The Justice Department's second-hand order can add "librarian" to his resume. Todd Blanche has been appointed as agent Librarian of Congressthe Justice Department confirmed on Monday.
Blanche is a former personal criminal lawyer for President Trump. It is unclear whether professional lawyers have previously completed work involving the Dewey Decimal System (or the Library of Congress Classification Systems).
Two other Justice Department officials have added a library of congressional posts to their portfolio.
Deputy Attorney General Paul Perkins was appointed as the Copyright Agent Register, and Blanche Deputy Chief of Staff Brian Nieves was appointed as the Acting Deputy Librarian of Congress.
These three lawyers now lead the world's largest library, with millions of books, movies, recordings, photos, manuscripts and other documents. The library is the main major research department of Congress and the United States Copyright Office.
Perkins is replacing Shira Perlmutter, who took over as the copyright register in October 2020 in the first Trump administration. Last week, Perlmutter and her office published a lengthy report expressing concerns about the use of copyrighted materials in AI plans.
Blanche served as chief attorney during Trump's 2024 New York criminal trial, in which a unanimous jury found Mr. Trump guilty of 34 felony charges of forging business records. Mr. Trump denied the charges and filed his conviction.
Blanche's appointment comes after Carla Hayden, who opened fire on May 8, has been the director of the Library of Congress since 2016. She was the first woman to hold the position and the first black man to hold the position.
Robert Newlen, a congressional staff library for more than 40 years, was initially attacked to replace Haydn's performance abilities. In a Monday morning email from colleagues obtained by CBS News, he talked about the turbulence in the library's top rankings.
"You may have read that the White House has appointed a new acting librarian," Nuren wrote. "At present, Congress is engaged to the White House, we have not received Congress' instructions on how to move forward. We will share additional information where we receive it."
Hayden tells CBS News in 2020 interview This job has a lot of meaning to her.
“Personally, as a person of color, this means a lot because people like me seem to be prohibited from learning to read by law,” Hayden Telling CBS News in an interview in 2020. “It means so much that it’s a person of color who leads the world’s largest library.”
The library is the agency of the legislative branch, and Democrats argue that Mr. Trump has no authority to fire his senior officials.
New York Rep. Joe Morelle of the New York House Committee Management Committee requested an inspector general to comment on Hayden's dismissal.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for the “Capital Director” to be a “Congressional Librarian’s post” rather than being appointed by the president who regards federal appointments as a reality TV award. ”
