U.S. President Donald Trump has ousted Pam Bondi as U.S. attorney general.
A White House official confirmed to Reuters that the firing took place after mounting frustration with her performance, including her handling of investigative files related to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
She is set to be replaced by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump confirmed in a Truth Social post, which was reposted by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on X on Thursday afternoon.
Bondi said in a statement on X Thursday that she would be working “tirelessly” over the next month to transition the department to the “amazing” Todd Blanche and that she had accepted an “important private-sector role” that she is “thrilled about.”
She called leading the Justice Department “an honor of a lifetime,” adding that her time in office marked “the most consequential first year of the Department of Justice in American history.”
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“I remain eternally grateful for the trust that President Trump placed in me to Make America Safe Again,” she concluded.
In a separate X post, Blanche commended Bondi for leading the U.S. Justice Department with “strength and conviction” and said he was “grateful” for her leadership and friendship. He also thanked Trump for the opportunity to serve as acting attorney general.
Reports had circulated in the last few days that Trump had spoken with Bondi about the possibility of her being fired.
Her dismissal marks the end of a contentious tenure of a department head who upended the Justice Department’s culture of independence from the White House, oversaw large-scale firings of career employees and moved aggressively to investigate the Republican president’s perceived enemies.
A staunch Trump ally, Bondi often defended him during congressional hearings and hung a banner featuring his face on the exterior of the Justice Department headquarters.
During her tenure, she called for an end to the “weaponization” of law enforcement that she said occurred under the Biden administration, though her critics said she was the one who had politicized the agency to do the president’s bidding.
Bondi leaves the role months after a heated hearing led by the House Judiciary Committee; she faced questions from lawmakers about the Department of Justice’s handling of the Epstein files after sensitive information about the sex offender’s victims was released despite extensive redactions.
The Justice Department is accused of redacting information that critics say should have been made public, especially evidence that could lead to scrutiny of Epstein’s associates.
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She was previously deposed in October, during a combative hearing in which she was accused of using her position to target Trump’s opponents and of repeatedly deflecting questions from Democrats by launching political attacks against them.
Her firing comes nearly one month after former Department of Homeland Security head Kristi Noem was removed from her role and reassigned as Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas.
Noem faced waves of criticism as she oversaw Trump’s immigration crackdown, and was in charge during the shooting deaths of two protesters — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — in Minneapolis at the hands of immigration enforcement officers.
Last month, Democrats sought to impeach Bondi after accusing her of refusing to co-operate in a briefing about the Epstein files and voted to subpoena her to appear for a deposition on April 14, where she is expected to testify.
After her ouster, it’s not clear if the deposition will still take place.
— With files from Reuters and the Associated Press
I laugh at all the trump butt suckers.
Anon, why bend reality like this? Garland aligned with Biden on policy, but generally seen as trying to preserve DOJ’s separation from the president.
Bondi widely seen as far more personally loyal to Trump and more willing to bend DOJ toward Trump’s political goals. This is just a fact. She was straight up her loyalist. He fired her not because he didn’t like her performance. He fired her because that’s what he does. Now Blanche will come in and last 6 months if he’s lucky. Then the next. Garland remained there for years. Live in reality
Who knew that month’s after the Epstein files were released, the teedeeSer’s would still be saying that everything Trump does is a deflection from the files?
The two Bill’s want you all to shut up about the Epstein files.
Lol! Since when has the Justice Department been independent from the White House? Certainly not during the Biden years.
You might as well say the RCMP is independent from the Liberals.
Her only job was to cover for the President and make sure that none of the Epstein files ever saw the light of day. Simple, right? But she failed miserably on both scores, so now he has to start a war and an oil crisis to distract everyone from them. Somebody has to pay. Trouble is, he already hired only the best people, so Bondi’s replacement will be second-best at best.