Washington Edition: The AG sweepstakes

I’m Nancy Cook, Bloomberg’s senior national political correspondent, and each weekday I’ll be coming to you with inside-the-room reporting and insights that reveal what’s really happening in Washington — and how it impacts you. Email me with feedback and comments here. If this newsletter was forwarded to you, sign up here.

Contenders

Donald Trump tends to turn his personnel decisions into a sweepstakes or a reality TV competition. Picking the next attorney general is no exception.

Acting AG Todd Blanche is the frontrunner for the job, but US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon also are in the mix, according to Trump allies and advisers.

His last attorney general, Pam Bondi, was ousted despite being a longtime ally and part of the Florida crew that runs the White House. Some of the criminal cases the DOJ brought against Trump’s perceived enemies during her tenure collapsed or never advanced. Her handling of the government’s release of its files on Jeffrey Epstein didn’t help.

Now, Blanche, Pirro and Dhillon are jockeying to show who’s most eager to use the Justice Department to take on Trump’s priorities and foes.

Photographer: Matt McClain/Bloomberg

Pirro has used the skills she built as a reality TV and Fox News host to turn the job of DC’s top prosecutor into a national platform for Trump’s tough-on-crime agenda. (That includes the high-profile prosecution of the man charged with trying to kill Trump at the White House Correspondents’ dinner on Saturday.)

She was thwarted in her effort to prosecute Trump foil Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve. But that was due to political pressure on the White House that held up confirmation of the president’s nominee to replace Powell rather than a lack of trying.

Read More:

• DOJ Readies Fed Subpoena Appeal After Closing Powell Probe
• Trump DOJ Pursuing Separate Comey Probe for Classified Leaks
• Pirro Says Press Dinner Shooting Suspect Faces More Charges

Dhillon, a former Republican Party official and campaign lawyer for Trump, is leading a robust campaign to scrub diversity programs and “woke” policies from elite universities and graduate programs.

Then, there is Blanche, who was Trump’s personal attorney during the 2024 campaign. Blanche recently led the charge to bring a new indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, after an earlier unrelated charge brought under Bondi was tossed out by a judge. Like Pirro, he’s also been burnishing his tough-on-crime credentials.

He also recently brought on Joe diGenova, another former Trump personal attorney, to take over the DOJ’s investigation of former CIA Director John Brennan and other presidential adversaries. (Under Brennan, the intelligence community determined Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump win, a chief grievance for Trump for many years.) 

“President Trump has a great relationship with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and is very pleased with the job he’s doing so far,” Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman wrote in an email. She added that the entire Justice Department team “is doing a great job advocating for sanity, law and order, and policies that keep Americans safe.”

The AG job seems like it’s Blanche’s to lose (and he’s seriously auditioning for it).

But with Trump, personal relationships count. Trump treats both Pirro and Dhillon like colleagues, whereas he treats Blanche like staff and doesn’t hesitate to yell at him, Trump advisers tell me and my colleague Josh Green.

That may not matter in the end. What certainly will is demonstrating loyalty, aggressiveness and willingness to carry out Trump’s agenda. Still, Bondi possessed those traits too.

Today’s Top News

Trump said he was sticking with a naval blockade of Iranian ports even as oil prices hit a wartime high amid concerns the vital Strait of Hormuz would not reopen anytime soon.

The longest partial shutdown in US history is nearing an end as the House passed funding for most of the Homeland Security Department, just days ahead of missed paychecks for Transportation Security Administration workers.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US doesn’t let artificial intelligence make lethal targeting decisions and called Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei an “ideological lunatic” after a recent spat over military use of the firm’s chatbot.

Trump said he would be removing some whiskey tariffs following a visit from King Charles III, a move that delivers a major trade concession to the United Kingdom.

The Senate voted unanimously to ban its members and staff from wagering on prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi, highlighting concerns about insider trading on the platforms.

The president signed an executive order aimed at expanding access to retirement plans for workers whose employers don’t offer that benefit, seeking to refocus the administration’s messaging on economic issues.

Trump pulled the nomination of wellness entrepreneur Casey Means to be US surgeon general and named Nicole Saphier, a radiologist and Fox News contributor, to replace her.

Photographer: John Lamparski/Getty Images via Getty Images North America

US economic growth accelerated in the first quarter of the year, bolstered by a massive AI-driven upswing in business investment, with inflation-adjusted gross domestic product increasing at an annualized 2%.

Maine Governor Janet Mills suspended her campaign for the US Senate, effectively handing the Democratic nomination to political newcomer Graham Platner in the contest to unseat Republican Senator Susan Collins.

Trump said Tennessee will redraw its House congressional map following yesterday’s Supreme Court decision, a move expected to bolster Republicans ahead of what are forecast to be tough midterm elections in November.

The Air Force agreed to buy an undisclosed number of interceptor drones from a company backed by Trump’s sons, according to the firm, deepening the military’s ties to defense contractors linked to the first family.

Police officers and Democratic lawmakers suing to hold Trump liable for violent riots at the US Capitol more than five years ago face a new round of delays as the president continues to press for immunity against their claims.

Got “Ozempic breath?” The CEO of Hershey said GLP-1 drugs are helping to boost sales of mints and gum because of side effects that may include dry mouth and burps.

Must Reads From Bloomberg Government

Louisiana Republican Representative Julia Letlow, who is running to unseat Senator Bill Cassidy, introduced a bill that would codify dietary guidelines updated by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

A federal judge overseeing Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS is seeking outside counsel from major law firms on whether the court can rule in the case.

Watch & Listen

Today on Bloomberg Television’s Balance of Power early edition at 1 p.m., host Joe Mathieu interviewed Republican Senator Steve Daines of Montana about renewing a key government surveillance authority the war with Iran.

On the program at 5 p.m., he talks with Kevin Book, managing director of research at ClearView Energy Partners, about the outlook for energy prices.

On the Trumponomics podcast, host Stephanie Flanders speaks with Krishna Guha, vice chairman and head of Economics and Central Bank Strategy at Evercore ISI, about Kevin Warsh’s big plans for the Federal Reserve and why they might lead to even more volatility and uncertainty. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Trumponomics Warsh Eyes Fed ‘Regime Change’

Chart of the Day

Frenzied business spending on artificial intelligence was front and center in the latest report card for the US economy. Outlays on information processing equipment contributed 0.7 percentage point — one of the largest on record — to the 2% pace of growth in first-quarter gross domestic product, according to government figures released today. Investment in software also showed a notable upswing. Yesterday, earnings reports from big-tech companies such as Google and Microsoft highlighted industry plans to spend as much as $725 billion on AI initiatives this year. Economists see the massive investment allowing the US economy to motor ahead through the headwinds, like sharply higher fuel prices, caused by the war with Iran. — Vince Golle

What’s Next

The 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby is on Saturday.

Factory orders in March will be reported Monday.

Durable goods orders for March also will be reported Monday.

Trade data for March is due out on Tuesday.

Job openings and layoffs in March will be released Tuesday.

Primaries will be held Tuesday in Indiana and Ohio.

The Treasury will make its quarterly refunding announcement Wednesday.

The April jobs report will be published May 8.

The University of Michigan’s preliminary reading of consumer sentiment in May will be released May 8.

Trump is scheduled to visit Beijing for a summit with Xi Jinping on May 14–15.

More From Bloomberg

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