US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that Attorney General Pam Bondi would be leaving her post.
“Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country.” He said Bondi “will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector to be announced at a date in the near future.”
Trump said Bondi will be replaced on an interim basis by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Blanche was one of Trump’s personal lawyers, who defended him in multiple criminal cases he faced prior to being elected to his second term.
Why was Bondi fired?
Bondi’s dismissal follows criticism in Washington over her handling of investigative files related to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Reports also suggested Trump had grown frustrated with Bondi for not moving fast enough to prosecute critics and adversaries of his administration. Her department failed to secure prosecutions of figures Trump viewed as foes, including former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Before her White House role, Bondi served 18 years as a prosecutor and was elected Florida’s attorney general in 2010, the first woman to hold that post. A strong Trump supporter, she joined his legal team during his first-term impeachment trial and later helped promote his false claims of voter fraud after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
Democrats welcome Bondi’s departure
Bondi’s sacking comes after the removal of Kristi Noem as head of the Department of Homeland Security nearly a month ago. Congressional Democrats praised Bondi’s firing and criticized her record at the Justice Department.
“Under Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Department of Justice became a cesspool of corruption,” Senator Elizabeth Warren said, adding that Bondi will be remembered for blocking the release of the Epstein files and “weaponizing the DOJ to go after Trump’s political opponents.” Senator Mark Warner said Bondi had denied Epstein victims transparency and “further undermined trust in our justice system,” adding that Americans deserve a Justice Department focused on delivering justice, not serving a president’s personal and political interests.
Bondi still faces a subpoena to appear before Congress at the House Oversight Committee on April 14 as part of the inquiry into how the Department of Justice handled the release of the Epstein files. Committee chair Republican James Comer said he and colleagues would decide whether to enforce the subpoena. Democrats urged the committee to follow through; Representative Robert Garcia said Bondi “will not escape accountability and remains legally obligated to appear before our Committee under oath.”
Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah