Trump appoints his own lawyers to key Justice Department positions

Photo: Alex Brandon Associated Press 47th U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Chris Lefkow – Agence France-Presse in Washington

Published at 17:12

• United States

To assist the controversial Matt Gaetz as Attorney General, the 45th and soon to be 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump, has appointed three of his seasoned lawyers to defend him in his criminal cases.

Matt Gaetz, a former Florida congressman, is a loyal Trump supporter who is not sure of obtaining Senate confirmation because, among other things, he is suspected of having relations with a minor and had fomented the overthrow of the Republican majority leader of the House of Representatives almost two years ago.

The president-elect has thus promoted three of his personal lawyers — Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and John Sauer — to be number two, three and four in the Department of Justice, the powerful federal judicial apparatus that oversees prosecutors throughout the country.

MM. Blanche and Bove are known for having defended Donald Trump in the criminal trial on concealed payments to a former porn actress, Stormy Daniels, which resulted in his historic conviction on May 30 by the local justice system in New York State.

Unprecedented for a former American president.

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Todd Blanche, who also advises him in two other federal cases, was named deputy attorney general on Thursday. His colleague Emil Bove, who had also represented the Republican billionaire in New York and in federal investigations, should be number 3 in the protocol order.

Presidential immunity

Emil Bove will mainly be the interim number 2, while Todd Blanche will appear before the Senate.

Finally, John Sauer, who had successfully argued for presidential immunity before the Supreme Court, inherits the 4th most important position at the Justice Department. As “Solicitor General,” he is expected to represent the American executive branch before the nine judges who make up the high court.

The three men are seasoned jurists with a good reputation.

Todd Blanche graduated from Brooklyn Law School in New York, while Emil Bove graduated from Georgetown University in the capital Washington. John Sauer graduated from the very prestigious Harvard and also studied at the very famous British Oxford.

They have also been magistrates, federal prosecutors, including Mr. Blanche and Mr. Bove at the very powerful federal prosecutor's office in Manhattan, New York. Mr. Sauer served as Missouri’s “Solicitor General.”

Todd Blanche “will be a central leader in the Justice Department to fix a justice system that has been broken for too long,” according to Donald Trump, while Emil Bove will, according to the next president, “root out corruption and crime.”

Towards a dismissal ?

In the Stormy Daniels trial, the sentencing of the criminal case against Mr. Trump, 78, — possibly to prison — keeps being pushed back: from July to September, and now to November 26.

Relying on the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity, his lawyers are challenging the legality of his New York conviction and are seeking “final dismissal of the case” because of his re-election on November 5.

Under enormous pressure, New York judge Juan Merchan is scheduled to rule on the motion on November 19 and then decide whether a sentence should actually be imposed on the 26th.

MM. Blanche and Bove are also representing their prestigious client in two federal cases being prosecuted by a special prosecutor, Jack Smith.

Donald Trump is being prosecuted in Washington for his alleged attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election, and in Florida for leaving the White House with classified documents.

But both cases have stalled and prosecutor Smith is expected to dismiss the case, because the Justice Department cannot prosecute a sitting president.

Donald Trump “wants to use the Justice Department to seek revenge” on his Democratic opponents, by making the department “his own law firm [with] his personal lawyers,” thundered Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, who chairs the Judiciary Committee of the upper house of Congress until January.