WASHINGTON — Attorney General Pam Bondi is leaving her position, President Donald Trump announced Thursday, amid reports that he was frustrated with her handling of some of his key priorities.
"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," he said in a Truth Social post, adding that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche would take over as the acting attorney general.
A senior administration official and a source familiar with the matter told NBC News that Bondi was fired.
Trump had grown “more and more frustrated” with Bondi in recent days, a person familiar with White House deliberations said, adding that while he likes her as a person, he doesn’t think she has “executed on his vision” in the way that he wants.
But changing the Justice Department’s leadership doesn’t guarantee the president the outcome he seeks, as courts have so far largely blocked the administration’s efforts to go after his enemies, and Congress successfully sought and won the release of the DOJ’s files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Blanche, who was formerly one of Trump's personal lawyers, thanked the president in a post on X.
"Pam Bondi led this Department with strength and conviction and I’m grateful for her leadership and friendship," he said. "Thank you to President Trump for the trust and the opportunity to serve as Acting Attorney General. We will continue backing the blue, enforcing the law, and doing everything in our power to keep America safe."
Bondi is the second Cabinet member to be axed by the president.Kristi Noem was fired last month as homeland security secretaryin a descent that mirrored Bondi’s. NBC News reported that Trump grew increasingly frustrated with Noem but that her performance at two congressional hearings is what finally cost her the job.
Trump had chosen Bondi, a longtime loyalist, to lead the Justice Department after embattled former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz withdrew as nominee.
Bondi had long ties to Trump. During the 2016 Republican National Convention, she joined in “lock her up” chants aimed at former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and she was then part of Trump’s defense team during his first impeachment trial. After Trump lost the 2020 election, she was involved in efforts to overturn the results, falsely claiming that he had “won Pennsylvania.”
Blanche, a former federal prosecutor, also has deep ties to Trump. He was the lead defense attorney when Trump stood trial in 2024 on charges of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. The seven-week trial ended with Trump convicted on all 34 counts, but spared from any penalty. He also represented Trump in two federal cases.
Two people familiar with the president’s frustrations told NBC News that Trump and Bondi had a heated confrontation at the White House last week, although they did not specify what it was about.
Bondi traveled with the president Wednesday to the Supreme Court for oral arguments in the birthright citizenship case, and she attended his prime-time address at the White House on the Iran war.
As attorney general, Bondi oversaw the firings of scores of attorneys and FBI agents tied to the prosecutions of Trump. Her tenure has also been marked by a larger voluntary exodus of lawyers that has left the department with far fewer career employees who are beholden to law and not politics.
She also oversaw many Trump administration priorities, cutting off investigations into police departments and reframing the department to focus on investigations into the perceived “weaponization” of the Justice Department, and into voter fraud, though it is rare.
But under her leadership, the Justice Department has struggled to bring successful cases against Trump’s political enemies, with the president himself often complicating the cases through his public statements. In February, as NBC News first reported, the Justice Department failed to indict six members of Congress over a social media video in which they told members of the military and intelligence communities that they shouldn’t obey unlawful orders.
The Justice Department’s investigation into the Federal Reserve and Chairman Jerome Powell was blocked by a judge, and its cases were dismissed against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James after a judge ruled the U.S. attorney had been improperly appointed.
Some of Trump’s allies also have been frustrated by Bondi’s handling of the DOJ's Epstein records.
In an interview with Vanity Fair published in December, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said Bondi had “completely whiffed” on her handling of the files, including giving out binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” to a group of conservative social media influencers last year.
The Justice Department and FBI then released a joint unsigned memo in July declaring that they’d conducted an “exhaustive” review of the sprawling case, and that no additional people were expected to be charged and no other information about it would be released publicly.
That led to the House Oversight Committee issuing a subpoena for the files, and after the department failed to turn over all the files, to the bipartisan passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which produced embarrassing allegations about the president and members of his administration.
Appearing before the House Oversight Committee in February, Bondi praised the department’s efforts to comply with the act.
But many Epstein survivors and members of Congress have denounced the department’s handling of the files, some of which have included many redactions when released. Survivors pointed out that some information about possible accomplices was redacted, while other information about victims of Epstein’s crimes was left untouched when it should have been blacked out.
The House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Bondi for testimony last month as part of the panel’s Epstein investigation. The committee said Thursday that it plans to review the status of her pending subpoena.
A House Oversight Committee spokeswoman tells NBC News: “Since Pam Bondi is no longer Attorney General, Chairman Comer will speak with Republican members and the Department of Justice about the status of the deposition subpoena and confer on next steps.”
The Republican majority controls when subpoenas are issued.
