DOJ Nominees: Attorney General, U.S. Attorneys, and Blue Slips

Donald Trump’s second-term Justice Department nominees have moved through the Senate in fits and starts: Pam Bondi was confirmed as Attorney General in February 2025 and fired in April 2026, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is now the nominee to replace her with a confirmation hearing set for July 15 and 16, 2026, most senior division heads have been confirmed on party-line votes, and several U.S. Attorney picks have either withdrawn, stalled on blue slips, or been disqualified by federal judges. What follows is where each of the Trump DOJ nominees stands, who is already in place, and which fights are still open.

Attorney General: Gaetz Out, Bondi Fired, Blanche Pending

Trump’s first choice, former Representative Matt Gaetz, was nominated on November 13, 2024, and never made it to a hearing or a Senate vote. Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, was nominated on November 21, 2024, and confirmed on February 4, 2025, by a vote of 54 to 46.¹

Trump fired Bondi on April 2, 2026. Sources described months of frustration that the department had not delivered successful prosecutions of the president’s political opponents. The DOJ under Bondi had failed to secure indictments against six members of Congress in a military-disobedience matter, and judges dismissed cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James because of improper prosecutor appointments.² Handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files added to the friction: the DOJ said no client list existed, and millions of files were released only after Congress passed legislation compelling disclosure.³ White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles said publicly that Bondi had “completely whiffed” on the matter.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche stepped in as acting Attorney General the same day. Blanche had served on Trump’s personal defense team during the New York hush-money trial and was confirmed as Deputy Attorney General on March 5, 2025, in a party-line vote of 52 to 46.⁴ Trump formally nominated him for the top job on June 9, 2026.⁵

The Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled Blanche’s confirmation hearing for July 15 and 16, 2026, with the administration pushing for a full Senate vote before the August recess. The math is tight. All Democrats are expected to vote no, and Republican Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas have not committed to yes.⁶ Both have flagged Blanche’s prior role as Trump’s personal lawyer and his involvement in a proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that was later dropped after bipartisan pushback. Cornyn has said he wants Blanche to explain how the chief law enforcement officer’s job differs from a president’s personal attorney.⁷ Tillis has separately said he wants Blanche to condemn those who attacked police officers on January 6, 2021, as a condition for support.⁴ One Republican defection on the Judiciary Committee could keep the nomination from reaching the floor.

Senior Department Leadership Already Confirmed

Solicitor General: Dean John Sauer

Sauer was confirmed on April 3, 2025, by a vote of 52 to 45.⁸ A former Trump attorney, he had argued the 2024 Supreme Court case that established broad presidential immunity for official acts. At his hearing, Sauer said litigants are generally bound by court mandates but suggested there could be “extreme cases” warranting defiance, citing older Supreme Court rulings he called morally reprehensible, including those upholding Japanese internment. Senator Cory Booker criticized him for refusing to give an unequivocal commitment to respect the separation of powers.⁹

Associate Attorney General: Stanley Woodward

Woodward, the department’s third-ranking official, was nominated on April 2, 2025, and confirmed in October 2025. Before joining the White House as senior counselor, he co-founded Brand Woodward Law and represented Walt Nauta in the classified documents case, Peter Navarro in his contempt-of-Congress prosecution, Dan Scavino before the House January 6 select committee, and several January 6 defendants.¹⁰ The Judiciary Committee advanced him 12 to 10, with Democrats questioning whether he would advise the president to comply with federal court orders.¹¹ He now oversees the department’s civil-side divisions, including Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, and Environment and Natural Resources.¹²

Office of Legal Counsel: T. Elliot Gaiser

Gaiser was nominated on April 29, 2025, and confirmed on July 30, 2025, to lead the office that issues authoritative legal opinions to the president and agencies. He was previously Solicitor General of Ohio and clerked for Justice Samuel Alito.¹³ Senator Sheldon Whitehouse called him “completely unqualified” and Democrats cited his work as legal counsel for Trump’s 2020 campaign and alleged promotion of a theory that Vice President Mike Pence could overturn the election results.¹¹ Bondi swore him in on August 4, 2025.

