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The relationship between Trump and Blanche has been a financially significant one. Blanche’s law firm was paid $9.2 million by Save America, a pro-Trump political action committee, between April 2023 and December 2024, for work on cases that included the trial about payment of alleged hush money to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, according to federal election records. Trump was found guilty in the hush money case, which has been appealed and is being handled by other attorneys.
The Justice Department did not respond directly to questions from The Washington Post about whether Blanche consulted a government ethics official regarding an interview with Maxwell. Instead, the department sent a written statement from spokesman Gates McGavick that said, in full:
“Any suggestion that Todd Blanche has acted unethically while serving as Deputy Attorney General is baseless and defamatory. This gossip column relies on innuendo and the word of an agenda-driven political hack to push a false narrative. This is not a serious article.”
Some of Blanche’s ex-colleagues are surprised by what they see as his transformation from the independent litigator they knew to one they say seems willing to prioritize his loyalty to Trump.
Mimi Rocah, who previously co-led the White Plains division in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York with Blanche, said that it is “completely inappropriate and wrong” for him to interview Maxwell — both because of his relationship to Trump and because it is a job that should be reserved for prosecutors on the case, not a Justice official at the highest level.
Unless interview transcripts are released, it may be impossible to know whether and how much Blanche pursued questions about Trump’s possible mention in the Epstein files. For his part, Blanche has insisted his loyalty is to the Justice Department.
"This Department of Justice does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, nor from responsibility to pursue justice wherever the facts may lead,” Blanche said in a July 22 statement on X.
