Trump's New Attorney General Pick Has a Family Story That Will Surprise You — Photos

He spent decades prosecuting murderers, defending a president, and climbing to the top of American law enforcement. But his wife's story? That one is just as impressive.

On April 2, 2026, President Donald Trump fired Pam Bondi as attorney general, announcing that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche would step into the role for the time being. The move came swiftly and publicly, with both Pam and Todd addressing it on social media within hours.

A Smooth Transition — At Least on the Surface

After her dismissal, Pam, for her part, kept the tone gracious online. Over the next month, she will work around the clock to hand over the office to Todd, whom she praised as a remarkable successor.

After that transition, she plans to move into a significant private sector position. She expressed great excitement about this new role, noting that it allows her to continue her dedicated advocacy for President Trump and his administration.

She highlighted what she viewed as the most impactful inaugural year in the history of the Department of Justice. During this time, the department achieved the lowest murder rate in over a century and secured terrorism convictions.

Her team also dismantled various domestic and international gangs, took more than 90 major cartel leaders into custody, and won 24 cases before the Supreme Court.

Todd also struck an equally steady tone. He expressed deep appreciation for Pam Bondi's firm leadership and valued friendship throughout her tenure.

Moving forward, he pledged his ongoing support for police officers, a commitment to strict law enforcement, and a dedication to maintaining the nation's safety. Although the future will determine if this cooperative atmosphere lasts, the formal handover of duties has officially started.

But who exactly is Todd? Let's find out! Scroll to the end to see photos of his family!

The Man Now Running the DOJ

He is someone who has been building toward this moment for decades, though perhaps not in the way most people would expect.

Todd's connection to the Department of Justice runs deep. His career began outside the legal bar, starting first as a contractor and later serving as a paralegal within the Criminal Division.

He eventually rose through the ranks of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. This particular office maintains a reputation as one of the most elite and prestigious prosecutorial environments in the country.

Todd would go on to spend more than eight years there as an AUSA and later as a supervisor.

His caseload during those years covered serious ground. He investigated and prosecuted tax fraud, money laundering, Medicaid and federal program fraud, bank and wire fraud, racketeering, homicides, armed robberies, firearms offenses, and narcotics cases.

He also served as Co-Chief of the Violent Crimes Unit from 2011 to 2013, supervising numerous AUSAs across investigations involving racketeering, homicides, kidnappings, and other violent offenses.

He then moved to the Co-Chief role of the White Plains Division, where he oversaw fifteen AUSAs handling everything from securities fraud and public corruption to RICO violations.

By the time he left government, he had personally led 13 federal jury trials. Some of the more significant ones included a six-week RICO murder trial involving four defendants, the conviction of an NYPD officer on robbery charges, and a separate two-week trial that also resulted in RICO murder convictions.

He also authored ten appellate briefs and argued five cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

His education reflects the same trajectory. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics, Government, and Political Science from American University in 1996, then a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Brooklyn Law School in 2003, where he also served as an editor of the Brooklyn Law Review. He was admitted to the New York Bar in 2004.

After leaving government, he moved into private practice at WilmerHale, then joined Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft as a partner, before founding his own firm, Blanche Law, in April 2023 at 99 Wall Street in New York.

It was in that capacity that he became publicly known for representing President Trump in three of the criminal cases brought against him in 2023 and 2024. When the president returned to the White House, Todd went back to the DOJ, this time as the 40th Deputy Attorney General, a role he held since March 2025.

He is now responsible for overseeing more than 115,000 DOJ employees across the Main Justice, the FBI, DEA, U.S. Marshals, ATF, and 93 U.S. Attorney's Offices.

Not a bad arc for someone who once started as a paralegal in the same building. But his career, impressive as it is, is only half the story in the Blanche household.

The Woman Behind the Title

Todd has been married to Kristine Blanche for nearly 30 years. They have two children and, as of 2023, are grandparents. That is the official version. The fuller version is considerably more interesting.

