President Donald Trump announced April 2 that Attorney General Pam Bondi will leave her position and transition to a “much needed and important new job in the private sector” that will be announced at a later date.
“Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country, with Murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900.”
Trump added that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche — whom he described as “a very talented and respected Legal Mind” — will serve as acting attorney general on an interim basis.
The shakeup comes weeks after Trump announced on March 5 that he was replacing Kristi Noem as Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary with Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, as Zeale News previously reported.
FOX News, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that Trump informed Bondi in person on April 1 she was being removed from her position. By the time Trump delivered a national address on the war in Iran, Bondi had reportedly already learned of her dismissal and was en route back to Florida. The sources also told the outlet that Trump is eyeing Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin to permanently replace Bondi.
The decision follows weeks of reported frustration inside the White House over Bondi’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, as well as Trump’s belief that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has not pursued investigations into his political opponents aggressively enough, according to the New York Post.
In July 2025, Bondi drew public scrutiny after the DOJ released a memo on the Epstein files stating that Epstein died by suicide and did not have a “client list.” The memo appeared to contradict Bondi’s earlier claim in February 2025 that she had the Epstein client list sitting on her desk. White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair in an interview published in December 2025 that Bondi had “completely whiffed” the DOJ’s release of materials related to the convicted sex offender.
“First, she gave them binders full of nothingness. And then she said that the witness list, or the client list, was on her desk,” Wiles said. “There is no client list, and it sure as hell wasn’t on her desk.”
The New York Times first reported April 1 that Trump had discussed ousting Bondi and replacing her with Zeldin. Other outlets published similar reports, many citing sources familiar with the discussion, saying Trump had informed Bondi that her time was nearing an end.