Trump appoints personal legal team to key justice department posts

They fought the law for Donald Trump. Now, they will help him enforce it.

On Thursday, Trump announced he had chosen members of his defence team for senior Justice Department roles.

Todd Blanche, who represented Trump in multiple criminal cases, will be nominated for the second-most-powerful post at the Justice Department – deputy attorney general. Emil Bove, an attorney on Trump’s New York hush-money case, also will take on a high-ranking post in the department.

D John Sauer, who won Trump's historic presidential immunity case in the US Supreme Court this year, will be his nominee for US solicitor general.

If they're all confirmed, they would report to Trump’s pick for US attorney general, Matt Gaetz, a conservative who has been an unflinching supporter of the president-elect.

While Trump’s attorneys have more traditional experience than Gaetz, Trump's stated intentions to remake the department to pursue “the enemy within” along with the nominations, have raised questions among legal scholars about the future of the Justice Department.

“It’s quite a clear signal that he’s taking the Justice Department in a direction of loyalty to him rather than independence, which has been the tradition up until now,” said Rebecca Roiphe, a professor at New York Law School.

The three lawyers proved themselves to be creative and consistent advocates for Trump as he battled four separate criminal indictments last year.

Trump announced that Mr Blanche would set about “fixing what has been a broken System of Justice for far too long.”

Both Mr Blanche and Mr Bove have previous Justice Department experience, passing through what is arguably its most prestigious jurisdiction: the Southern District of New York.

Mr Blanche rose to head violent crimes at the SDNY before heading to prestigious law firm WilmerHale then struck out on his own - only to take on America’s highest-profile criminal defendant.

“They certainly have relevant experience, certainly prosecutorial experience,” said Jonathan Nash, an Emory School of Law professor. Mr Blanche, he added, would have managerial experience from his time at the SDNY, an asset to an assistant attorney general.

Mr Blanche adopted some of Trump's bombastic posturing during the New York criminal trial earlier this year, openly attacking witnesses' character and repeatedly sparring with the judge. Some experts believe these tactics may have contributed to Trump’s loss.

But in a few days, Mr Blanche could secure his biggest victory yet: overturning the sole criminal conviction against Trump in his hush-money trial. He and Mr Bove have argued that Trump's conviction in New York should be overturned.

As US solicitor general, Mr. Sauer would represent the government in US Supreme Court cases. He previously held the solicitor general position in Missouri, and legal experts said that makes him an unsurprising choice.

Mr Sauer already secured one major win for Trump before the nation’s highest court as Trump sought to stymie federal prosecution of his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Mr Sauer successfully argued to the Supreme Court that presidents should have immunity from criminal prosecution for certain “official acts” while in office.

More recently, Mr Sauer argued to a New York appeals court that Trump’s nine-figure fine in a civil fraud trial should be overturned. The court has yet to issue a decision.

It is not unheard of for US presidents to appoint close legal allies to the Justice Department and other judicial posts.

President John F Kennedy made his brother, Robert F Kennedy, US attorney general in the 1960s. President Lyndon B Johnson chose his former attorney Abe Fortas for the United States Supreme Court.

Since the Watergate era, however, the Justice Department has sought to position itself as mostly independent from the president.

But Trump tested that norm. During his first term, he fired one attorney general, Jeff Sessions, for recusing himself from an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The second, William Barr, resigned after pushing back against Trump's false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

While Mr Blanche, Mr Bove, and Mr Sauer might be more understandable picks, Trump's decision to nominate Gaetz - who had an House ethics investigation hanging over his head - sent the clearest message.

"Trump is coming in, especially in this second term, as someone who wants to drain the swamp, shake things up, and bring in outsiders' perspective," Mr Nash said.