In naming only an interim successor as acting attorney general, President Trump has established even greater incentives to execute his most extreme demands, current and former officials say.
The Justice Department’s indictment of James B. Comey for posting a photo of seashells has been roundly ripped by critics as a highly questionable move predicated on flimsy evidence that sacrifices prosecutorial credibility for President Trump’s fleeting favor.
But the charges, which department officials claim were justified by a genuine threat to Mr. Trump’s life, reflect the new realities of an agency whose roiled leadership is more focused than ever on the president’s restless efforts to exact vengeance on his enemies.
By firing Attorney General Pam Bondi — and then conspicuously declining to name her interim replacement, Todd Blanche, as the permanent successor — Mr. Trump has created an environment in which multiple officials seem to all be fighting for their jobs, according to current and former officials. The result is ever greater incentive to execute his increasingly extreme demands without much pushback.
Before ascending to acting attorney general, Mr. Blanche, a former Trump defense lawyer who wants the job permanently, gingerly cautioned the president against taking actions he considered unwise, unlawful or unsupported by evidence, current and former officials have said.
Unlike many political appointees at the Justice Department, Mr. Blanche, a well-regarded former federal prosecutor in Manhattan serving as the agency’s No. 2 official, defended local federal prosecutors who raised questions about the department’s ill-fated effort last September to indict Mr. Comey for lying under oath. Along with Ms. Bondi, he advised against the appointment of an inexperienced White House lawyer, Lindsey Halligan, as the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia to ram through a prosecution of the former F.B.I. director.
As Ms. Bondi’s top deputy, Mr. Blanche also urged Trump advisers against arresting and escorting Mr. Comey in handcuffs last May after he posted an image of shells on a beach spelling out “86 47.” Mr. Comey said it was shorthand for politically nullifying, not killing, the 47th president, as many Trump supporters claimed.