Inside The Battle To Be Trump’s Next Attorney General

There’s a fierce competition brewing for control of President Donald Trump’s Justice Department.

Pam Bondi’s ouster has uncorked long-simmering disputes among powerhouse lawyers who spent years in the trenches for Trump and his allies. Those battles forged allegiances that are now driving the backroom politicking to lead a department already in turmoil, hemorrhaging veteran prosecutors and facing credibility concerns in the courts.

It’s not just about who will be the next attorney general. It’s also a referendum on which of the many factions within Trump’s uneasy coalition will emerge as the dominant force inside the most scrutinized Cabinet department of his second term. Here’s a look at the emerging dynamics in the fight for control of Trump’s DOJ:

GOP veteran with a key ally

At the center of the battle is Harmeet Dhillon, a media savvy veteran of Republican Party politics who has led DOJ’s Civil Rights Division in the second Trump term. Dhillon’s eponymous law firm spent years taking on conservative legal causes and represented Trump himself when he was subpoenaed by Congress’ Jan. 6 select committee and when he was sued by lawmakers and police officers for his role in the attack on the Capitol.

Her firm employed David Warrington, who now serves as Trump’s White House counsel. Warrington has emerged as Dhillon’s most powerful ally as she positions herself to succeed Bondi.

“She has Warrington in her corner,” said a senior administration official, who, like others in the story, was granted anonymity to speak candidly about internal dynamics.

Another White House official said Warrington and Dhillon’s longtime relationship dating back to his time as a managing partner at the Dhillon Law Group is “well-known,” but that “Dave isn’t going to be involved in any of the president’s potential personnel decisions that may relate to Dhillon.”

On the flipside, Warrington has had disagreements with other DOJ leaders, including Bondi, on the department’s litigation strategy, the senior administration official said.

A DOJ spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Warrington’s influence has emerged as a crucial element of the fight for Justice Department primacy. At Dhillon’s firm, Warrington helped represent nearly a dozenTrump-world witnesses targeted by the Jan. 6 select committee, forging deep ties with members of Trump’s inner circle. That helped propel him onto Trump’s radar for the White House counsel post.

Dhillon has also been one of the most visible faces in Trump’s Justice Department, frequently appearing on TV and podcasts to tout her office’s work, most notably the sprawling prosecution of the anti-ICE protesters who disrupted a church service in St. Paul earlier this year.

Dhillon also has her detractors. Former DOJ official Jared Wise — who was charged with felonies for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol before Trump pardoned him — said a Dhillon nomination would relegate Jan. 6 defendants’ grievances with the federal government to an afterthought.

Other vocal Jan. 6 defendants and their advocates, who have wielded significant influence with Trump, have opposed Dhillon’s ascension. They say she didn't put any effort into taking up their cause, despite running the office that would most naturally pursue their claims that the Biden Justice Department violated their rights. They recall that she criticized Jan. 6 defendants during the riot and suggested they deserved to be prosecuted.

Trump's former defense lawyer

There’s no attorney more singularly responsible for keeping Trump out of prison than Todd Blanche, his onetime criminal defense lawyer who’s now filling in as acting attorney general while Trump mulls a permanent successor to Bondi. Blanche is the architect of Trump’s legal defense in the criminal cases brought by special counsel Jack Smith and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Trump himself praised Blanche Monday for his work as the deputy attorney general over the last year, even as some of Trump’s MAGA loyalists have targeted him for once being a registered Democrat and called him insufficiently committed to the president’s cause. The Trump-Blanche relationship is also unique in American history: an acting attorney general who counted — and in some ways, still counts — the president as a private client.

Blanche, who’s seen as a frontrunner for the gig, said Tuesday that he would be honored to win Trump’s nomination for the job. He also said that if Trump picked someone else he would say, “Thank you very much. I love you, sir.”

“I don’t have any goals or aspirations beyond that,” Blanche said at a press conference, his first as acting AG.

Kendra Wharton, who Blanche brought onto Trump’s legal team in 2023, called her former boss the ideal person to unite the disparate factions of the president’s Justice Department.

“Todd stepped into a chaotic and reeling legal environment surrounding then former President Trump. It was an atmosphere where cockeyed strategies and irrational voices hindered the President’s legal defense,” she said. “In a sea of disorder, he brought structure.”

The outsiders

Then there are the figures outside the halls of Justice Department headquarters who have been jockeying for Trump’s attention, perhaps to win his dark horse nod to succeed Bondi.

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. and a former Fox New host, has been at the head of this pack, pursuing Trump’s political adversaries with zeal despite flimsy cases that failed to gain momentum. Grand juries turned down her effort to criminally charge six congressional Democrats who filmed a video urging the military to ignore unlawful orders. A judge also rejected her bid to issue grand jury subpoenas to the Federal Reserve, calling the effort transparently political and meant to punish Trump’s longtime adversary, Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Pirro waved off speculation about the AG job during a press conference Wednesday, saying she’s happy in her current role.

The president has also floated Lee Zeldin, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, to replace Bondi. Last week, during a meeting with Zeldin about last year’s California wildfires, the president discussed the potential of the EPA head stepping into Bondi’s role, POLITICO reported.

The former New York lawmaker has been one of Trump’s most reliable loyalists — and a key executor of the president’s “American energy dominance” agenda.

“He’s our secret weapon,” Trump said of Zeldin during a February White House event celebrating the coal industry. An EPA spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

And some prominent members of Trump’s base — Jan. 6 defendants who have been critical of Dhillon — have floated Ed Martin, the president’s pardon attorney, for the role. Martin would need a miracle to win confirmation in the Senate, where he failed to cobble support for the job that Pirro now holds, in part because of his longtime unapologetic advocacy for members of the Jan. 6 mob.

But that group still commands sway in Trump’s MAGA base. Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio endorsed Martin for the role, and others who benefited from Martin’s support have joined the chorus.

MAGA’s go-to lawyer

Stanley Woodward, Trump’s third-in-command at DOJ, is an unlikely power player in the president’s orbit. A big-law veteran, he built his reputation as the sidekick to Stan Brand, who was the House of Representatives’ top lawyer under Democratic Speaker Tip O’Neill.

It’s unclear whom Woodward is championing for the top job, as the future of his own role at DOJ also remains uncertain. His prominent position has drawn a wary eye from some of Trump’s MAGA loyalists, who view Woodward as a political Rorschach without established ties to the president. Pro-Trump activist Laura Loomer, in particular, has campaigned for Woodward’s dismissal, and she’s renewed her calls for his removal in the wake of Bondi’s ouster.

One conservative media outlet, Daily Wire, reported Sunday that Woodward had resigned. However, rumors of his demise appeared to be premature. Woodward filed a legal brief in a high-profile case Monday and showed up at Blanche’s press conference Tuesday.

Though his fate remains murky, Woodward has long had the trust of Trump social media guru Dan Scavino, who hired the Brand Woodward firm to represent him against the Jan. 6 select committee and in litigation against special counsel Jack Smith. Woodward quickly became a MAGA magnet, representing Kash Patel, Peter Navarro, Walt Nauta and a slew of Jan. 6 defendants.

Perhaps most importantly, Woodward earned the trust of Susie Wiles, Trump’s current chief of staff. Wiles first encountered Woodward during Trump’s criminal case for hoarding classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and she helped arrange legal counsel for witnesses in Trump’s orbit.

“He was always one of Susie’s favorites,” a lawyer who has worked with Woodward said. That colleague also noted that Woodward’s portfolio at DOJ allowed him to steer clear from most of the matters that have raised Trump’s ire.

“His areas of operation tended not to be in the lane Trump is pissed off about,” the attorney said.

Unlike Dhillon, Woodward hasn’t spent years cultivating ties on the right or developing a political persona. That’s made him susceptible to attacks from figures on the outside, like Trump ally Laura Loomer, who has attacked both Woodward and Blanche as “Democrats” and said they can’t be trusted to captain a Trump Justice Department.

The attacks have prompted lawyers who worked alongside him to speak up in his defense.

Warrington appears to have no love for Woodward. The two men were at odds shortly before Trump took office, when Warrington pushed for Woodward’s then client Scavino to testify in lawsuits seeking to hold Trump liable for the violence and injuries at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (The judge sided with Warrington.)