Trump fires Pam Bondi after tumultuous 14-month term as attorney general

WASHINGTON- President Trump fired Pam Bondi as attorney general on Thursday, ending a tumultuous 14-month tenure marked by mass firings of career prosecutors, botched handling of the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation and a series of probes into the president’s political enemies, including prominent California Democrats.

Trump announced the ouster of the former Florida attorney general in a Truth Social article, calling her “a great American patriot.” It ends months of controversy surrounding Bondi’s leadership, which critics called an unprecedented attack on the independence of the nation’s top law enforcement agency.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal criminal defense attorney, will serve as acting attorney general until a permanent replacement is named. Blanche, like Bondi, was a loyal Trump supporter during her time at the Justice Department.

Blanche denounced previous criminal charges against Trump as baseless and politically motivated, while defending new criminal charges against Trump’s own political opponents. He also echoed Trump’s harsh criticism of the federal judiciary, saying the Justice Department is at “war” against a group of “rogue activist judges.”

Bondi’s firing quickly drew strong backlash from California Democrats, including Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) and Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), two lawmakers who put immense legislative pressure on Bondi to disclose the Epstein files and accused her of overseeing a “cover-up.”

In separate statements, Garcia and Khanna said Bondi remained legally obligated to appear before the House Oversight Committee and testify under oath about what they called his “sloppy” handling of the Epstein investigation.

“Even though she was fired, she still has to answer to Congress about the remaining documents, why we don’t have new charges and why she participated in a cover-up,” Khanna said.

Media outlets have highlighted several reasons for Trump’s decision to fire Bondi.

Some reported that this was due to Trump’s anger over Bondi’s handling of the Epstein files. After Congress passed a law compelling their release, Bondi presided over that release — amid criticism that she had moved slowly, withholding some documents and excessively redacting others.

Garcia, the committee’s top Democrat, wrote on

However, this was in question.

“Since Pam Bondi is no longer Attorney General, Chairman Comer will discuss the status of the subpoena with Republican members and the Department of Justice and will consult on next steps,” a committee spokeswoman said Thursday, referring to Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.).

The announcement led some to wonder whether Bondi’s ouster was in part an attempt by the White House to prevent him from testifying.

Others reported that Trump was angry with her for informing Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) that the Justice Department was considering releasing documents from a years-old investigation into her relationship with an alleged Chinese intelligence agent named Christine Fang, or Fang Fang.

Swalwell, a leading candidate for governor of California, was not a target of that investigation and severed ties with Fang in 2015 after U.S. intelligence officials briefed him and other members of Congress on Chinese efforts to infiltrate Congress. Swalwell has denied any wrongdoing in this matter, and the release of documents from this investigation would be unusual.

Still other media outlets reported that a key factor in Trump’s decision to fire Bondi was his failure to secure criminal indictments and convictions against various Trump political enemies whom he accused with little evidence of wrongdoing and publicly pushed Bondi and other Justice Department officials to prosecute.

One of those targets is Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), whom Trump accused of committing mortgage fraud by labeling several homes as his primary residence in years-old mortgage documents.

Schiff has denied any wrongdoing and accused Trump of targeting him for political reasons. Justice Department officials have also declined to bring criminal charges against Schiff to date.

It’s unclear whether that would change under new leadership. Blanche was allegedly involved in overseeing the Schiff investigation and clashed with former Justice official Ed Martin, who zealously investigated Schiff before being removed from office.

In a post Thursday, Schiff welcomed Bondi’s ouster but said it was “only a symptom of Donald Trump’s chronic allergy to the laws of our country,” that her exclusion “does not alleviate the need for her to answer for her conduct” as attorney general, and that Blanche “should expect to receive the same scrutiny.”

“Pam Bondi oversaw an unprecedented militarization of the Justice Department that brought our nation’s rule of law to its knees,” Schiff wrote. “Countless and baseless political investigations, hundreds of purged law enforcement professionals, a massive cover-up of the Epstein files, and an overall effort to transform the department into a criminal law firm representing the president instead of the American people.”

Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat from Los Angeles, said “good riddance” to Bondi in an article on X.

“Bondi avoided transparency on the Epstein files, attempted to go after voter rolls to undermine the election, and used the Justice Department as a weapon against Trump’s enemies,” Padilla said. “Americans deserve accountability, not cover-ups and corruption. »

It was unclear Thursday how long Trump might leave Blanche in the top job. As deputy attorney general, he participated in many decisions regarding the department’s day-to-day operations under Bondi – including on the handling of the Epstein cases.

Blanche personally interviewed Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, in a federal prison in Florida, where she was serving a 20-year sentence for helping Epstein sexually abuse young girls. During that interview, Maxwell said she had never seen Trump in an “inappropriate context.”

Blanche’s decision to personally question Maxwell was highly unusual, given the high rank he held within the Justice Department.

Days after the interview, which was seen in part as a ploy for clemency by Maxwell, she was transferred to a minimum-security camp in Texas.