Deputy AG Todd Blanche will run the Justice Department on an interim basis
Donald Trump has fired Pam Bondi as attorney general of the United States.
Peter Doocy of Fox News announced on Thursday that Bondi will leave her job as attorney general, assume a different role in the administration, and that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will replace Bondi on an interim basis. Doocy said Trump told him the news personally over the phone.
Trump has not announced the news himself.
The dismissal comes amid reports that Bondi was on the hot seat, and that Trump has long been dissatisfied with her — particularly her handling of the Epstein files and her hesitance to use the Justice Department to punish the president’s enemies. Semafor was the first to report on Thursday that Trump had informed Bondi that her time atop the Justice Department was coming to an end.
Trump’s Cabinet remained in tact for the first year of his time back in office, but his patience seems to be wearing thin with some of his most prominent supplicants. The president last month fired then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and The Guardian reported on Thursday that he has been asking Cabinet officials whether he should dispense with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The administration doesn’t seem to be particularly thrilled with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert K. Kennedy Jr., either.
It’s unclear what role Bondi will shift to in the administration. Doocy said Trump still thinks Bondi is a “great person” who did “a good job.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
