A legal analyst expects Todd Blanche to be confronted with tough questions about President Donald Trump's fixer during his upcoming confirmation hearing.
During an episode of Legal AF, national trial lawyer and strategist Michael Popok said that aside from questions about Blanche's handling of the Epstein files, Trump's pick for attorney general will have to answer for his ties to Trump's personal lawyer and "consigliere," Boris Epshteyn.
"There's a shadowy figure that controls all of Donald Trump's private lawyers and law firms, his battalion of lawyers going after his political enemies in courts, suing baselessly for defamation and even going after his sex abuse victims like E. Jean Carroll," Popok said. "All of those lawyers, whether they're located in Miami or in New York or in Chicago or D.C., are controlled by one person, an advisor to Donald Trump named Boris Epshteyn."
Blanche was Trump's personal defense lawyer before Trump appointed him as acting attorney general. Blanche faces a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 15 to stay on as the nation's top prosecutor.
Popok pointed out that Epshteyn has found himself in the spotlight after the American Bar Association asked a federal judge to release communications involving Steve Bannon and Epshteyn tied to Trump's attacks on law firms.
According to Popok, Epshteyn is "very close" to Blanche. Emil Bove, a Trump-appointed Third Circuit Court of Appeals judge, and Blanche "were recruited by Boris Epshteyn to be the lawyers for Donald Trump" and were assembled into what Popok called a "virtual law firm" that operated as Trump's criminal defense in his New York and federal cases.
"You also have to look at the shadowy figures that are pulling the levers of power behind the scenes," Popok said. "What I'm hoping is much of this information ends up in the briefing books for the U.S. Senators on the [Senate] Judiciary Committee as they go after and cross-examine Todd Blanche."