Blanche invokes Trump ‘love’ when asked about staying on after Bondi

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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche showeredPresident Donald Trumpwith praise during a Justice Department anti-fraud press conference and said any decision on permanently replacing Pam Bondi was up to the president.

“As to whether or not I want this job, I did not ask for this job.I love working for President Trump,” Blanche said in his first public remarks since Bondi’s firing.“It’s the greatest honor of a lifetime, and if President Trump chooses to keep me as acting, that’s an honor.If he chooses to nominate me, that’s an honor.”

Blanche added: “If he chooses to nominate somebody else and asks me to go do something else, I will say, ‘Thank you very much.I love you, sir.'”

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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche addresses the Justice Department’s fraud efforts during a news conference on April 7, 2026, in Washington, D.C.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Blanche’s remarks came after Trump announced last week that Bondi would be leaving her role and that Blanche, his formal personal attorney and the DOJ’s deputy attorney general, would fill in indefinitely as acting attorney general.

Officials can serve in an acting capacity for up to 210 days.Trump has not signaled a nominee to take the role permanently, but he could nominate Blanche.

Todd Blanche served as deputy attorney general with Pam Bondi before she was fired by President Trump.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“As far as Pam Bondi’s last day on the job, I am the acting attorney general,” Blanche said, adding, “We’ve been regularly communicating over the past several days for an appropriate transition.She is very much a big supporter of this department.”

Most of Blanche’s remarks focused on the DOJ’s crackdown onfraud, as he pointed to several recent cases totaling more than half a billion dollars in healthcare and COVID-19-related schemes.

Blanche cited a string of examples, including prosecutors securing a guilty plea in a $160 million healthcare enrollment fraud operation and a sentencing in a $100 million COVID-19 fraud case.He contended that such cases represented a fraction of the fraud occurring nationwide and formally rolled out the DOJ’s new National Fraud Enforcement Division, led by newly confirmed Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald, who stood by Blanche during his remarks.

The division, Blanche said, would involve specialized prosecutors and expanded staffing in U.S.attorney’s offices across the country, and it would use more advanced technology to more effectively investigate fraud.

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Colin McDonald, assistant attorney general for national fraud enforcement, speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing Feb.25, 2026.(Graeme Sloan/Getty Images)

“We have a storied history of combating fraud and bringing criminal actors to justice, but the department has never adopted a comprehensive and coordinated approach to investigating and prosecuting fraud against taxpayer dollars and taxpayer-funded programs,” Blanche said.

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