Todd Blanche, Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, has been sworn in as US attorney general.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday posted video on X of Blanche's swearing-in ceremony, which was held in the Oval Office with Trump in attendance.
"Congratulations to a great lawyer and an even better man!" Leavitt said.
The 52-year-old Blanche was confirmed as the chief US law enforcement officer by the Senate last week after Republican lawmakers shrugged off Democratic concerns over politicization of the Justice Department.
He had been serving as attorney general in an acting capacity since Trump fired Pam Bondi in April.
Bondi notably failed to bring cases to trial against former FBI chief James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Anti-weaponisation fund
Blanche won Senate confirmation by 50 votes to 49 after the White House persuaded a handful of Republican holdouts to join the "yes" column.
The main sticking point was an attempt to establish a $1.8 billion fund for what Trump calls victims of political prosecutions.
The other main issue was an extraordinary move granting immunity to US President from tax audits.
Blanche ultimately defused the internal party opposition with a written order scrapping the so-called "anti-weaponisation fund" and saying the audit immunity agreement with Trump, his two eldest sons and the Trump Organization would only apply "retroactively" to the past tax years and not future filings.
Blanche has also come in for criticism from victims of Jeffrey Epstein over the handling of the release of investigative files about the convicted sex offender.
Blanche was on the legal defense team in two federal cases brought against Trump by special counsel Jack Smith for allegedly mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House, and for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Both cases were dropped after Trump won the 2024 election.
