PAM BONDI

NBC News - Many career attorneys in the Justice Department breathed a sigh of relief last week after Matt Gaetz withdrew as President-elect Donald Trump’s candidate for attorney general. Hours later, Trump nominated former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, a longtime loyalist who backed the former president’s lies about the 2020 election. Justice Department attorneys now hope that Trump’s pick for the critical No. 2 position at the department — Todd Blanche, the president-elect’s defense lawyer — can help protect the department’s career civil servants from Trump. 

Blanche served as Trump’s lead criminal defense lawyer in the Stormy Daniels hush money case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Some current and former DOJ officials say Blanche’s close relationship and record of legal work with Trump have raised concerns that Blanche won’t stand up to Trump.

But others were cautiously optimistic, with people close to Blanche saying his past work as a career federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York gives him an understanding of the department’s tradition of barring presidents and politicians from influencing individual criminal investigations. One Justice Department official said people are feeling better about Blanche because he’s a legitimate lawyer and a former Justice Department official, but “that reflects the low expectations.”