That went fast. Rumors had only begun swirling around Pam Bondi's grip on her job as Attorney General this morning, but by 10 am ET, Polymarket's odds on her "immediate" removal by Donald Trump had hit 93%. Duane Patterson and I discussed it at the end of our Week in Review podcast, which will go up this evening, and the news puzzled us.
Turned out the prediction market was waaaay ahead of us. Fox News's Peter Doocy got the scoop directly from Trump himself that he asked Bondi to step down as AG. Bondi will shift to another role in the administration, but Deputy AG will temporarily take over now at the Department of Justice:
BREAKING: Pam Bondi fired as attorney general pic.twitter.com/tcbju76Dg9
— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) April 2, 2026
Trump confirmed it moments later on Truth Social. Contrary to Doocy's report, Trump announced that she will take an "important new job," but in the private sector:
Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year. 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! President DONALD J. TRUMP
Perhaps Trump wants Bondi back within the MAGA political organization structure ahead of the midterm elections. That would explain the discrepancy between Doocy's on-air report and Trump's announcement posted shortly afterward. Before coming on board in Trump's transition to a second term, Bondi ran the legal action team at the America First Policy Institute, mainly handling legal challenges to voting issues in battleground states for the 2024 election. Trump may want Bondi to take charge of that effort again, with the midterms promising hard legal fights across the country.
Blanche will run the DoJ in the meantime, but he's not going to get the top job in the end, Fox News reports. Lee Zeldin, who just got the Obama-era endangerment finding on carbon dioxide reversed and ended massive regulatory burdens on American businesses, has the inside track already:
Trump is reportedly considering replacing Bondi with Environmental Protection Agency Director Lee Zeldin, according to the sources familiar with the matter. Trump held a meeting with Zeldin at the White House Tuesday to discuss wildfire and prevention, where talks of the transition also unfolded, according to an individual familiar with the meeting.
That source relayed to Fox News Digital that Zeldin would be a plausible replacement, adding that Trump could change his mind at any point. ...
The alleged ouster follows a recent New York Times report detailing that Trump was preparing to replace Bondi with Zeldin as the president had become increasingly dissatisfied with her performance in the role.
The scuttlebutt this morning was that Trump felt Bondi had not been ruthless enough in pursuing prosecutions of officials Trump sees as corrupt. Perhaps, but Bondi's bungling of the Jeffrey Epstein files may be the simpler explanation. She attempted to grasp the Epstein Light Grenade shortly after taking office and vastly overpromised what she could deliver. That allowed Democrats to seize on the scandal and claim that Bondi had covered up for Trump, leading them to demand the full release of all files and belatedly realizing that the Epstein Light Grenade was still operational.
That's the operating theory Rep. Nancy Mace endorses, anyway. The NY Times also notes the timing of this decision:
Representative Nancy Mace, the South Carolina Republican who pushed for the Oversight Committee to subpoena Pam Bondi and had been one of her more outspoken G.O.P. critics, said in a statement that she looked forward to Bondi’s replacement.
“Bondi handled the Epstein Files in a terrible manner and made this situation far worse than it had to be for President Trump,” Mace said.
The House Oversight Committee had 'requested' a deposition with Bondi, scheduled for April 14. Bondi had not committed to an appearance, but Republicans on the committee voted to subpoena her. The NYT reports that committee chair James Comer had been negotiating on terms for the deposition and possibly to provide information without the formal questioning. Her termination won't necessarily change the committee's decision to demand her testimony, but her departure would allow the administration some distance from her performance during it.
Zeldin might have a tough time getting through a Senate confirmation process, thanks in part to his dismantling of the"climate change" enforcement archipelago at the EPA. As long as Republicans have 53 seats in the Senate, though, he should be able to win confirmation – and since he just went through a confirmation last year, the process should be relatively quick.
It's interesting to see Trump shuffling the deck in his second year. The two most controversial Cabinet officials in this term have been both booted. We'll see whether that gives Trump some political breathing space, or just chums the TDS waters of Trump's opposition and critics. Bet on the latter.
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