President-elect Donald Trump‘s decision to appoint his personal criminal defense attorneys to a position in the Department of Justice (DOJ) “does not bode well,” legal analyst Barbara McQuade warned.
Trump announced Thursday that he was nominating Todd Blanche as his next deputy attorney general and Emil Bove as principal associate deputy attorney general. Both attorneys defended Trump against special counsel Jack Smith‘s prosecution of Trump over his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House.
Blanche also led Trump’s defense in his Manhattan hush-money case, where the president-elect was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
“Trump’s appointment of his own criminal defense attorneys to top DOJ positions does not bode well,” McQuade, former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, wrote in a post to X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday. “Loyalty seems to be the most important criteria. These officials take an oath to defend the Constitution, not the president.”
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Trump has wasted no time in filling out his next administration. Several of his Cabinet selections have stirred skepticism, however, including Florida U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz, who was nominated for attorney general.
Gaetz celebrated Blanche and Bove’s appointments in a post to X on Thursday, writing, “We are building an incredible team at the Department of Justice in the Trump/Vance Administration!”
“Todd Blanche and Emil Bove are brilliant litigators and top-tier legal minds,” Gaetz added. “We can’t wait to get to work for the American People.”
Trump has repeatedly accused the DOJ under President Joe Biden of targeting his reelection campaign. The president-elect faces federal criminal indictments over his handling of classified documents retrieved at his Mar-a-Lago estate, and regarding efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. Both cases are expected to subside in light of Trump’s decisive election victory last week over Vice President Kamala Harris.
The president-elect also faces criminal charges over efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results, as well as several civil cases.
Keith Boykin, author and ex-White House aide to former President Bill Clinton, accused Trump in a post to X on Thursday of looking to “weaponize” the Justice Department “against his enemies” in light of his recent DOJ appointments.
“After spending the last two years lying about ‘lawfare’ and the weaponization of the Justice Department, convicted felon Trump has selected his own personal henchmen (Matt Gaetz and Todd Blanche) to weaponize the Justice Department against his enemies,” Boykin wrote.
Following news of Gaetz’s attorney general appointment, Republican Senator Shelley Capito of West Virginia told Fox News that it was not a “surprise” that Trump was looking for nominees to “shake it up” at the Justice Department.
“I think what we have to look at is the experience that President-elect Trump has had with the Department of Justice,” Capito told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto when asked if Trump has invited “controversy” by nominating Gaetz.
“He has been prosecuted over and over again on some very flimsy terms,” Capito continued. “I think that’s what he’s reflecting in a pick that is sort of raising eyebrows across the nation … I’m not surprised that the president picked somebody that is going to shake it up, particularly at the Department of Justice.”
Trump said in his statement about Blanche’s appointment that he “is an excellent attorney who will be a crucial leader in the Justice Department, fixing what has been a broken System of Justice for far too long.”
The former president also described Bove as “a tough and strong attorney, who will be a crucial part of the Justice Department, rooting out corruption and crime.”
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s transition team late Thursday for comment.