Acting AG Todd Blanche marks his first official day on the job with a series of memos to staff

By Paula Reid, CNN

(CNN) — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche sent a series of memos to Justice Department staffers Thursday marking his first official day running the agency.

In a memo to the staff obtained by CNN, he wrote, “Our mission here at the Department remains the same today as it was yesterday. President Trump has promised a safe America and will continue to deliver on that promise.”

He also thanked former Attorney General Pam Bondi “for her friendship, service, and selfless dedication to our department and country.”

In a separate memo to his staff in the deputy attorney general’s office he revealed he will officially move into the attorney general’s fifth floor office on Monday.

Blanche also on Thursday announced several staffing changes in his office — tapping two loyal staffers to key roles. The acting attorney general posted on X that Trent McCotter will now serve as principal associate deputy attorney general and that Colin McDonald, who currently serves as assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s new fraud division, will also continue to help in the deputy attorney general’s office while continuing his work in his other role.

Bondi was informed by President Donald Trump last Wednesday, during the short drive from the White House to the Supreme Court, that she was being removed as attorney general, CNN reported.

“Nobody has any idea why the attorney general is no longer the attorney general and I’m the acting attorney general except for President Trump,” Blanche said at his first public press conference Tuesday.

The-CNN-Wire
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