President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday, capping weeks of mounting frustration with her leadership at the Justice Department and escalating tensions over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and politically sensitive prosecutions.
Trump named Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as her interim replacement. Acting attorney generals typically may serve for 210 from the date of the vacancy.
In a statement as the new acting attorney general, Blanche reiterated Trump’s comments in support of Bondi, saying she “led this Department with strength and conviction and I’m grateful for her leadership and friendship.”
“Thank you to President Trump for the trust and the opportunity to serve as Acting Attorney General,” Blanche posted to X. “We will continue backing the blue, enforcing the law, and doing everything in our power to keep America safe.”
The decision follows a period in which Trump privately expressed dissatisfaction with what he viewed as a lack of aggression in carrying out his agenda, according to multiple reports this week.
Trump is expected to move quickly to name a replacement and has previously discussed elevating Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, a close ally who has earned a reputation inside the administration as a reliable executor of the president’s agenda.
Zeldin, who has emerged as a leading contender to replace Bondi, served as a Republican congressman from New York before joining Trump’s cabinet. As EPA administrator, he has spearheaded efforts to advance the president’s “energy dominance” agenda and has been praised by Trump for accelerating regulatory approvals.
Bondi’s ouster comes after she faced months of political pressure tied to the DOJ’s handling of records related to Epstein, an issue she inflamed last year by falsely claiming she had the “Epstein files” on her desk and by inviting conservative influencers to the White House to receive binders full of what turned out to be already public documents. The House oversight committee had subpoenaed Bondi to testify about the department’s actions in the case, with a deposition scheduled for April 14.
The Epstein matter had become a particular source of frustration for Trump, who, according to multiple reports in recent days, had grown increasingly critical of how Bondi managed the matter and the broader political fallout surrounding it.
In the hours leading up to her firing, however, administration-aligned sources pushed back on the notion that Bondi’s position was in jeopardy, underscoring the fluid and at times contradictory nature of the situation.
“This narrative is driven by special interests of people who are not even in the administration,” a DOJ source familiar with the matter told the Washington Examiner just hours before her removal.
A separate source close to the White House was even more blunt, saying Thursday when asked about reports of her removal: “Not happening.”
Despite those denials, Trump had voiced concerns about the DOJ’s performance in pursuing cases involving what he views as accountability for his political opponents.
The president had also sent mixed public signals about Bondi in the days before her dismissal, calling her “a wonderful person” who was “doing a good job,” even as frustrations mounted behind the scenes.
Bondi, a former Florida attorney general, was a longtime Trump ally and represented him during his first impeachment trial. She became attorney general after Trump’s initial nominee, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, withdrew from consideration amid a congressional ethics investigation.
Her tenure was defined by the administration’s broader effort to reshape federal law enforcement, with the White House arguing it was restoring fairness to a system Trump has long accused of being “weaponized,” under his predecessor. Critics, however, warned that the approach risked eroding longstanding norms intended to shield prosecutorial decisions from political influence.
It is unclear what will come of the subpoena for Bondi’s testimony over her handling of the Epstein files. An oversight committee spokeswoman on Thursday told the Washington Examiner the committee will confer with the DOJ about the next steps that should be taken on that front.
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“Since Pam Bondi is no longer Attorney General, Chairman Comer will speak with Republican members and the Department of Justice about the status of the deposition subpoena and confer on next steps,” the spokeswoman said.
It also remains unclear what role Bondi may take on next, though Trump said in the statement to Truth Social that she would be entering the “private sector.” Prior to working as attorney general, Bondi conducted lobbying work on behalf of special interest groups and was previously criticized by Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) for having lobbied Congress on behalf of Qatar.
