Pam Bondi out as attorney general after muddled handling of the Epstein files

Claire Heddles, Miami Herald on Apr 2, 2026

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Pam Bondi is out as U.S. attorney general, President Donald Trump announced Thursday, after a tumultuous 14 months punctuated by the Justice Department’s scattershot release of millions documents it was forced to produce related to the sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Bondi is the latest cabinet official to be removed from her post. But unlike Kristi Noem, who was removed as Department of Homeland Security secretary last month, Bondi isn’t being placed in another role within the Trump administration.

The former Florida attorney general is now “transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector,” according to Trump’s post on social media.

“Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year,” Trump wrote. “We love Pam.”

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bondi’s relationship with Trump had become increasingly strained in recent months, according to reports. Trump appeared to publicly admonish her last September for not sufficiently pursuing his political enemies in a since-deleted post on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Her tenure has been defined by her handling of the Department of Justice’s legally required release of all of its investigatory files into Epstein, the sex trafficker and convicted sex offender.

Under her leadership, the Department of Justice blew past multiple release deadlines, revealed victims’ names and redacted information that was not eligible to be hidden from public view under the law. She was subpoenaed to appear before a congressional committee later this month to be deposed about Epstein.

Her right hand throughout that rollout, Todd Blanche, is the interim director of the Department of Justice following her departure, Trump announced Thursday.

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