US President Donald Trump has fired Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was accused of mishandling the release of files related to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Both Democrats and Republicans have accused Bondi, a longtime Trump loyalist, of attempting to conceal some emails and photographs from Epstein’s estate. Over the years, Epstein cultivated friendships with high-profile figures, including Trump.
Bondi’s Justice Department was also accused of covering up the circumstances of Epstein’s death in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019, which was ruled a suicide.
In a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump thanked Bondi for doing “a tremendous job” fighting violent crime. “We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much-needed and important new job in the private sector,” Trump wrote.
Todd Blanche, a former lawyer for Trump and Bondi’s deputy, will succeed her as acting attorney general.
“Leading President Trump’s historic and highly successful efforts to make America safer and more secure has been the honor of a lifetime,” Bondi wrote on X.
In 2025, Bondi came under fire after the DOJ released a trove of files on the Epstein case that contained little new information and denied that the billionaire had kept a client list of individuals to whom he allegedly trafficked women. The DOJ later released millions of emails and images after Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November 2025.
Commenting on the dismissal, American journalist Ben Swann, who previously headed RT’s operations in the US, suggested the leadership change at the DoJ could be aimed at delaying the release of the remaining Epstein files. Millions of documents connected to the case have yet to be disclosed, and Swann alleged the department had been deleting or removing files while public attention was focused on the Iran war.