Civil Rights Division: Harmeet Dhillon

Dhillon, a California attorney and Republican National Committee member, was confirmed on April 3, 2025, by a vote of 52 to 45; Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska was the only Republican to vote no.¹⁴ Her legal career focused on First Amendment and free-speech litigation, including cases against the University of California at Berkeley and tech companies over content moderation.¹⁵ Critics said her background was a poor fit for the division historically charged with enforcing the Voting Rights Act and combating racial discrimination.

Criminal Division: A. Tysen Duva

Duva was confirmed in December 2025 after a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on October 22, 2025.¹⁶ Unlike many of the administration’s DOJ picks, he is a career prosecutor who spent nearly two decades as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Middle District of Florida and received awards from the FBI, IRS, and Secret Service.¹⁷

National Fraud Enforcement Division: Colin McDonald

McDonald became the first head of the newly created National Fraud Enforcement Division after his confirmation on March 24, 2026, by a vote of 52 to 47.¹⁸ Vice President JD Vance announced the division in January 2026, citing fraud investigations into abuses of Medicaid, SNAP, and other taxpayer-funded programs. A former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of California, McDonald had served as an associate deputy attorney general under Blanche and supervised the DOJ’s Weaponization Working Group created by Bondi. At his February 2026 hearing, Democrats warned the new division could be used against the president’s political opponents, and former DOJ officials called it redundant given existing fraud-coordination units.¹⁹

ATF Director: Robert Cekada

Cekada, a career ATF official who began as a New York City Police Department cadet in the early 1990s, was confirmed on April 29, 2026, by a vote of 59 to 39. Seven members of the Democratic caucus voted yes, making him one of the few Trump DOJ-related nominees to draw meaningful bipartisan support. He had served as the ATF’s deputy director beginning in 2025 and moved quickly after confirmation to roll back Biden-era firearms rules, including a proposal to rescind regulations on weapons equipped with stabilizing braces.²⁰

Inspector General: Donald Berthiaume Awaits a Floor Vote

Berthiaume appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 17, 2026, and drew attention for refusing to characterize January 6, 2021, as an “attack,” telling senators: “I don’t know if I would use the term ‘attack’… I mean, we had activity outside the Capitol — protests and such — and there was violence on the Capitol grounds.”²¹ The committee voted 14 to 8 to advance him on June 18, 2026, with Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Mazie Hirono joining all Republicans.²² A final Senate vote was still pending.

U.S. Attorneys: The Fights That Actually Stopped Nominees

The 94 U.S. Attorney positions have produced some of the sharpest confrontations of Trump’s nomination agenda, including nominees withdrawn, blocked by home-state senators, or disqualified by federal judges.

District of Columbia: Ed Martin Out, Jeanine Pirro In

Trump’s first pick for the D.C. office, Ed Martin, withdrew after bipartisan opposition over his modest legal background and his expressed support for January 6 rioters.²³ Former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, who had been serving on an interim basis, was confirmed on August 2, 2025, by a vote of 50 to 45, with every Democrat present voting no.²⁴ Democrats called her an “election denialist” who had promoted false claims about the 2020 election.²⁵

New Jersey: Alina Habba Blocked on Blue Slips

Habba, a personal attorney to Trump, was formally nominated on July 1, 2025, after serving as interim U.S. Attorney since March.²⁶ Senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim declined to return their blue slips, stalling the nomination. In August 2025, a federal judge ruled Habba had been serving as acting U.S. Attorney “without lawful authority” after her interim term expired, and voided actions she had taken in that role. The administration appealed and secured a stay. Federal judges and the administration agreed on a new U.S. Attorney for the district in March 2026.²⁷

Nevada: Sigal Chattah Disqualified, Kelesis Appointed

Chattah was appointed interim U.S. Attorney for Nevada in March 2025. Democratic Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen opposed her, citing past social media posts in which she suggested Nevada’s Black attorney general should be “hanging from a… crane.”²³ Trump never formally submitted her for Senate confirmation.²⁸ After her 120-day interim term ended in July 2025, the administration redesignated her as first assistant U.S. Attorney under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. In September 2025, U.S. District Judge David Campbell disqualified her from supervising four criminal cases, calling the maneuver an unlawful workaround.²⁹ The ruling was under Ninth Circuit review as of early 2026. In February 2026, Trump appointed Las Vegas attorney George Kelesis, pending Senate confirmation.

