Trump fires Attorney General Pam Bondi

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Pam Bondi is out as his attorney general. The announcement ended her contentious tenure as a loyalist who upended the Justice Department’s culture of independence from the White House, oversaw large-scale firings of career employees, and moved aggressively to investigate the Republican president’s perceived enemies.

“We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, after saying she’s been a “loyal friend.” He then named Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as the acting attorney general, though three people familiar with the matter have said he has privately discussed Lee Zeldin, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, as a permanent pick.

The announcement follows months of scrutiny over the Justice Department’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation. Bondi was the target of angry conservatives, despite her close relationship with Trump.

Bondi was also unsuccessful in Trump’s demands to prosecute his political rivals, with multiple investigations rejected by judges or grand juries. Her investigations of Trump foes sparked an outcry that the law enforcement agency was being wielded as a tool of revenge to advance the president’s political and personal agenda.