WASHINGTON — President Trump fired Pam Bondi as lawyer basic on Thursday, ending a tumultuous 14-month tenure marked by mass firings of profession prosecutors, a bungled dealing with of Jeffrey Epstein’s intercourse trafficking investigation and a string of investigations into the president’s political foes, together with outstanding California Democrats.
Trump introduced the ouster of the previous Florida lawyer basic in a Fact Social submit, praising her as a “Nice American Patriot.” It caps months of controversy surrounding Bondi’s management, which critics known as an unprecedented assault on the independence of the nation’s high regulation enforcement company.
Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche, Trump’s former private felony protection lawyer, will function performing lawyer basic till a everlasting substitute is known as. Blanche, like Bondi, has been a loyal backer of Trump whereas on the Justice Division.
Blanche has denounced previous felony circumstances in opposition to Trump as baseless and politically motivated, even whereas championing new felony circumstances in opposition to Trump’s personal political opponents. He has additionally echoed Trump’s sharp criticisms of the federal judiciary, declaring the Justice Division is at “warfare” with a cadre of “rogue activist judges.”
Bondi, in a submit on X, promised to help with the transition whereas defending her tenure — partly by citing historic declines in homicides.
“Main President Trump’s historic and extremely profitable efforts to make America safer and safer has been the glory of a lifetime, and simply essentially the most consequential first yr of the Division of Justice in American historical past,” she stated.
Bondi’s dismissal drew sharp reactions from California Democrats, together with Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Lengthy Seaside) and Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), two lawmakers who put immense legislative stress on Bondi to launch the Epstein recordsdata and accused her of overseeing a “cover-up.”
In separate statements, Garcia and Khanna stated that Bondi stays legally obligated to look earlier than the Home Oversight Committee and testify beneath oath about what they known as a “botched” dealing with of the Epstein investigation.
“Regardless that she was fired, she should nonetheless reply to Congress concerning the remaining paperwork, why we have now no new prosecutions, and why she participated in a cover-up,” Khanna stated.
Information shops pointed to a number of causes for Trump’s determination to fireplace Bondi.
Some reported that it needed to do with Trump’s ire over Bondi’s dealing with of the Epstein recordsdata. After Congress handed a regulation forcing their launch, Bondi presided over that launch — amid criticisms she was slow-walking it, withholding sure information and overly redacting others.
Garcia, the rating Democrat on the committee, wrote on X that Bondi and Trump “might imagine her firing will get her out of testifying to the Oversight Committee,” which she is supposed to do April 14, however they “are flawed — and we stay up for listening to from her beneath oath.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), one other member of the committee who backed the subpoena for Bondi to testify, additionally stated it “nonetheless stands.”
“When the Oversight Committee moved to subpoena Bondi, I did it by identify, not by or not because the sitting Lawyer Basic of the U.S.,” she wrote on X.
Nonetheless, Bondi’s testimony appeared unsure.
“Since Pam Bondi is now not lawyer basic, Chairman Comer will converse with Republican members and the Division of Justice concerning the standing of the deposition subpoena and confer on subsequent steps,” a committee spokeswoman stated Thursday, referring to Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.).
The announcement led some to query whether or not Bondi’s ouster was partly an effort by the White Home to maintain her from testifying.
Others reported Trump was peeved at her for tipping off Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) that the Justice Division was contemplating releasing paperwork from a years-old investigation into his relationship with a suspected Chinese language intelligence operative named Christine Fang, or Fang Fang.
Swalwell, a number one California gubernatorial candidate, was not the goal of that investigation and minimize ties with Fang in 2015 after U.S. intelligence officers briefed him and different members of Congress about Chinese language efforts to infiltrate Congress. A launch of information from that investigation now could be uncommon.
Swalwell has denied any wrongdoing within the Fang case and accused the FBI of planning to launch particulars from it now as an assault by Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist who stories to the lawyer basic, on their political opponents and “an abuse of energy that we haven’t seen because the soiled days of J. Edgar Hoover.”
On Thursday, Swalwell additionally denied receiving any notification from Bondi, saying he “had no heads-up by anybody within the administration. None.”
