Pam Bondi ousted as attorney general, source says

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Donald Trump has ousted Pam Bondi as attorney general, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

She will be replaced, for now, by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who will serve as acting attorney general, Trump said.

The president wrote on Truth Social that Bondi would be “transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector,” praising her for her work in his administration and offering no specific reason for why she would be leaving.

“Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year. Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country, with Murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900,” Trump wrote.

Trump had been frustrated with Bondi on multiple fronts, sources said, including her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and that she had not investigated or prosecuted enough of his political opponents. She is the second Cabinet secretary to be ousted in recent weeks; last month, Trump removed Kristi Noem as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

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Trump had in recent days talked to allies about the possibility of firing Bondi, and he talked with her personally on Wednesday about the possibility it would happen, sources said. In the conversation, which one source described as “tough,” Trump indicated Bondi was not long for her role and he would be replacing her in the near future, sources said.

Sources said Bondi was told she would be given a different job later, with two people indicating that Trump floated the possibility of appointing her as a judge after her departure from the Justice Department. That appeared to be short-circuited, though, with Trump’s assertion that she would be leaving government entirely.

CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

Though Bondi had run into significant obstacles in carrying out Trump’s desired retribution campaign, that was not always for lack of trying. The Justice Department had secured indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, but both were thrown out after a judge ruled the prosecutor was illegally serving.

One matter drawing Trump’s attention recently was an investigation into whether former CIA Director John Brennan made false statements to Congress about a years‑old intelligence assessment of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Career prosecutors in Miami told Justice Department officials they don’t view the case as strong, but they are still working toward possible charges in DC federal court, CNN has previously reported.

Bondi summoned the head prosecutor in Miami, who is overseeing the probe, to Washington on Wednesday to discuss the progress and her belief the investigation was being slow walked, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The meeting struck some inside the Justice Department as an effort to show that she was still pursuing investigations that are a priority to the president, sources said.

While Blanche takes over leadership of the department for now, sources have told CNN that Trump is considering replacing Bondi with Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin, and others are also under consideration.

The possibility of replacing Bondi with Zeldin first arose in January, then subsided as Epstein coverage faded from the news, sources said. But word that Trump wanted to replace Bondi with Zeldin began to circulate again in the West Wing on Monday. And in recent days, Bondi had privately asked associates whether they thought it was true her job was in danger, sources told CNN, indicating that she wasn’t sure where she stood with the president.

Some in Trump’s inner circle had long been upset over Bondi’s handling of the Epstein files, believing her pronouncements on the matter helped drive the impression the administration was inappropriately holding back materials from public view.

Many were frustrated in particular that she said in a February 2025 interview on Fox News that an Epstein client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review,” only for the department to later assert no such list existed. (Bondi has since said she was referring to all the paperwork related to the Epstein investigation, such as flight logs, and not to a specific client list.)

Bondi is facing a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee to testify about the Epstein matter later this month. When she appeared before the panel voluntarily in mid-March, Democratic lawmakers walked out within a half hour. But Republicans stayed and asked questions, and GOP Chairman James Comer said afterward he no longer saw a need for her to return and testify under oath.

“I personally don’t see any reason for her to do a deposition,” the Kentucky Republican said at the time.

Bondi, in recent weeks, had spent more time around Trump, including by joining him at the Supreme Court for oral arguments in the birthright citizenship case on Wednesday. It’s the opposite tack taken by other top officials in the first Trump administration, who reduced their time around the president when they determined he was growing dissatisfied with their work.