Deputy AG Todd Blanche will run the Justice Department on an interim basis
Donald Trump has fired Pam Bondi as attorney general of the United States.
Trump announced the news Thursday on Truth Social. “Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year,” the president wrote, adding that she would 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 that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche “will step in to serve as Acting Attorney General.”
The announcement came minutes after Peter Doocy of Fox News announced the news citing, citing a phone call with Trump. Semafor was the first to report on Thursday that Trump had informed Bondi that her time atop the Justice Department was coming to an end.
The dismissal comes amid reports that Bondi was on the hot seat, and that Trump has long been dissatisfied with her — particularly her handling of the Epstein files and her hesitance to use the Justice Department to punish the president’s enemies.
Democrats are still demanding answers from Bondi about the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files. “Attorney General Pam Bondi has been leading a White House cover-up of the Epstein files,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, wrote in a statement. “She has weaponized the Department of Justice to protect Donald Trump and put survivors in harm’s way by exposing their identities. She will not escape accountability and remains legally obligated to appear before our Committee under oath.”
Trump’s Cabinet remained in tact for the first year of his time back in office, but his patience seems to be wearing thin with some of his most prominent supplicants. The president last month fired then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and The Guardian reported on Thursday that he has been asking Cabinet officials whether he should dispense with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The administration doesn’t seem to be particularly thrilled with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert K. Kennedy Jr., either.
It’s unclear what role Bondi will shift to in the private sector. Doocy said Trump still thinks Bondi is a “great person” who did “a good job.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
