On March 5, I wrote that Pam Bondi's days as Attorney General were numbered. Less than a month later, she's out. The only surprise is that it took this long.
Bondi had some big moments for Trump, but they were not enough to cover for her monumental failures.
Her department has been sloppy and ill-prepared on numerous occasions, but ultimately, it was likely her handling of the Epstein files that pushed Trump over the edge.
The big news on Thursday was the firing of Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Trump, however, did send her out the door on a positive note, reported CNBC, stating:
“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 continued:
“We 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.”
Bondi held her head high on the way out the door, posting to X:
“Over the next month I will be working tirelessly to transition the office of Attorney General to the amazing Todd Blanche before moving to an important private sector role I am thrilled about, and where I will continue fighting for President Trump and this Administration.”
Everyone was making it out to be a resignation, but this was a firing… and it was predictable.
Trump genuinely likes Bondi, so he clearly did not want to crush her future as he has done with other cabinet officials after they were fired, but Trump had lost faith in her. Reports have been blowing up the last few days that Trump had discussed her firing with key allies over her handling of the Epstein files.
Bondi is reportedly taking a job in the private sector, but it would not be surprising at all to see Trump reward her for the good things she did for him by putting a robe on her at some point.
With Bondi leaving, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will assume her duties, but he is not expected to be nominated to fill the role on a permanent basis.
A top candidate for the position does appear to be EPA chief Lee Zeldin, the former New York congressman who put up a valiant fight in the last governor’s race.
When Trump was campaigning, and ever after taking office, he had stated that the DOJ would operate independently of him, but there was never a doubt that Bondi had been given marching orders by Trump to go after the people who came after him. At the top of that list were former FBI Director James Comey and Letitia James.
A close third on that list would have been John Brennan, the former Director of the CIA under Barack H. Obama.
Trump’s frustrations, according to an MS NOW report, were boiling over, with Trump reportedly telling his inner circle that Bondi had not “executed his vision.”
Trump’s clear frustrations blew up the internet in September 2025, as the president posted to Truth Social:
“Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, 'same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia[sic]??? They're all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.' Then we almost put in a Democrat supported U.S. Attorney, in Virginia, with a really bad Republican past."
Trump continued:
"We can't delay any longer, it's killing our reputation and credibility. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!"
Trump later deleted the post, but this was when I really started to wonder just how much time she had left. I had hinted about her likely not making it past the following spring, but at this point, there was still time for Bondi to save her job. Instead, she buried herself in a much deeper hole.
Among other outlets, the Washington Post had reported that it was likely the Epstein files’ bungled release that ultimately led to her firing. I would argue that this may have been the final straw, but it went far deeper than just these files.
It started when Bondi was asked about an Epstein client list, and Bondi told Fox News:
"It's sitting on my desk right now to review. That's been a directive by President Trump."
She later corrected herself, meaning that she had the files on her desk for review, not the client list, but the cat was out of the bag, so to speak.
Bondi then tried to dismiss the files altogether, saying that the “client list” did not exist. She further stated that there was no information regarding any blackmail efforts by Epstein, reported PBS.
This created a firestorm, seeing Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) craft bipartisan legislation, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which forced Bondi’s hand, giving her a hard 30-day deadline to release the files.
Bondi failed to meet that deadline, which led to the matter being litigated, giving Bondi a firm December 19, 2025, release date. When that date arrived, Bondi claimed there were too many files to review in time for the release.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who also advocated for the release of the files, observed, “Bondi handled the Epstein Files in a terrible manner and made this situation far worse than it had to be for President Trump.”
Another contributing factor to Bondi’s dismissal was the sloppy prosecutions of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Erik Siebert was initially tasked with these prosecutions, but he declined to do so. This led to Lindsey Halligan, a former member of Trump’s personal legal team, being appointed as the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia to replace Siebert.
Halligan hit the ground running, announcing indictments against Comey and James. However, her appointment had been challenged, and it was eventually ruled that it was invalid.