Other Districts and the Blue-Slip Fight

By March 2026, a DOJ listing identified confirmed or installed U.S. Attorneys in more than 30 districts, including Bryan Stirling in South Carolina and Moore Capito in the Southern District of West Virginia.³⁰ Nominations kept flowing in spring 2026: the Judiciary Committee advanced Sean Costello for the Southern District of Alabama by 17 to 5 in June.³¹ Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer pledged to use the blue-slip tradition to block Trump’s picks for both New York U.S. Attorney offices, arguing the president intended to use the offices against political enemies.²³

The Through-Line: Independence and the Courts

Across nearly every contested nomination, senators have pressed the same question — whether nominees would serve as independent enforcers of the law or as instruments of the president’s agenda. Sauer declined to make an unconditional commitment to comply with court orders. Woodward and Gaiser were evasive when asked whether they would advise the president to ignore federal judges. Senator Dick Durbin called the slate “nakedly partisan.”¹¹

Federal courts have also reshaped who can actually serve. The disqualifications of Habba in New Jersey and Chattah in Nevada exposed the limits of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act as a way to keep unconfirmed appointees in place, and forced the administration to negotiate replacements. With Blanche’s hearing set for July 2026 and a handful of Republican senators still uncommitted, the top of the department remains unsettled more than a year and a half into Trump’s second term.

1
U.S. Senate. Trump Cabinet Nominations
2
NBC News. Bondi Fired as Attorney General by Trump
3
BBC News. Trump Fires Attorney General Pam Bondi
4
Al Jazeera. Trump Nominates Todd Blanche as Attorney General
5
NPR. Trump Formally Nominates Todd Blanche to Serve as Attorney General
6
Politico. Blanche Hearing on the Books
7
The Hill. Blanche Confirmation Process in the Senate Judiciary
8
U.S. Senate. Roll Call Vote No. 163
9
Courthouse News Service. Senate Confirms Former Trump Lawyers to Top DOJ Roles
10
Politico. Trump Picks Stanley Woodward for Associate Attorney General
11
Courthouse News Service. Senate Advances DOJ Picks Despite Complaints From Democrats
12
U.S. Department of Justice. Meet the Associate Attorney General
13
U.S. Department of Justice. Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel
14
Democracy Docket. Senate Confirms Anti-Voting Lawyer Harmeet Dhillon to Top Voting Rights Post
15
U.S. Department of Justice. Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division
16
Global Investigations Review. New Criminal Division Chief Confirmed
17
U.S. Department of Justice. Assistant Attorney General Tysen Duva
18
Senate Judiciary Committee. Grassley Supports Colin McDonald to Be Fraud Fighting Assistant Attorney General
19
Houston Public Media (NPR). Senate Confirms Trump’s Pick for New Role of Fraud Enforcement at Justice Department
20
Roll Call. Senate Confirms ATF Director Who Announces New Rules
21
CNN. Nominee for DOJ Watchdog Declines to Call January 6 Violence an Attack
22
Bloomberg Law. DOJ Inspector General Pick Moves Closer to Senate Confirmation
23
WHYY. Trump Prosecutor Picks Face Senate Pushback
24
U.S. Senate. Roll Call Vote No. 492
25
The Hill. Trump Nominees Approved Despite Democrats’ Objections
26
The New York Times. Trump Nominates Habba as U.S. Attorney
27
New Jersey Monitor. Trump DOJ Defends U.S. Attorney for New Jersey
28
Nevada Current. Trump Appoints Kelesis as U.S. Attorney as Chattah Fights Disqualification
29
The Hill. Trump-Appointed Nevada Attorney Disqualified
30
U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. Attorneys Listing
31
Alabama Reporter. Senate Panel Advances Sean Costello for Alabama U.S. Attorney