Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was told last year that he must recuse himself on all matters dealing with President Donald Trump since he was, at one time, Trump's personal attorney.
The previously unreported detail was reported Thursday by CNN that "the first time Blanche was formally informed he would need to recuse himself from cases involving Trump. Around the same time, the department’s top career lawyer advised that [ex-Blanche aide Emil] Bove potentially had a conflict of interest by being involved in firings of DOJ lawyers."
The report cited a senior DOJ ethics official who said DOJ official Joseph Tirrell was conducting the briefing when he "handed Blanche and ... Bove, who was also in the conference room, a printed PowerPoint presentation on ethics."
It puts Blanche in an ethical quandary now that he has taken over the department after Pam Bondi was fired, the report explains.
Tirrell observed Blanche signing the ethics pledge, the former official said.
"That pledge included requirements for Blanche to not participate for at least a year in any of the department’s matters involving past clients of the Blanche Law Group, the small private law firm Blanche used to represent Trump in the criminal cases," CNN said.
"The department’s regulations also prohibit his participation 'in any criminal investigation or prosecution if he has a personal or political relationship' with anyone who was involved in or has an interest in that investigation or prosecution," the outlet added.
The report cited two people briefed on the matter who said a top career lawyer at the DOJ and an ethics expert penned a memo in early 2025 flagging for Bondi that Bove was overseeing the purge of the Justice Department's lawyers involved in Trump cases.
