Todd Blanche, President Trump’s lawyer and the nominee to be the No. 2 official at the Justice Department, used his confirmation hearing on Wednesday to denounce the investigations and prosecutions of his client as corrupt, and to insist that he would uphold the law.
Mr. Blanche, in delivering his opening statement, did not shy away from his prior role in defending Mr. Trump in court and continued to do so at the hearing.
Referring to what he called unfair treatment of Mr. Trump by prosecutors and judges in court filings and schedules, Mr. Blanche voiced his lingering anger. “I continue to be frustrated,” he said, later adding, “That’s power, and that’s power that’s corrupted.”
The statements were striking given the mounting concerns over the Trump administration’s early moves to fire or reassign dozens of prosecutors and F.B.I. agents. Mr. Trump has complained bitterly about the Justice Department, and said last week that he would fire F.B.I. agents, raising concerns about a possible purge of civil servants viewed as insufficiently loyal to him.
If confirmed as deputy attorney general, Mr. Blanche would have direct oversight of the F.B.I. and other investigative agencies. Department officials often refer to the deputy attorney general as the organization’s “bad cop” because that person settles internal disputes and resolves disciplinary issues.
Asked by Senator Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California, if he was still Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Mr. Blanche said he was, though he added that there were no active cases he was working on for the president. “My attorney-client relationship with President Trump remains, yes.”
Mr. Blanche acknowledged that ethical conflicts may arise based on that work but said he would follow the advice of career Justice Department officials. “I will not violate my ethical obligations,” he said.
During the hearing, Mr. Blanche frequently made clear that his prior work for the president informed his view of how he would do the job of deputy attorney general.
The confirmation hearing was significant for the degree to which senators on the Judiciary Committee seized on the opportunity to look back in anger over Mr. Trump’s criminal cases, including the ones concerning his handling of classified documents after he left office and his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Democrats defended the cases as a valiant effort to show that not even a president is above the law. Republicans, in turn, denounced what they call “lawfare,” accusing judges and prosecutors of brazenly manipulating the legal system to attack a political candidate.
Mr. Blanche repeatedly referred to his experience defending Mr. Trump in Manhattan criminal court. That trial, over whether Mr. Trump had falsified business records to obscure a sex scandal around the 2016 election, led to felony convictions on all counts. Pressed by Democrats to say how he would respond to an improper order from Mr. Trump, Mr. Blanche said he was skeptical such a thing would happen.
“I don’t think President Trump is going to ask me to do anything illegal or immoral,” Mr. Blanche said. “I say that with experience and firsthand knowledge.”
Democrats pushed back against Mr. Blanche’s claims that the president had been a victim of overzealous prosecutors. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, asserted that Mr. Trump was probably charged with crimes because “the guy committed crimes.”
Mr. Blanche shot back. “I very much disagree with that, senator.”
In Mr. Blanche, the president has selected someone with experience as a federal prosecutor in New York, and Republicans praised him as a skilled lawyer who defended a client few other lawyers would take on, beating back many of the cases against him.
Senator Eric Schmitt, Republican of Missouri, noted that he had attended the trial in New York to support Mr. Trump.
“I was there to witness a true perversion of our legal system,” he said, and urged Mr. Blanche to ensure that such a case never happened again.
Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, raised a more recent controversy: the president’s decision to fire more than a dozen inspectors general without 30 days’ prior notice to Congress, which is required by law.
“Do you think he broke the law?” Mr. Coons asked.
“I wasn’t part of the decision,” Mr. Blanche replied. “I just don’t know.”
So far, there is little indication that Mr. Blanche will not be confirmed by the Senate, with its 53 Republican votes and little G.O.P. discernible dissension about Mr. Trump’s picks.
Should Mr. Blanche be confirmed, he will arrive in the Justice Department at a moment of rapid changes to policy and personnel, and widespread anxiety.
While it is standard practice for the department’s political leadership to change with a new administration, the last few weeks have included the forced transfers of a host of senior career civil servants who play a key role in making legal recommendations to political leaders about how to handle particular cases.
Pressed about news reports of a possible purge of the F.B.I. ranks, or the abandonment of corruption cases for political reasons, Mr. Blanche expressed skepticism.
“I don’t believe what the media says, just as a matter of practice,” he said.
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