Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on his nomination to be attorney general, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 15, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
In May of this year, Todd Blanche signed a one-page order under seal of the U.S. Department of Justice, declaring that the U.S. government hereby “FOREVER DISCHARGES” Donald Trump and his family from pending and viable federal tax claims, and that the federal government is “FOREVER BARRED AND PRECLUDED” from pursuing those claims. Blanche’s order, if a federal judge hadn’t just voided it, would likely have cost taxpayers up to $650 million in lost penalties and back payments.
Although Blanche’s order would have allowed a sitting president to defraud the U.S. treasury with impunity, the outrage quickly passed. It’s just another episode of corruption under the most corrupt administration our country has ever seen, what’s another few hundred million between friends?
But the legal contortions behind Blanche’s order, the unethical legal jujitsu that brought it into existence, are lasting. By orchestrating this deal, Blanche acted in his former client's personal interest, at great cost to his current client—the American public. What Blanche tried to rig up for Trump was a major ethical violation under any legal code of ethics. Even during his confirmation hearings on Wednesday, Blanche seemed confused about who his client was, explaining that, as part of the Executive branch, he serves the president. The U.S. Attorney General, for the record, serves the people, and was created to do so by the Judiciary Act of 1789. Blanche’s confusion over this most fundamental aspect of his role as AG could not be more corrosive to the rule of law Blanche has vowed to uphold.
Blanche’s brazen attempt to hijack the justice system
In overseeing the Department of Justice, any US Attorney General is legally entrusted to enforce our laws in a fair and evenhanded manner, and to use its “investigatory and prosecutorial powers” in a manner that is “free from partisan consideration.” This duty requires, above all else, an Attorney General’s commitment to honor and protect the law above both his personal interests and those of the President who nominated him.
Blanche, after blatantly protecting Trump’s personal, illegal interests over the public’s legal interests, perjured himself when he testified Wednesday in his Senate confirmation hearing. When directly asked if he would resign rather than carry out an illegal or unethical order from Trump, Blanche answered ambiguously, "I'm not going to violate my oath to the Constitution." But he already has, and not just by trying to gift Trump $650 million in waived tax penalties, along with $1.8 billion to reward J6 rioters.
Far worse than the amount of the attempted theft was the way Blanche tried to go about it: by contriving a completely fake federal lawsuit, then trying to hoodwink a federal judge by dismissing the suit after she questioned how one party could be on both sides, then defrauding the American public by claiming there had been a “settlement” of a case that never existed. On July 13, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a scathing order concluding that the whole scheme was an attempt to “manipulate the judicial process” in an effort to lend the “court’s legitimacy” to collusion between Blanche, the IRS, and Trump to enrich the Trumps. She slammed Blanche for abdicating his responsibility to the public, and referred him for formal sanctions by the commission holding his law license.
The New York Bar Association’s warning
Blanche was admitted to practice law before the Attorney Grievance Committee of the State of New York. That means New York— not the federal government, not Trump— holds his law license. If he loses his license, he loses the ability to practice law anywhere in the country, and he could not supervise the work of other DOJ attorneys without engaging in the unauthorized practice of law.
On July 13, 2026, the New York Bar Association submitted a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee holding hearings on Blanche’s nomination to become AG. They vehemently oppose his confirmation, stressing the systemic damage Blanche has already inflicted on the legal system. They point out five distinct areas where Blanche has already violated his oath of office by elevating Trump over the rule of law, and by engaging in conduct contrary to the Rules of Professional Conduct and the DOJ’s own Justice Manual.
The NY Bar Association letter came after 101 former judges filed an official complaint with the New York Commission to “initiate an investigation into Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche (Registration No. 4192456) for violation of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct.” In addition to the same ethical breaches identified by the NY Bar Association in its letter to U.S. Senate, the judges’ formal complaint strongly encourages disciplinary action against Blanche for his blanket abuse of authority in using the DOJ to pursue politically motivated investigations and lawsuits against Trump’s personal and political enemies.
The judges also questioned Blanche’s “personal involvement in overseeing the Department of Justice’s botched and incomplete release” of Epstein documents under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and raised “serious concerns” about Blanche’s interview of Ghislaine Maxwell. The judges point out the obvious: that Blanche remains “burdened” by his conflicts of interest, which “reflect adversely on his fitness as an attorney.”
Republican Senators, fearful of Trump’s promised retribution, are likely to confirm; Senator Cornyn will likely cave and vote with his party. But the Attorney Grievance Committee of New York is equally likely to disbar him, which will make Blanche only the 2nd U.S. AG to be disbarred.
Etched into the limestone exterior of the DOJ headquarters are the words, “Where law ends tyranny begins.” It is not possible to write a more apt warning about what lies ahead.
Sabrina Haake is a political analyst and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. She writes the free Substack, The Haake Take.