Bondi out as US attorney general

WASHINGTON (CN) — President Donald Trump has fired Attorney General Pam Bondi just over a year into her tenure as head of the Justice Department, he announced Thursday afternoon.

Bondi, the former Florida attorney general confirmed in February 2025 to her post as the government’s top law enforcement official, is the second Cabinet-level official to be fired in the second Trump administration, following former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem who the president removed last month.

Writing in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said that Bondi would be “transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector,” though he did not specify where the ousted attorney general would be headed.

The president commended Bondi for what he said was a “tremendous job” overseeing a nationwide crime crackdown and thanked her for “faithfully” serving as his attorney general.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will serve as acting attorney general, Trump added, calling his former personal attorney a “very talented and respected legal mind.”

In a statement, Bondi signaled that she would remain at the Justice Department for another month, where she said she would work “tirelessly” to hand the reins over to Blanche. She echoed Trump’s comments about her move to the private sector, saying she was “thrilled” but providing few new details.

“I remain eternally grateful for the trust that President Trump placed in me to Make America Safe Again,” said Bondi.

In a separate statement Thursday, Blanche thanked the president for tapping him to temporarily lead the Justice Department.

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

Some Trump administration allies have urged the president to remove Bondi for months, pointing to her handling of the Justice Department effort to publish files related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Trump himself was reportedly frustrated with the attorney general over the Epstein files controversy, which Democrats have seized as a potent political cudgel against him and his administration.

Bondi brought renewed attention to the Epstein investigation in February during an acrimonious hearing on Capitol Hill, where the attorney general yelled and hurled insults at House lawmakers from both parties as they needled her on the Justice Department’s adherence to federal law requiring it to publish Epstein documents.

As she testified before the House Judiciary Committee, Bondi decried lawmakers’ interest in the Epstein files as a distraction from the Trump administration’s achievements. She repeatedly pointed to the health of the stock market and of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which she noted on several occasions had recently broken 50,000 points for the first time.

It’s unclear who will replace Bondi as head of the Justice Department, but reports have indicated U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin is among the names under consideration.

Whoever gets the nod from Trump, however, will need Senate confirmation and must appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a public hearing.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, said Thursday that his panel “stands ready” to advance the White House’s forthcoming attorney general nominee. He added that, under Bondi’s leadership, the Justice Department had been more responsive to his oversight requests than “any prior administration” of both parties.

“I expect that reputation to continue under Bondi’s successor,” said Grassley. “Safety and transparency ought to remain the Justice Department’s core focus.”

Meanwhile, top Judiciary Committee Democrat and Illinois Senator Dick Durbin had sharp words for the outgoing Bondi.

“Pam Bondi’s legacy will be the weaponization of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency for Donald Trump’s personal benefit, but apparently even she didn’t go far enough to appease him,” said Durbin. “Donald Trump wants an unyielding loyalist who will cover up his crimes, prosecute his perceived enemies and carry out his bidding — even if it means endangering the American people and violating the Constitution.”

Durbin argued the Trump administration’s next attorney general nominee should be loyal to “the American people and the rule of law.”

Before she was confirmed as Trump’s attorney general, Bondi had shared a long history with the president. Under his first administration, she was White House counsel and defended Trump during his first impeachment trial. And during her nomination process last year, she faced sharp questions about whether her connections to the president would affect her ability to resist political influence from the administration.

As the government’s top law enforcement official, Bondi helped to oversee Trump’s sweeping crime crackdown on cities across the country including Washington and Memphis.

Bondi also led the Justice Department as it prosecuted several of the president’s political foes, including former FBI director James Comey, California Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Reports emerged this week that the FBI was also probing California Representative Eric Swalwell over his former relationship with a suspected Chinese spy.

As of Thursday afternoon, Trump had yet to name Bondi’s replacement.

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