WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi and announced her departure on Truth Social, naming Todd Blanche as acting attorney general. Trump has not yet publicly named a permanent successor to lead the Department of Justice.

Bondi was confirmed as attorney general in February 2025. During her tenure, she became known for combative appearances before congressional committees in which she personally attacked Democratic lawmakers with information read from a "burn book."

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing in February, Bondi suggested that Representative Becca Balint was contributing to an "anti-Semitic culture," prompting Balint to leave the hearing.

Prior to her firing, the House oversight committee had subpoenaed Bondi for testimony, and she remained legally obligated to comply with that subpoena despite her removal from office.

Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, said: "Attorney General Pam Bondi has been leading a White House cover-up of the Epstein files. She has weaponized the Department of Justice to protect Donald Trump and put survivors in harm's way by exposing their identities."

Garcia also said: "She will not escape accountability and remains legally obligated to appear before our committee under oath. She must answer for her mishandling of the Epstein files and the special treatment she has given Ghislaine Maxwell."

Early in Trump's second term, Bondi said she had received a list of allegedly powerful people associated with Jeffrey Epstein, who died while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in 2019. After initially suggesting that the Epstein files would yield major revelations, Bondi later acknowledged that the material contained little new information and declared the investigation closed.

The DOJ under Bondi released millions of pages of Epstein-related documents unevenly, and lawmakers said this required congressional intervention to force broader disclosure. Congress subsequently passed a law requiring the release of the government's Epstein-related files over Trump's objections.

Senator Rick Scott said: "Pam Bondi is a great friend and one of the best lawyers I've ever met. She did an incredible job as Florida's attorney general when I was governor, and she has been an incredible US attorney general."