Top White House officials encouraged potential Bondi replacement to make case to Trump for AG job: Sources
FIRST ON FOX: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche huddled with President Donald Trump in the hours after Pam Bondi was forced out last week to make his pitch for the...
By Fox News · Fox News
FIRST ON FOX: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche huddled with President Donald Trump in the hours after Pam Bondi was forced out last week to make his pitch for the job full-time, Fox News Digital confirmed. Blanche was encouraged by top White House officials to speak with the president while other names, like Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin , briefly circulated as possible contenders, two sources familiar told Fox News Digital. During that conversation, Blanche made his case for why he should be the next attorney general. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed to Fox News Digital that the president and his then-deputy attorney general spoke on Thursday, as did a source familiar with Blanche's movements that day. Trump announced Bondi’s departure from the Justice Department and in the same social media post last Thursday said that Blanche would be taking over the role in an acting capacity, as Fox News and Fox News Digital previously reported. HOMAN VOWS IMMIGRATION MISSION 'WON'T SKIP A BEAT' AS BONDI EXITS DOJ The next moves could prove crucial for Blanche if he wants to clinch the president's nomination – and with the countdown ticking to the midterm elections, he only has a few months to convince the president he can lead the roughly 120,000-employee DOJ before a potential party power change in Congress. "It’s really Todd’s role to lose at this point," one of the sources who spoke with Fox News Digital said. A 30-year department veteran, however, speculated that Blanche won’t get the nomination and will continue to run the DOJ in an acting capacity. PAM BONDI ALREADY FIRED AS ATTORNEY GENERAL, CABINET OFFICIAL TEED UP AS REPLACEMENT: SOURCES "The safest thing for Trump to do is just to keep Blanche, the ultimate loyalist, in place as Acting, at least through the midterms, and avoid a confirmation fight," former DOJ prosecutor Kevin Flynn told Fox News Digital. "In terms of advancing Trump’s retribution agenda, I think…