Trump fires Pam Bondi as attorney general

CNN

By Kristen Holmes, Kaitlan Collins, Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump has fired Pam Bondi as attorney general.

She will be replaced for now by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who will serve as acting attorney general, Trump said.

The president wrote on Truth Social that Bondi would be “transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector,” praising her for her work in his administration and offering no specific reason for why she would be leaving.

“Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year. Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country, with Murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900,” he wrote.

Trump had been frustrated with Bondi on multiple fronts, sources said, including her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and that she had not investigated or prosecuted enough of his political opponents. She is the second Cabinet secretary to be ousted in recent weeks; last month, Trump removed Kristi Noem as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. One source said Trump felt that firing went smoothly, making him less wary of removing others.

Trump had in recent days talked to allies about the possibility of firing Bondi, and he spoke with her personally on Wednesday about the possibility it would happen, sources said. In the conversation, which one source described as “tough,” Trump indicated Bondi was not long for her role and he would be replacing her in the near future, sources said.

Bondi posted on X that she would work to transition her office to Blanche over the next month before moving into a private sector role.

“Leading President Trump’s historic and highly successful efforts to make America safer and more secure has been the honor of a lifetime, and easily the most consequential first year of the Department of Justice in American history,” she wrote, adding, “I remain eternally grateful for the trust that President Trump placed in me to Make America Safe Again.”

Sources said Bondi was told she would be given a different job later, with two people indicating that Trump floated the possibility of appointing her as a judge after her departure from the Justice Department. That appeared to be short circuited, though, with Trump’s assertion that she would be leaving government entirely. And one source told CNN that despite Trump’s reference to the private sector, Bondi does not have another job lined up.

CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

Though Bondi had run into significant obstacles in carrying out Trump’s desired retribution campaign, that was not always for lack of trying. The Justice Department had secured indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, but both were thrown out after a judge ruled the prosecutor was illegally serving.

One matter drawing Trump’s attention recently was an investigation into whether former CIA Director John Brennan made false statements to Congress about a years‑old intelligence assessment of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Career prosecutors in Miami told Justice Department officials they don’t view the case as strong, but they are still working toward possible charges in DC federal court, CNN has previously reported.

Bondi summoned the head prosecutor in Miami, who is overseeing the probe, to Washington on Wednesday to discuss the progress and her belief the investigation was being slow walked, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The meeting struck some inside the Justice Department as an effort to show that she was still pursuing investigations that are a priority to the president, sources said.

While Blanche takes over leadership of the department for now, sources have told CNN that Trump is considering replacing Bondi with Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin, and others are also under consideration.

Blanche, who served as Trump’s defense attorney across several criminal cases the then-former president faced following his first term, said on X, “Pam Bondi led this Department with strength and conviction and I’m grateful for her leadership and friendship.”

The possibility of replacing Bondi with Zeldin first arose in January, then subsided as Epstein coverage faded from the news, sources said. But word that Trump wanted to replace Bondi with Zeldin began to circulate again in the West Wing on Monday.

And in recent days, Bondi had privately asked associates whether Trump was serious about removing her and if her job was in danger, sources told CNN. Few could say what he intended to do.

Despite confidence from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley that the committee will move expeditiously to confirm another attorney general nominee, the process – especially given the politicization of the department over the last year – could be arduous for any nominee.

While Republicans in the Senate only need a simple majority to approve a nominee on the floor, the president’s pick to replace Bondi will still have to convince a broad swath of Republicans that they are up for the job. And the chosen nominee may need to show that they are willing to adhere to the kind of traditional independence from the White House that past attorney generals have demonstrated.

Bondi in recent weeks had spent more time around Trump, including by joining him at the Supreme Court for oral arguments in the birthright citizenship case on Wednesday. It’s the opposite tack taken by other top officials in the first Trump administration, who reduced their time around the president when they determined he was growing dissatisfied with their work.

Some in Trump’s inner circle had long been upset over Bondi’s handling of the Epstein files, believing her pronouncements on the matter helped drive the impression the administration was inappropriately holding back materials from public view.

Many were frustrated in particular that she said in a February 2025 interview on Fox News that an Epstein client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review,” only for the department to later assert no such list existed. (Bondi has since said she was referring to all the paperwork related to the Epstein investigation, such as flight logs, and not to a specific client list.)

Bondi is facing a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee to testify about the Epstein matter later this month. When she appeared before the panel voluntarily in mid-March, Democratic lawmakers walked out within a half hour. But Republicans stayed and asked questions, and GOP Chairman James Comer said afterward he no longer saw a need for her to return and testify under oath.

A committee spokeswoman said Thursday that with Bondi no longer serving as attorney general, Comer planned to speak with GOP members “about the status of the deposition subpoena and confer on next steps.” Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, who led the effort to subpoena Bondi, said in a statement that the congressional subpoena still stands.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Lauren Fox, Casey Gannon, Annie Grayer, Kevin Liptak and Evan Perez contributed to this report.