Kristine is a doctor, and her career began in emergency services. She trained as a paramedic at George Washington University, where she also worked as a Trauma Technologist at the university hospital from 1994 to 1998.

She studied Biology and Pre-med at The Catholic University of America, graduating in 1994, and then went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Physician Assistant studies from Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus in 2003.

From 2003 to 2007, she worked as a Physician Assistant at North Shore-LIJ Health System in Manhasset, New York, building experience across emergency medicine, surgery, and critical care at one of the region's most respected medical centers.

Then Kristine stopped.

This is because she stepped back from her career entirely and became a stay-at-home mom, setting everything she had built on pause to raise her family.

While most people would pick that path forever, Kristine didn't.

The Moment Everything Changed

In late 2004, while navigating the early years of motherhood, Kristine's world shifted all at once and in the worst possible way. Her grandfather was nearing the end of his life.

Her 32-year-old sister-in-law, Lori, was diagnosed with stage 2B Hodgkin's Lymphoma and colon cancer simultaneously. And her father received his own cancer diagnosis.

Kristine became the caretaker for all of them, moving between her role as a mother and the weight of watching the people she loved most fight for their lives.

Despite her personal commitment to a holistic lifestyle, she continued to practice traditional medicine. When these two opposing philosophies clashed during a deeply personal crisis, the impact shattered her world.

She later explained that this intense conflict caused immense suffering and pushed her into a period of deep spiritual despair.

However, this dark experience eventually led to a powerful internal transformation, which fundamentally changed her perspective on life.

That experience pushed her toward integrative and preventative medicine in a way that purely academic interest never could have. She completed additional training in Experiential Health and Healing at The Graduate Institute from 2006 to 2007, and then made the decision that defines her story: at 40 years old, she went back to medical school.

Building Something New

From 2012 to 2015, Kristine completed both an MD and a PhD in Integrative Medicine at the University of Science, Arts, and Technology in Miami.

Her doctoral research centered on thermography and breast health, specifically examining the significance of vitamin D and iodine deficiencies and their effect on breast health outcomes.

She had already founded the Integrative Healing Center & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, in March 2008, and the practice has been running for nearly 18 years.

The center offers holistic medicine and thermography, along with nutrition counseling, kinesiology, chelation therapy, vitamin drips, lifestyle programs, and detox services.

Between 2014 and 2017, she also worked as a physician at Aristocrat Plastic Surgery & MedAesthetics in Great Neck, New York, offering integrative health and preventative medicine alongside her own practice.

What makes her approach distinctive is the combination of serious allopathic training and a deep commitment to integrative care. She came up through trauma centers and surgical ICUs before pivoting entirely, which gives her a clinical grounding that most practitioners in her field don't have.

She has also become a recognized voice on thermography as a preventative tool for breast cancer, including through podcast appearances dedicated specifically to her PhD research on the subject. Her philosophy, stated simply on her website, is: "It's all about balance."

For someone who has navigated profound personal loss, a career restart, and medical school at 40, that framing feels genuinely earned.

Life as the Blanches

The couple's daughter, Sydney Blanche, now 30, had a baby in 2023, making Todd and Kristine grandparents for the first time.

Kristine celebrated the milestone publicly, writing on the occasion of baby Blaine's first birthday:

"Happy 1st Birthday to our grand-baby! Blaine we love you so much… Sydney you're an amazing Momma!"

Their son Justin Blance, 27, graduated from Salisbury University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Marketing in 2021 and now works as a private investor based in North Carolina. He completed an internship at Checkmate Industries in 2016 while still in school.

Both children have kept their lives largely out of public view, which tracks for a family that has stayed well out of the spotlight despite the prominence of their father's work.

That changes now. With Todd stepping into one of the most scrutinized roles in the federal government, the whole family moves into a different kind of public life.

And if the trajectory of the woman he has been married to for nearly three decades says anything, the Blanches are not easily rattled.