President Donald Trump has removed Pam Bondi as attorney general, and tapped one of his former personal attorneys as a replacement.
Trump announced on Truth Social on Thursday that he had named Todd Blanche, deputy attorney general who had previously represented Trump in cases regarding Stormy Daniels and classified documents, as Bondi’s replacement as acting attorney general.
“Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year,” Trump wrote. “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.”
Trump praised Bondi for overseeing a historic decrease in crime, with murders “plummeting to their lowest level since 1900,” but he did not clarify why he had decided to remove her.
Conservatives and liberals alike had criticized Bondi’s handling of the files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In February 2025, she told Fox News that the list of Epstein’s clients was “sitting on my desk,” but the Justice Department later said no such list existed. Bondi later clarified that she was referring to the overall paperwork related to Epstein.
Later that month, Bondi handed to conservative influencers folders with files related to Epstein. Most of the files had already been leaked.
In January, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had privately complained about Bondi, describing her as weak and ineffective.
When White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair that Bondi had “whiffed” on her handling of the Epstein files, Trump told staff that he agreed with Wiles, two officials told the Journal.
Trump had previously expressed frustration that “nothing is being done” regarding the Democrats who prosecuted him.
Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Trump signed in November. The law mandates the release of all Epstein-related records, with a Dec. 19, 2025, deadline.
The Justice Department released the final tranche of documents in January, and Blanche defended the slow pace of releases, stating that reviewing the files required hundreds of attorneys to work day and night for weeks.
This story is developing and may be updated.
