US President Donald Trump confirmed on Thursday that US Attorney General Pam Bondi had been fired and said she would be replaced by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who would serve as an interim, Reuters and AFP write.
In a social media post, Trump praised Bondi as a “great American patriot and loyal friend” and said she would be moving on to a private sector job. Trump added that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, his former personal attorney, will lead the Justice Department during the transition period.
“Pam Bondi is a great American patriot and loyal friend who has served me devotedly as Attorney General for the past year. Pam has done a tremendous job in leading a massive campaign to fight crime across the country, with murders falling to their lowest level since 1900. We love Pam, and she will be moving on to a much-needed and important new position in the private sector, which will be announced in the near future, and our Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, a very talented and respected lawyer, will take over as Acting Attorney General. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP, wrote the American leader, in the message published on his social network, Truth Social, in which he announced the dismissal of Pam Bondi.
During her tenure as US law enforcement chief, Bondi was a staunch supporter of Trump's agenda and ended the Justice Department's longstanding tradition of maintaining independence from the White House in its investigations.
Earlier, a White House official told Reuters that Trump fired Pam Bondi as a result of growing frustration with her performance, including her handling of the investigation into late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump also reportedly became frustrated that Bondi was not acting quickly enough to prosecute critics and opponents he wanted to see criminally charged.
The attorney general was one of the most faithful supporters of the head of the White House, but in recent days rumors that she could be replaced because Trump is no longer satisfied with her have returned insistently.
According to CNN and News.ro, the White House leader wants to appoint in her place the director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lee Zeldin.
Recently, Trump replaced another loyal supporter of his, Kirsti Noem, from the leadership of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), this being the first member of the Cabinet dismissed since the return to the White House of the American billionaire.
Managing the Epstein files
Among the US president's main gripes is her handling of the Epstein files, a major political issue for Trump.
In fact, Pam Bondi's tenure was dominated by repeated criticism of the Epstein files, including from Trump's allies and some Republican lawmakers.
Bondi has been accused of covering up or mishandling the release of documents related to the Department of Justice's (DOJ) sex-trafficking probe into Epstein, a financier who cultivated ties to a string of rich and powerful figures.
The House Oversight Committee voted last month to subpoena Bondi to compel her to testify about the Justice Department's investigation into Epstein.
A political headache
The issue of his handling of the Epstein files has created political problems for Trump and drawn new attention to the Republican's past friendship with Epstein, which he said ended decades ago.
The dismissal of Pam Bondi could lead to a reorganization of strategy within the Department of Justice and possibly a new attempt to mobilize the American legal system against Trump's targets, notes Reuters.
Bondi is the second senior Trump official to be fired recently. Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on March 5 amid criticism of her handling of the agency and its compliance with Trump's immigration agenda.
Bondi, a Republican former Florida attorney general, said he worked to restore the Justice Department's focus on violent crime and restore the trust of Trump supporters after federal prosecutors twice indicted Trump during his years outside of office.
Bondi has also come under fire for firing dozens of career prosecutors working on investigations Trump did not like, with critics accusing her of abandoning the Justice Department's traditional emphasis on impartial justice.
Bondi defended the release of the Epstein files, saying the Trump administration had been more transparent about the matter than previous presidents and that Justice Department lawyers had worked in a compressed time frame to review reams of material.
Confrontations with American parliamentarians
During a combative hearing before a House committee in January, Bondi responded to criticism with political attacks directed at lawmakers. She refused to apologize or look at Epstein's victims and their relatives who witnessed the proceedings.
Earlier last year, Bondi fueled speculation about the Epstein files by saying a client list was on her desk for review. But after an initial release included material that was largely already public, the Justice Department and FBI said in July that the file had been closed and no further disclosure was warranted.
The move sparked an outpouring of criticism, and eventually a bipartisan law passed in November forced the Justice Department to release nearly all files related to Epstein.
The release of about 3 million pages of documents did not end the controversy, as lawmakers criticized the censoring of the files and the disclosure of the identities of some of Epstein's victims.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Bondi, and she is scheduled to testify on April 14.
