The Most Corrupt Deputy Attorney General in Modern American History
... and why American Muckrakers just filed the complaint the DOJ hoped no one would dare touch.
By David B. Wheeler
President, American Muckrakers
Let me start with a sentence that should chill every American who still believes in the idea of a functioning Justice Department:
Donald Trump’s former $50 million defense lawyer is now the Deputy Attorney General.
Not figuratively.
Not theoretically.
Literally.
The man overseeing the Criminal Division, federal prosecutions, appeals, ethics enforcement, all of it, is the same man who fought those cases for Trump, billed Trump millions, strategized with Trump, and knows every confidential detail he learned defending Trump against the United States of America.
His name is Todd Blanche, and if you’re wondering whether he ever stopped working for Trump…
Spoiler: No. He didn’t.
And that’s why I filed a multi-count, evidence-packed, ethics torpedo with the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility this week.
Because if the DOJ won’t police its own corruption, then American Muckrakers will.
The Public Doesn’t Know How Bad This Really Is
Let’s lay this out cleanly.
Todd Blanche went from:
“Your Honor, Mr. Trump has done nothing wrong.”
(as Trump’s personal criminal defense attorney)
to:
“The Department of Justice is targeting Trump unfairly.”
(as the No. 2 law-enforcement officer in the United States)
If you wrote this in a screenplay, the studio would fire you for being “too on-the-nose.”
But this isn’t fiction.
This is our federal government in 2025.
And Blanche isn’t just biased, hell he’s active. He’s using the machinery of the Justice Department, paid for by you, to protect the man who paid him millions.
Let me show you the receipts.
🚨 FIVE SCANDALS YOU AREN’T HEARING ENOUGH ABOUT
These are not allegations in the abstract.
These are documented actions, statements, dates, transcripts, public appearances, and congressional letters.
Mark my words: if Blanche were a Democrat doing this for Biden, Fox News would have declared it the greatest national crisis since Watergate.
Instead? Crickets.
Until now.
1. Trump Demanded $230,000,000 From DOJ — and Blanche Didn’t Recuse Himself
Trump’s October 15 demand for “reimbursement” for his criminal prosecutions is insane on its face.
What’s even more insane?
The Deputy Attorney General, who personally defended Trump in those cases, participated in discussions about it.
That is not just unethical, and it is damn illegal.
Yes, illegal. (Look up 28 U.S.C. § 528.)
And on October 20, on the same day Congress demanded DOJ explain this mess, Blanche popped up in public smiling next to Trump.
Message received.
2. Blanche Went on ABC and Called Trump’s Prosecutions “Vindictive”
This was on September 29, 2025.
This wasn’t some stray comment. He laid out nonpublic details of cases he handled and then, as Deputy AG, attacked the very prosecutions he used to fight from the outside.
That’s a walking, talking violation of:
DOJ public-statement restrictions,
misuse of insider information, and
political weaponization of a federal office.
But he doesn’t care.
Because Blanche thinks the rules don’t apply to him.
3. Blanche Is Purging DOJ Ethics Enforcement From the Inside
Multiple outlets confirm:
Ethics officers reassigned
Bar complaints discouraged
A senior DOj ethics official resigned over it
Internal policies rewritten to shield Trump-aligned lawyers
This is how authoritarianism actually happens:
Not in a speech.
In the bureaucracy.
If you weaken ethics enforcement, you weaken accountability.
If you weaken accountability, you weaken democracy.
And Blanche is doing it deliberately.
4. Blanche Told a Room Full of Lawyers That DOJ Is at “War” With Judges
This was not misquoted.
It was not taken out of context.
He said the quiet part out loud:
“We are in a war with rogue activist judges.”
Those words came from the Deputy Attorney General of the United States.
Former federal judges condemned the remarks as a “grave threat.”
But Blanche knows his audience:
Trump wants an AG who treats judges like enemies and state bars like nuisances.
Blanche delivered.
5. Blanche Inserted Himself Into the Epstein/Maxwell Proceedings To Protect His Master
You read that right.
The same Todd Blanche who previously touched Epstein-related matters at SDNY personally conducted the July 24–25 interview with Ghislaine Maxwell, and surprise surprise, in the interview transcripts, he found ways to praise Donald Trump.
No recusal.
No disclosure.
And the Epstein files?
Delayed.
Redacted.
Slow-rolled.
Exactly the way Trump world wants it.
This alone is enough for removal.
Combined with everything else, it’s a five-alarm fire.
Why I Filed This Complaint
Because DOJ ethics are not optional.
Because Donald Trump should not have a personal mole inside the Department of Justice.
Because public loyalty should never be for sale.
Because someone has to do the damn job.
When the system rots from the inside, you don’t whisper about it.
You go directly at it.
That’s what we did.
We filed:
a full OPR complaint
with a hyperlinked exhibit set
citing every statute Blanche has blown through
filed NY and DC bar filings
with Congressional too.
This is what it looks like when a watchdog actually watches.
And before anyone says it—no, we’re not naïve. We don’t expect DOJ to swoop in like heroes and clean house. We expect excuses. We expect stall tactics. We expect institutional cowardice.
Which is exactly why we’re preparing the next move right now. When DOJ responds—or refuses to—we’ll roll out the next step in this accountability campaign. Trust me: this story isn’t over. It’s barely begun.
But Let Me Tell You the Truth the Media Won’t: This Work Costs Money
Researching, assembling, verifying, formatting, and filing a 40-exhibit complaint isn’t free.
Travel isn’t free.
Legal analysis isn’t free.
Record acquisition isn’t free.
FOIA work isn’t free.
And the people sabotaging this country are counting on watchdogs like us to either run out of money or run out of nerve.
They miscalculated.
We’re not backing down.
But to be blunt:
👉 If you want American Muckrakers to keep doing this level of work — we need your help.
Not performative, cable-news “outrage.”
Real accountability.
Real filings.
Real consequences.
If this complaint leads to a full investigation — and it should — it will shake DOJ leadership at its core.
And it will be because you made it possible.
Support This Work if You Believe in It
If you’ve read this far, you know two things:
This level of investigative work is rare.
It’s absolutely necessary.
If you want us to keep filing, exposing, digging, and pushing back against Trump-aligned corruption inside federal agencies:
Whatever you give — $5, $20, $100 — fuels the next filing, the next expose, the next fight.
We’re in this for the country.
And we’re in it to win.
— David Wheeler, President, American Muckrakers
Read the full US DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility complaint against Todd Blanche filed by David Wheeler here:
