Former Trump Personal Lawyer Now Heads Library of Congress

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who represented President Trump in his 2024 criminal trial, has been appointed acting librarian of Congress, the Justice Department said Monday. Blanche replaces longtime librarian Carla Hayden, whom the White House fired last week amid criticism from conservatives that she was advancing a "woke" agenda.

• Brian Nieves, a deputy chief of staff and senior counsel in Blanche's office, was named acting assistant librarian, Justice Department spokesman Chad Gilmartin confirmed. And Paul Perkins, an associate deputy attorney general and veteran Justice Department attorney, is now the acting register of copyrights and director of the Copyright Office, replacing Shira Perlmutter, whom the Trump administration pushed out last weekend.

• The implications of Trump installing a close ally as librarian of Congress could be far-reaching, the AP reports. For instance, the librarian could see requests made by lawmakers to the Congressional Research Service, according to a congressional aide who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The nonpartisan agency is largely known as the think tank of Capitol Hill and provides analyses meant to help lawmakers in the legislative process.
• Senior House Democrats on Monday raised the prospect that data held by the Library of Congress could have been improperly transferred to the executive branch, including officials at Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.
• Blanche was named the No. 2 Justice Department official after serving as Trump's criminal defense attorney in two cases brought by the department during President Biden's administration. He is a former federal prosecutor who was a key figure on Trump's defense team in his New York hush money trial, which ended in a conviction on 34 felony counts.
• Blanche is the latest administration official to take on interim leadership positions as others are forced out, the New York Times reports. Marco Rubio currently holds four positions, including secretary of state and national security adviser.

(More Library of Congress stories.)