Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche served as Trump’s personal criminal lawyer prior to assuming the AG role, so he swore during his Senate confirmation hearing that he would recuse himself from any case relating to Trump personally, if advised to do so by government ethics lawyers.
Blanche was, in fact, advised to recuse by government ethics lawyers, who presented Blanche a PowerPoint presentation on DOJ ethics that explicitly detailed his recusal requirement.
Blanche did not recuse. Instead he fired the lawyer who so advised him, and continued representing the DOJ in Trump’s personal lawsuit seeking a preposterous $10 billion from the IRS. Instead of following legal advice to recuse from the case, Blanche shot the messenger, “settled” a non-existent case, and orchestrated a $1.8 billion heist.
Blanche helped his client steal from taxpayers
Blanche engineered Trump’s $1.8 billion theft of the U.S. treasury before a judge could stop it.
Trump filed his IRS complaint in January 2026. By April, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams had expressed obvious doubts about the merits of the case because Trump was both plaintiff and defendant. If a party sits on both sides of lawsuit, there’s no real case in controversy as required under Article III of the Constitution, and the court lacks jurisdiction to even hear the case. Seeing the obvious flaw, Judge Williams ordered both parties to file legal briefs addressing it by May 20.
Instead of submitting legally vacuous arguments, Blanche sought formal dismissal of the complaint, which was granted. Blanche then announced the “anti-weaponization fund” to “settle” a case that had already been dismissed on his request. It is important to understand that after a case is formally dismissed, there’s nothing left to settle. The court did not approve the “settlement,” having never acceded to jurisdiction over the claim in the first place.
The $1.776 billion “resolution” was not authorized by any statute either. Blanche claims that 31 U.S.C. § 1304 authorizes it, but the Judgment Fund is statutorily limited to paying legal settlements and judgments against the United States, which this was not, because there was no case in controversy, no jurisdiction, the complaint was dismissed with prejudice, there was no judgment, and no “settlement” was approved by any court. The $1.8 billion fund is simply untethered from the law or case, Blanche’s own legal invention to hold open the treasury cookie jar while Trump dug deep.
Blanche mocks ABA ethics rules
The deal Blanche approved in Trump’s IRS lawsuit also granted Trump Audit Immunity through a highly controversial addendum that forever seals and ends any IRS investigation or audit into Trump, his family members, and his businesses. Blanche signed the addendum on behalf of the citizens whose interests he is supposed to represent.
Blanche is licensed to practice law in New York. All practicing lawyers, including those employed by the government, are bound by ethics rules, standards, and commitments. Under the American Bar Association’s model Rules, a lawyer cannot assist a client in breaking the law, nor can they advise a client how to commit a crime or fraud with impunity. They can explain legal consequences, including the scope and application of laws, but they cannot help their client get around them.
In pursuing money on behalf of a former client at the expense of a current client, Blanche is not only violating long-standing conflict of interest rules, he is also concocting another violation of the 14thAmendment. Blanche is obviously planning illegal payments to white supremacists and Jan. 6 insurrectionists who attacked the US capital. When asked to deny that plan, Blanche refused, repeatedly.
The only reason to openly violate the 14th Amendment by paying Jan. 6 insurrectionists up to $1 million each is to reward them and publicly inspire others to do it again at Trump’s behest. Blanche not only helped Trump break the law with this IRS heist, but also seems to be paving the way for Trump’s future criminality.
Every accusation from Trump is a confession
In creating a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to compensate people Trump claims were “victims” of Biden’s DOJ, Trump is again accusing political rivals of criminal offenses he, himself, is committing. But Biden’s DOJ, unlike Trump’s, only prosecuted people who broke federal law.
Trump’s DOJ also attacks Trump’s accusers, and those who pursued prosecutions against him, in order to convince voters that Trump didn’t commit the crimes for which he was convicted. It is an ongoing effort to undermine American’s faith in the rule of law, to further enable Trump’s erosion of it.
Trump, with Blanche’s help, flexes corruption on steroids. Blanche must know how many lawyers assisting Trump’s illegal efforts have already faced disciplinary and disbarment proceedings, including Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell.
Blanche surely realizes that ultimately, he will join that list.
Sabrina Haake is a 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. Her columns are published in Alternet, Chicago Tribune, MSN, Out South Florida, Raw Story, Salon, Smart News and Windy City Times. Her Substack, The Haake Take, is free.
