Trump taps white-collar attorney to helm indictment defense

Todd Blanche resigned from his position as a partner at an elite New York law firm to join the former president's defense team.

Trump taps white-collar attorney to helm indictment defense

Former President Donald Trump has hired a top white-collar criminal defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, Todd Blanche, as his lead counsel to handle the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal indictment of the former president.

Blanche, until recently a partner at law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, said in an email obtained by POLITICO that he was resigning from the firm because “I have been asked to represent Trump in the recently charged DA case, and after much thought/consideration, I have decided it is the best thing for me to do and an opportunity I should not pass up.”

Blanche declined to comment Monday.




Blanche, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, has previously represented Trump ally Paul Manafort as well as Igor Fruman, a onetime associate of Rudy Giuliani who pleaded guilty in a campaign finance case brought by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office.