheme and a conviction in a $100 million COVID-19 fraud case. He claimed that such cases represented a fraction of the fraud occurring nationwide and formally established the DOJ’s new National Fraud Division, led by newly confirmed Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald, who stood alongside Blanche during her speech.
The division, Blanche said, would involve specialized prosecutors and increased staff in U.S. attorneys’ offices across the country, and it would use more advanced technology to more effectively investigate fraud.
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Colin McDonald, Assistant Attorney General for Domestic Fraud Enforcement, speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, February 25, 2026. (Graeme Sloan/Getty Images)
“We have a long history of fighting fraud and bringing criminal actors to justice, but the department has never taken a comprehensive, coordinated approach to investigating and prosecuting fraud against taxpayer dollars and taxpayer-funded programs,” Blanche said.
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Former U.S. Attorney John Fishwick of Virginia told Fox News Digital that he thought Blanche appeared to be vying for the attorney general job.
“Todd Blanche appears to be attempting to take the top job today during his opening press conference and is surely trying to get Trump’s attention with his criticism of many press issues,” Fishwick said in a statement, observing how Blanche ridiculed some reporters for their questions.
