Who is Todd Blanche, the lawyer defending Trump as he heads to court?

Former President Trump is expected to be accompanied by a key member of his legal team when he appears at a courthouse for his Tuesday arraignment on federal charges related to his handling of classified documents: attorney Todd Blanche.

Blanche, who also represents Trump in the New York criminal case involving an alleged 2016 hush-money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, is leading Trump’s legal team as the former president makes his highly publicized appearance at federal court in Miami.

A former federal prosecutor and top white-collar criminal defense attorney, Blanche will be tasked with guiding Trump through the early stages of his response to allegations that he kept classified documents and attempted to block efforts by the government to recover them.

He took the helm of the legal response to the classified documents probe after Trump announced late last week that lawyers Jim Trusty and John Rowley were no longer on his legal team. The pair exited on Friday, the day after the federal indictment was unsealed.

Trump cited the group of prosecutors behind the case when announcing the personnel change, noting he would be represented by Blanche and another firm named later in the federal case.

The New York Times reported Trump was interviewing additional lawyers Monday ahead of his arraignment.

Trump was indicted on 37 counts related to his handling of classified documents after he left office, including 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information, relating to the Espionage Act.

In the indictment, Trump is accused of trying to obstruct attempts by the federal government to retrieve sensitive documents, and it details instances where Trump allegedly shared government secrets with those who did not have clearance.

Blanche has extensive experience as a federal prosecutor, serving as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York for nearly a decade until 2014. He left his position as a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, an elite New York law firm, in April to represent Trump in the hush-money case brought by the Manhattan district attorney.

“I have been asked to represent Trump in the recently charged DA case, and after much thought/consideration, I have decided it is the best thing for me to do and an opportunity I should not pass up,” he wrote at the time. 

Blanche has extensive experience in cases involving white-collar crimes and has also represented figures in Trump-related circles.

He was part of the legal team representing Paul Manafort, who worked on Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. In 2019, charges were dropped in a New York case against Manafort, who was already serving more than a seven-year prison sentence after being convicted in two cases. 

Blanche also represented Igor Fruman, an associate of former Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who received a plea deal in a case involving campaign finance violations.

Blanche graduated from American University in 1996 and subsequently attended Brooklyn Law School.