AILSA CHANG, HOST:
The lawyers in line for top jobs at the Justice Department have something in common. They all have personally defended President-elect Donald Trump. And that is raising some questions about how they might carry out their federal law enforcement work. NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson has been reporting on this issue and joins us now. Hi, Carrie.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.
CHANG: OK, so tell us more about Trump's choices to run the Justice Department.
JOHNSON: First, there's Pam Bondi. She spent eight years as attorney general in Florida, and she replaced Congressman Matt Gaetz as the AG nominee last night. Bondi has close ties to Donald Trump. She helped with his first impeachment fight in Congress. She's appeared at Republican conventions, and she denied Trump's election loss in 2020.
Donald Trump has also announced he wants to nominate a couple of lawyers with experience as federal prosecutors in New York. There's Todd Blanche. He's Trump's pick to serve as deputy attorney general. Blanche led Trump's defense in several criminal cases this year - the hush money case in New York City, the Florida classified documents case and the January 6 prosecution here in D.C. Blanche is in line to run the Justice Department day to day, and his deputy is going to be Emil Bove, who worked alongside him fighting all three of Trump's criminal cases.
CHANG: I am curious. What are your sources saying? Like, how do current or former DOJ employees feel about these nominees?
JOHNSON: You know, people are still digging into Pam Bondi's records. Blanche and Bove do have Justice Department experience, prosecuting some cases and some big cases involving narcoterrorism and mail bombers. But Donald Trump has also talked a lot about using DOJ to go after his political enemies, and that might include prosecutors and FBI agents who worked on the cases against Trump.
That's really got some people inside DOJ worried about what might happen next year. A spokesman for Trump told NPR that these are the most highly qualified and experienced attorneys and that Trump has full confidence in them to run a professional department that will focus on enforcing the rule of law and ending political weaponization.
CHANG: That said, there are some concerns, and I know it's still early. Both Bondi and Blanche will need Senate confirmation. But are there any clues about how they might approach these jobs?
JOHNSON: Todd Blanche is pretty well-known for standing behind Trump in that courthouse in New York this year. But he told a podcaster that stern face he made for the cameras did not really come naturally to him. Blanche told the "For The Defense" podcast he had some doubts about all three of these prosecutions of Trump but especially that hush money case in New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "FOR THE DEFENSE")
TODD BLANCHE: I mean, listen. I was very - I still am very passionate about this case. I feel, stronger than anything I think I've ever felt professionally in my life, that this is not a case that should have been brought.
JOHNSON: And many lawyers share the view that the New York case was the weakest among them. Of course, a jury convicted Trump of 34 charges before the election. Today the judge in that case delayed the sentencing, which had been set for next week.
CHANG: OK. And as we're looking ahead to the confirmation process for both Bondi and Blanche, what do you think senators will be interested in as they're thinking about how to vote?
JOHNSON: Independence is going to be key. Since Watergate, there's been effort to draw a line between criminal investigations by the DOJ and the people in the White House. The president does have the power to talk about and maybe even direct investigations, but historically, attorneys general have resisted that idea. There's going to be a lot of questions for both Bondi and Blanche about how they're going to follow direction from Trump and where they're going to draw those lines.
CHANG: That is NPR's Carrie Johnson. Thank you so much, Carrie.
JOHNSON: My pleasure. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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