President Donald Trump plans to nominate Todd Blanche as U.S. Attorney General, a move to make the post permanent. The announcement will likely be made Thursday. Blanche already is the interim head of the Justice Department for approximately two months. He takes over the permanent role following the removal of Pam Bondi in early April.

Trump announced the news at a White House dinner Wednesday night. The White House aide posted a video of his comments on social media. Trump also said good things about Blanche in an interview with the New York Post Pod Force One. Trump called Blanche a very talented individual who is doing an excellent job at the Department of Justice.

Major Indictments Signal Strong Alignment

Since taking control of the department, Blanche has aligned his priorities closely with Trump. Under his leadership, while he was the interim, federal prosecutors racked up high-profile indictments of some of Trump’s personal and political opponents. They would have among their names former FBI director James Comey, ex-Cuban president Raúl Castro and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Before joining the firm, Mr. Blanche was a white collar criminal defense attorney and federal prosecutor in New York. Among his numerous accomplishments is defending Trump in three of his four criminal cases before joining this administration last year as deputy attorney general. Blanche’s tenure saw her work to dismiss federal prosecutors who handled cases against Trump. In addition, he coordinated handling of matters relating to persons charged in the January 6 Capitol Attack.

Reversal on the Anti-Weaponization Fund

Despite the moves, Blanche was recently under a lot of internal and political pressure. The Justice Department intended to set up a $1.8 billion fund to fight weaponization. This fund was looking to pay Trump apologists when they were under penalty during the Biden period.

However, Blanche told lawmakers on Tuesday that the department abandoned the plan after intense backlash from fellow Republicans. Even for loyal administration officials, this was a shift that didn’t cross political boundaries.