Trump Ousts Bondi After Chaotic Tenure at Justice Department (1)

Attorney General Pam Bondi is leaving her post as head of the US Justice Department, ending a tumultuous tenure as the nation’s top law enforcement official after stumbles in her efforts to carry out President Donald Trump’s agenda.

“We love Pam, and she 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, and our Deputy Attorney General, and a very talented and respected Legal Mind, Todd Blanche, will step in to serve as Acting Attorney General,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Pam Bondi spoke to members of the media following a March briefing with members of the House Oversight and Reform Committee in Washington about the Justice Department’s handling of files related to sex trafficking investigations of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Photographer: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg

In choosing Blanche to serve as acting attorney general, Trump has elevated another one of his former defense lawyers to be the nation’s chief law enforcement officer.

Blanche served as Trump’s defense attorney in criminal cases relating to the 2020 election, his handling of classified documents and alleged hush-money payments.

Blanche can serve in the acting role for 210 days under a federal law for filling vacancies while the Senate considers whoever Trump nominates to be confirmed as attorney general.

“Pam Bondi led this Department with strength and conviction and I’m grateful for her leadership and friendship,” Blanche said in a post on X after the announcement. “We will continue backing the blue, enforcing the law, and doing everything in our power to keep America safe.”

The president has discussed Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin as a potential replacement for Bondi, according to people familiar with the matter.

Bondi, who was viewed as one of Trump’s most loyal allies, oversaw the unprecedented transformation of the Justice Department into an arm of the White House, pursuing cases favored by the president and his supporters. In addition to cracking down on illegal immigration and violent crime, she launched investigations into Trump’s perceived political enemies. She also shut down units investigating public corruption and curtailed investigations into corporate and environmental crime.

However, Trump grew impatient with Bondi over the lack of progress in prosecutions that he had demanded against his adversaries, in addition to her handling of files related to cases involving the late, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Bondi didn’t respond to a request for comment on her removal.

Zeldin, a former Republican congressman from New York’s Long Island, has aggressively sought to cut the agency’s size and scope. Since his January 2025 confirmation, the EPA is on track to have lost more than 3,500 people by September 2026 — or more than 20% of its total workforce — due to a combination of firings, incentives encouraging people to leave early and other departures.

Zeldin didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Trump has tapped him for the DOJ post.

Bondi’s Removal

Bondi’s removal escalates the turmoil that has overshadowed the Justice Department during the last year, which included the departure of thousands of experienced prosecutors who were either fired or resigned as the agency’s priorities changed.

Criticism of Bondi’s tenure flared over her handling of the release of millions of pages of documents related to investigations into Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking operation.

Bondi fueled the controversy last year when she said in a television interview that the alleged sex trafficker’s client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review.” Last summer, the Justice Department said it had concluded there wasn’t any incriminating Epstein list and there was no justification for further investigation. That sparked heated criticism from Congress and led to passage of a law requiring the disclosure of the files.

More than 3.5 million pages of records have been released since December related to Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. But some lawmakers have blasted the department for heavy redactions, for leaving out materials referencing Trump and for failing to protect the names of some of Epstein’s victims.

The House Oversight Committee had ordered Bondi to appear for a deposition on the department’s handling of the Epstein investigation and release of files April 14. The top ranking Democrat on the panel said Thursday after her removal as attorney general that they still expect her to appear.

‘Good Riddance’

Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement that the Justice Department under Bondi “became a cesspool of corruption.”

“Bondi will be remembered for blocking the release of the Epstein files, weaponizing the DOJ to go after Trump’s political opponents, and handing out merger approvals as political favors,” Warren said. “Good riddance.”

Epstein, who pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a child for prostitution, died in jail in 2019 awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

Bondi made headlines in February at a contentious House Judiciary Committee hearing, during which she continually flipped back and forth though notes in a binder in front of her to fire back at individual Democratic lawmakers. She also came under heavy fire from critics for using the Justice Department to pursue criminal cases against some of Trump’s perceived enemies.

At the same time, Trump grew impatient with the slow pace of those efforts and criticized her for not doing enough.

Bondi appointed one of Trump’s White House aides, Lindsey Halligan, last year to be the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Within days, Halligan obtained grand jury indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. But a federal judge ruled that Halligan was improperly appointed and dismissed the indictments. The Justice Department has appealed.

Conservative allies of Trump have demanded the Justice Department investigate what they believe was a sweeping decade-long conspiracy against him and prosecute former law enforcement and intelligence officials allegedly behind it.

Bondi directed prosecutors to use a grand jury to investigate claims made by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that former officials “manufactured and politicized intelligence to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President Trump.”

However, that investigation has yet to lead to any charges.

--With assistance from Joshua Green, Zahra Hirji and Adrienne Tong.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Chris Strohm in Washington at cstrohm1@bloomberg.net;
Hadriana Lowenkron in Washington at hlowenkron@bloomberg.net;
Jennifer A. Dlouhy in Washington at jdlouhy1@bloomberg.net;
Kate Sullivan in Washington at ksullivan256@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net

Margaret Collins, Elizabeth Wasserman

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