“These tales could be laughable if not so outrageous,” he stated, including that Trump officers had been dealing with low approval scores and “seeking to blame anybody however the best individuals — themselves.”
Nonetheless different shops reported {that a} key think about Trump’s determination to fireplace Bondi was her failure to safe felony indictments and convictions in opposition to numerous Trump political enemies who he has accused with little proof of wrongdoing and has publicly pushed Bondi and different Justice Division officers to prosecute.
A kind of targets is Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), whom Trump accused of committing mortgage fraud by characterizing a number of properties as his main residence in years-old mortgage paperwork.
Schiff has denied any wrongdoing and accused Trump of focusing on him for political causes. Justice Division officers have additionally declined to convey any felony prices in opposition to Schiff so far.
It’s unclear whether or not that might change beneath new management. Blanche has reportedly been concerned in overseeing the Schiff investigation and butted heads with former Justice official Ed Martin, who had zealously investigated Schiff earlier than being eliminated.
In an X submit on Thursday, Schiff cheered Bondi’s ouster however stated that she was “merely a symptom of Donald Trump’s persistent allergy to our nation’s legal guidelines,” that her being tossed apart “doesn’t mitigate the necessity for her to reply for her conduct” as lawyer basic, and that Blanche “ought to count on to obtain the identical scrutiny.”
“Pam Bondi oversaw an unprecedented weaponization of the Justice Division that introduced our nation’s rule of regulation to its knees,” Schiff wrote. “Numerous and baseless political investigations, tons of of profession regulation enforcement professionals purged, an enormous cover-up of the Epstein recordsdata, and a wholesale effort to show the division right into a felony regulation agency representing the individual of the president as an alternative of the American individuals.”
Sen. Alex Padilla, a Los Angeles Democrat, stated “good riddance” to Bondi in a submit on X.
“Bondi dodged transparency on the Epstein recordsdata, tried to go after voter rolls to undermine elections, and weaponized the Justice Division in opposition to Trump’s enemies,” Padilla stated. “People deserve accountability, not cover-ups and corruption.”
It was unclear Thursday how lengthy Trump could depart Blanche within the high submit. As deputy lawyer basic, he had a hand in lots of the choices as to the day-to-day operations of the division beneath Bondi — together with on the dealing with of the Epstein recordsdata.
Blanche personally interviewed Epstein’s imprisoned former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, in a federal jail in Florida, the place she was serving a 20-year time period for serving to Epstein sexually abuse younger ladies. Throughout that interview, Maxwell stated she by no means witnessed Trump in any “inappropriate setting.”
Blanche’s determination to personally interview Maxwell was extremely uncommon, given how excessive rating he was within the Justice Division.
Inside days of the interview, which was perceived partly as a ploy for clemency by Maxwell, she was moved to a minimum-security camp in Texas.
The Epstein recordsdata have dogged the Justice Division since Trump returned to workplace in January 2025, changing into one of the politically combative problems with his second time period, and can finally be a part of Bondi’s legacy.
From the beginning of Trump’s second time period, conservatives pressured the administration to launch the investigative recordsdata, hoping for revelations about highly effective figures linked to the late financier. Bondi initially stoked these calls for and as soon as prompt in an interview that the Epstein “consumer listing” was on her desk, a declare she later walked again.
The harm to her credibility proved lasting, and she or he faces scrutiny each in public and in Congress. In a February listening to, as an example, Bondi traded insults with congressional Democrats whereas dodged questions. At one level, she responded to a query in protection of the administration by boasting concerning the inventory market.
“The Dow is over 50,000 factors proper now,” she stated, a second that drew intense consideration on-line.
Bondi remained loyal to the president on Thursday, writing in her X submit that she would “stay eternally grateful” to him for trusting her as his lawyer basic and work “tirelessly to transition” Blanche into his new position.
Blanche praised Bondi in his personal submit on X, saying she had led the Justice Division “with energy and conviction.” He additionally thanked Trump for “the belief and the chance” for him to serve within the performing position.
“We are going to proceed backing the blue, implementing the regulation, and doing all the pieces in our energy to maintain America protected,” Blanche wrote.
