Ex-DOJ official goes public with blistering criticism of his former bosses

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NPR

May 14, 2026 5:00 AM ET


A former political appointee at the Trump Justice Department has emerged as one of its most outspoken critics, accusing his former bosses, particularly acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, of "very sloppy" work, "sabotage," careerism and betrayal of the Trump agenda.

Attorney Jonathan Gross is also revealing new information about the inner workings of the department's "Weaponization Working Group," an internal effort launched by former Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate claims that federal law enforcement was politicized under the Biden administration.

His public break with the department comes at a delicate time for the Trump administration. As the president gears up for the midterm elections some members of the MAGA base have expressed frustration at what they see as a failure to deliver on promises of accountability. The Justice Department did not respond to NPR's request for comment.

Gross joined the Justice Department's civil rights division last summer after representing defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Before taking on those cases, the rabbi-turned-lawyer had no criminal defense experience. He nonetheless became a strident critic of the prosecution effort, at one point comparing it to the Holocaust. His work on Jan. 6 cases helped raise his profile among Trump allies, drawing the attention of former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and, ultimately, senior Trump-appointed officials at the Justice Department.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2026/05/14/nx-s1-5802959/doj-trump-doj-todd-blanche-jan-6-capitol-riot

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Trump's Fund Shows Blanche Choosing Loyalty Over Pushing Back (New York Times Gift Article)

Once seen by some as the most conventional of President Trump’s political appointees, Todd Blanche has taken off the gloves in his new role as acting attorney general.

Link to tweet

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/us/politics/trump-fund-todd-blanche-doj.html?unlocked_article_code=1.kFA.8u5z.9ACO1NiWkaBn&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, has tried to tread an ever-narrowing path between his role as a top Justice Department official and the job that got him there in the first place — as President Trump’s doggedly loyal former lead defense lawyer.....

But the moves that most starkly illustrated Mr. Blanche’s evolving approach came this week. In announcing on Monday a $1.8 billion fund that would benefit those who claim they were targeted by the federal government, he effectively forged a pipeline to funnel taxpayer money to Trump allies, among them supporters who ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again,” Mr. Blanche said in a statement.

It was instantly labeled a “slush fund” by Democrats. The head of one prominent good-government group described the plan as “one of the single most corrupt acts in American history.”

Then came a stealthy stunner. The department inserted a supplement to the fund agreement that granted Mr. Trump, his family and their businesses immunity from ongoing inquiries into their taxes, an extraordinary move that could shield the president from significant financial liability — issued under Mr. Blanche’s signature.

By sticking to his single-page playbook, appealing to an audience of one, Mr. Blanche has now incurred the wrath of a larger crowd — Republican senators, who angrily confronted him during a meeting at the Capitol on Thursday that ended with leadership scrapping a major budget vote to protest the proposal......

The acting attorney general, appearing at a subcommittee hearing, calmly parried hostile questions about the $1.776 billion fund. But his brow furrowed when he was asked to confront a core question by Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland.

Was he acting in the public interest, or as Mr. Trump’s hired gun?

“The fact that I used to be President Trump’s lawyer, is just a fact, but I’m the acting attorney general!” said an agitated Mr. Blanche, the former head of the president’s criminal defense team. “So don’t say the president’s former personal lawyer will do something — the acting attorney general will do something.”

Mr. Van Hollen cut him off.

“You are acting today like the president’s personal attorney, and that’s the whole problem,” he said.

I believe that Blanche will be disbarred after trump leaves office.

[travelingthrulife]

2. He's criticizing them for going against Trump's agenda. He's a scum bag.

Representing the insurrectionists with zero experience and described it as the holocaust. Pure shit.