(WASHINGTON) — Todd Blanche, the No. 2 official in the Justice Department, once assailed what he described as a calculated and “vindictive” effort by federal prosecutors driven by political animus to target a defendant who had committed no crimes.

In that instance, he was speaking for his client at the time — Donald Trump.

In a 2023 court filing seeking to dismiss the federal case brought against Trump for his efforts to subvert his 2020 election loss, Blanche — who was then Trump’s defense attorney — wrote of an endeavor by “biased prosecutors” who “pursued charges despite the evidence, rather than based on it,” including “one prosecutor violating DOJ rules and ethical norms by forecasting the investigation in a television interview.”

He further cited reports that then-Attorney General

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