The ruling was based on the 120-day rule for an interim U.S. attorney appointment, which had been exhausted with the Siebert appointment. Once that window is closed, if a nominee is not approved by the Senate, a judiciary panel fills the appointment.
Not only was her appointment ruled illegal, reported MS NOW, but U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie found that the grand jury transcripts in the Comey case were incomplete, with missing sections from Halligan's presentation. The DOJ failed to comply with the judge's deadline to produce the full record.
Sloppy legal work plagued Halligan’s brief stint, who had no prosecutorial experience before being installed by Trump.
Due to the timing, the clock had run out on any chance of trying to indict Comey again. And when Bondi tried to indict James for a second time, she failed, coming back empty from the grand jury. This was not only a disappointment, but it handed Democrats and the media the ammunition they needed to push the narrative that Trump was weaponizing his DOJ to go after political opponents.
Alina Habba was much the same, as the clock ran out on her time, and a three-judge panel had upheld a lower court ruling that Habba was unlawfully serving as the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. When the panel appointed her replacement, Bondi immediately terminated Habba's replacement, Desiree Grace.
Bondi then announced that Habba had been appointed as a “Special Attorney,” but the appellate court ruled that her appointment did not comply with federal law. That being the case, all actions taken once the clock ran out on her appointment were null and void.
The administration took the position that only the president had the ability to appoint U.S. attorneys, but the law is clear. Bondi was testing laws where there was no wiggle room, and she got called out on it by Circuit Judge Michael Fisher, IBANet reported.
Judge Fisher stated that the maneuver by Bondi was done purposely to "avoid the gauntlet of presidential appointment and Senate confirmation and serve as the de facto U.S. Attorney indefinitely."
Legal experts at the time warned that Bondi’s move was putting every case Habba's hands touched in jeopardy, reportedly numbering in the thousands.
Regardless of what Trump wanted, Bondi needed to stand up to him to warn him away due to what the law would allow. Instead, she rubber-stamped the move, and it blew back against the administration, making both Bondi and Trump look like fools in the process.
The very first deep-dive I did was on John Brennan, and how it was astonishing that this man was able to serve as CIA Director, as well as the fact that he had avoided prosecution to this point, having clearly lied to Congress on multiple occasions.
Prosecutors reportedly told Bondi that they thought the case against Brennan was weak, which led to Bondi calling the lead prosecutors in Miami to DC, reported CNBC. Bondi believed they were purposely slow-walking the case.
The investigation into Brennan, according to Fox News, was launched in July 2025, but it appears to be stuck in quicksand.
How this man has stayed out of prison for this long has always baffled me, as his lies before Congress are well-documented and not up for debate. Yet, if you ask Brennan, and the media has, he has no idea why he would possibly be under investigation.
Brennan was among the big three as far as Trump was concerned, but yet again, Bondi came up empty.
While the failures above were the backbreakers in terms of Bondi keeping her job, there were other failures during her time in office that swayed opinion against her.
For instance, Bondi gutted the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ, a move that outraged Democrats.
When Bondi was called to the Hill to testify regarding the DOJ's actions, she constantly pushed back, even insulting members of Congress to their face.
This may not have been so bad if Bondi had the backing of Republicans, but she found herself on hostile ground with several Republicans, mostly related to the Epstein files. She received no respite when the GOP was on the clock. With no protection, at this point, it was clear her days were numbered.
As noted above, I thought Bondi was on thin ice in September 2025, and openly stated as much. Months later, I put her head on the chopping block with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. I did not expect either one of them to make it to spring.
Then, on March 5, 2026, while covering the slow release of the Epstein files and attacks against Bondi by a slew of Republicans, I reported:
“Republicans have been coming after Bondi hard on several fronts, which is why my gut tells me that Bondi will either be fired or forced to resign soon.”
My gut was right… Not even 30 days have passed since I wrote those words, and Pam Bondi is gone.
There is a pattern developing for this specific position that is not good for Trump. Jeff Sessions was fired. William Barr was pushed out. And now Pam Bondi.
The question now is whether Todd Blanche, or whoever permanently replaces her, will deliver where Bondi could not. If not, they are likely to meet the same fate.
