WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� President Donald Trump said Thursday that is out as his attorney general, ending the contentious tenure of a loyalist who upended the Justice Department鈥檚 culture of independence from the White House, oversaw large-scale firings of career employees and moved aggressively to investigate the Republican president鈥檚 perceived enemies.
The departure followed months of scrutiny over the Justice Department’s handling of and failed efforts to meet Trump’s unwavering demands for criminal cases against his adversaries. As Trump’s own frustrations mounted, he began privately discussing firing Bondi, people familiar with the matter say.
鈥淧am Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year,鈥� Trump said in a statement. He added, 鈥淲e 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.鈥�
Trump named Deputy Attorney General , one of his former personal lawyers, as the acting attorney general. Three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday that he has privately discussed Lee Zeldin, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, as a permanent pick.
In her own statement, Bondi called the job 鈥渢he honor of a lifetime鈥� and said she would be working over the next month to transition the position to Blanche.
Bondi 14 months ago, pledging that she would not play politics with the Justice Department. But she quickly set out to do Trump’s bidding, heaping lavish praise at congressional hearings and White House events, firing prosecutors deemed insufficiently loyal to the president and opening investigations into his political foes. The intense turmoil contributed to the resignations of hundreds of employees, with the norm-breaking actions stirring concern that the department was being wielded as a tool to advance Trump’s personal and political interests.
鈥淧am Bondi oversaw an unprecedented weaponization of the Justice Department that brought our nation鈥檚 rule of law to its knees,鈥� said Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat.
Bondi rejected accusations that she politicized the Justice Department and said her mission was to restore the institution鈥檚 credibility after overreach by President Joe Biden鈥檚 Democratic administration, which included two federal criminal cases against Trump. Bondi鈥檚 defenders have said she worked to refocus the department to better tackle illegal immigration and violent crime and brought much-needed change to an agency they believe unfairly targeted conservatives.
Embracing, supporting and protecting the president
Bondi鈥檚 public embrace of the president, however, marked a sharp departure from her predecessors, who generally took pains to maintain an arm鈥檚-length distance from the White House to protect the impartiality of investigations and prosecutions. Bondi postured herself as , praising and defending him in congressional hearings and placing a banner with his face on the exterior of Justice Department headquarters.
She called for an end to the 鈥渨eaponization鈥� of law enforcement that she said occurred under the Biden administration, even though Biden鈥檚 attorney general, Merrick Garland, and Jack Smith, the special counsel who produced two cases against Trump, have said they followed the facts, the evidence and the law in their decision-making. Bondi鈥檚 critics, meanwhile, said she was the one who had politicized the agency.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e turned the People鈥檚 Department of Justice into Trump鈥檚 instrument of revenge,鈥� Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary committee, said at a February hearing.
Bondi delivered a combative performance but few substantive answers at that hearing, as she angrily insulted her Democratic questioners with name-calling and praised Trump for the performance of the stock market 鈥� 鈥淭he Dow is up over 50,000 right now!鈥� 鈥�- and openly aligned herself as in sync with a president whom she painted as a victim of past impeachments and investigations.
Even Republicans began to challenge her, with the GOP-led House Oversight Committee last month to her to appear for a closed-door interview about the Epstein files.
Under Bondi鈥檚 leadership, the department opened investigations into a string of Trump foes, including Federal Reserve Chair , New York Attorney General Letitia James, former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director . The high-profile prosecutions of Comey and James were short-lived as they were quickly by a judge who ruled that the prosecutor who brought the cases was illegally appointed.
Trump repeatedly praised and defended Bondi publicly but also showed flashes of impatience with his attorney general鈥檚 efforts to meet his demands to prosecute his rivals. In one extraordinary social media post last year, Trump called on Bondi to move quickly to prosecute his foes, including James and Comey, telling her, 鈥淲e can鈥檛 delay any longer, it鈥檚 killing our reputation and credibility.鈥�
Bondi oversaw the exodus of thousands of career employees 鈥� both through firings and voluntary departures 鈥� including lawyers who prosecuted violent attacks on police at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; environmental, civil rights and ethics enforcers; counterterrorism prosecutors; and others.
Fumbling the Epstein files
She struggled to overcome early stumbles over the Epstein files that angered conservatives eager for government bombshells about the case, which has long fascinated conspiracy theorists. She herself had fed the conspiracy theory machine with a suggestion in a 2025 Fox News Channel interview that Epstein鈥檚 鈥渃lient list鈥� was sitting on her desk for review. The department later acknowledged that no such document exists.
Bondi was ridiculed over a move to hand out to conservative influencers at the White House, only for it to be later revealed that the documents included no new revelations. And despite promises that more files were going to become public, the Justice Department in July said no more would be released, prompting Congress to pass a bill to force the agency to do so. Ultimately, the department said it had complied with its obligations by releasing millions more records.
Jess Michaels, an Epstein survivor who to press for the files鈥� release, said she was optimistic when Bondi took office but lost faith after Bondi distributed the binders at the White House.
鈥淚 think she had this opportunity to be a hero and to really do right by survivors of sexual violence and trafficking, and she chose not to,鈥� Michaels said by phone. 鈥淚t is outrageous, the volume of miscalculation she has made.鈥�
The Epstein files fumbles led to a stunning public criticism from White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, a close friend of Bondi鈥檚, who told Vanity Fair that the attorney general The Justice Department鈥檚 release of millions of pages of Epstein files did little to tamp down criticism, prompting a House committee, with the support of five Republicans, to to answer questions under oath.
Bondi, who defended Trump during his first impeachment trial, was his second choice to lead the Justice Department, picked for the role after former Rep. of Florida withdrew his name from consideration amid scrutiny over sex trafficking allegations.
___
Associated Press writers Matthew Daly in Washington and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
