President Donald Trump announced Thursday that Attorney General Pam Bondi would leave her post and move to a private‑sector role, naming Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as acting attorney general as she transitions out of the Department of Justice.
In a post on his social media platform, Trump said: “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.” He added that “our Deputy Attorney General, and a very talented and respected Legal Mind, Todd Blanche, will step in to serve as Acting Attorney General.” Bondi, in her own social media post, said she would spend the next month “working tirelessly to transition the office of Attorney General to the amazing Todd Blanche” before moving to the unnamed private‑sector position and praised her time leading the department.
Blanche, who Trump tapped as acting attorney general, has been the Justice Department’s No. 2 official since his confirmation by the Senate in March of last year. A onetime assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, Blanche also served as Trump’s personal defense lawyer in high‑profile prosecutions brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and by special counsel Jack Smith. At last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference he openly invited pressure from the MAGA base, saying, “So when people say, ‘Why aren't you doing more?' I welcome that criticism… Keep on putting pressure on us.”
The announcement caps a turbulent tenure for Bondi, who aligned the Justice Department closely with the president’s priorities and repeatedly signaled personal loyalty to Trump. Her time as attorney general was marked by efforts to pursue prosecutions of political figures long targeted by the president and his allies — including attempts to indict former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James — moves that ultimately faltered after a federal judge found the prosecutor who brought the indictments had been unlawfully appointed and grand juries declined to revive cases.
Bondi’s handling of Department files tied to Jeffrey Epstein and other sensitive investigations provoked sustained scrutiny and criticism. A group of 18 Epstein survivors and relatives issued a statement after the announcement accusing Bondi of failing survivors and calling for “meaningful transparency, accountability for past mistakes, and real protections” for those who come forward. The House Oversight Committee, which voted weeks earlier to subpoena Bondi for testimony about the Epstein files, has said the demand for her deposition remains in force; Oversight Ranking Member Rep. Robert Garcia (D‑Calif.) said Thursday that the subpoena applies “whether she is the Attorney General or not.”
The change also amplifies concerns among Democrats, voting‑rights advocates and other watchdogs that the White House could press the DOJ and FBI to take actions with political implications ahead of the November midterm elections. Trump had privately discussed removing Bondi with senior aides in recent days, according to officials familiar with those conversations, frustrated at what he described as the department’s slowness or unwillingness to pursue prosecutions of his political opponents.
Bondi’s exit is expected to take place over roughly a month as she hands responsibilities to Blanche, who now faces the immediate task of steadying a department that has been publicly remade around the president’s priorities while under intense congressional and public scrutiny. Legal fights over pending probes and oversight inquiries, including the subpoena and any potential appeals tied to grand jury decisions, are likely to continue through the transition.