Todd Blanche, now leading the US Justice Department, is struggling to deliver the aggressive prosecutions of Donald Trump's political adversaries that his predecessor, Pam Bondi, also failed to achieve before her removal. The president has long targeted former officials including ex-FBI director James Comey, former national security adviser John Bolton and ex-CIA director John Brennan, but efforts to prosecute them have largely stalled or collapsed, undermining Blanche's attempt to prove his loyalty to Trump through results.

Charges against Comey have already been dismissed by a federal judge, and Bolton, despite pleading guilty to a classified documents charge, is expected to avoid prison. The main focus now is a two-pronged Justice Department investigation in the Southern District of Florida into Brennan, examining whether he lied to Congress about the Steele dossier and his alleged role in the 2016 Russia probe into Trump's campaign. Trump ally Joseph DiGenova was installed in April to lead the effort after his predecessor doubted it would yield an indictment, and DiGenova had predicted charges within two months, but progress has since fallen well short of those expectations, with neither the Florida US attorney's office nor the Justice Department commenting on the investigations' status.