Pam Bondi will no longer be attorney general following a tumultuous and controversial tenure.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will lead the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the interim, President Donald Trump announced.
“Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country, with Murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900. 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.”
The New York Times first reported on Wednesday that Trump was considering firing Bondi, floating Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin as a potential replacement.
“Attorney General Pam Bondi is a wonderful person and she is doing a good job,” Trump told the NYT.
Bondi faced consistent backlash over her handling of the Epstein files. She claimed in February 2025 to have Epstein’s client list on her desk and delivered binders containing little new information days later to conservative influencers at the White House.
The issue escalated in July when Axios reported a DOJ memo concluded there was no client list and that Epstein did commit suicide. After Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November, the DOJ began releasing batches of documents.
The House Oversight Committee voted in March to call Bondi to testify about the Epstein files, with five Republicans joining Democrats.
A straw poll of Turning Point USA AmericaFest attendees in December found Bondi was the least popular cabinet secretary, with a 60% approval rating. Her total approval rating dropped 47 points in 10 months, according to an AtlasIntel poll reported by Newsweek in December.
The president has reportedly been unhappy with her leadership for months, categorizing her privately as a “weak and ineffective enforcer.”
One dispute boiled over publicly in September when Trump made a Truth Social post that read like a direct message to Bondi, questioning the lack of progress on investigations into former FBI Director James Comey, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California, and Democratic Attorney General Letitia James of New York.
Bondi was confirmed by the Senate in a 54-46 vote on Feb. 4, 2025.
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