President Donald Trump has fired Attorney General Pam Bondi, according to two sources familiar with the matter, and is now considering EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin as her replacement.
Bondi met with Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday night, just before the president addressed the nation on the war in Iran. By the time Trump stepped up to the podium, Bondi had already been dismissed and was on her way back to Florida, one source told Fox News Digital.
When asked to confirm the ouster, a White House official stopped short of doing so but told the outlet the account was “not cold.”
The move follows a New York Times report this week that Trump had grown increasingly dissatisfied with Bondi’s performance and was looking to replace her with Zeldin. A source familiar with White House discussions said Trump and Zeldin met Tuesday, ostensibly about wildfire prevention, but the question of a transition also came up. That source described Zeldin as a “plausible replacement,” while noting the president could still change course.
Bondi had stood beside Trump just hours earlier at the U.S. Supreme Court, where justices heard oral arguments in the high-stakes birthright citizenship case.
Her tenure at DOJ had drawn scrutiny from multiple directions. The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed her last month in connection with an investigation into alleged mismanagement of the Jeffrey Epstein case. Her public statements also periodically diverged from the administration’s official messaging, drawing frustration inside the White House.
President Trump confirmed the transition in a statement on Truth Social. “Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year,” he wrote. “Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country, with Murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900.”
“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, and our Deputy Attorney General, and a very talented and respected Legal Mind, Todd Blanche, will step in to serve as Acting Attorney General. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
