President Trump is weighing whether to fire Attorney General Pam Bondi—just weeks after replacing his Homeland Security chief—amid growing frustration with her leadership and a political blowback over the Epstein files.
Behind the scenes, Trump has floated EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin as a possible replacement, according to people familiar with the discussions. No decision has been made.
But publicly, Trump is still standing by her—at least for now.
“Attorney General Pam Bondi is a wonderful person and she is doing a good job,” he said in a statement to The New York Times.
Behind the scenes, the tone is far less supportive.
According to people familiar with the conversations, Trump has been “souring” on Bondi for months. At the center of it: her handling of the Epstein files, which has become a political liability with his base.
That controversy started early. Bondi claimed the files were “sitting on my desk right now”—only for the rollout to unravel, with heavily redacted documents and binders distributed to influencers that sparked backlash across MAGA circles.
The criticism has only intensified. The House Oversight Committee has now moved to subpoena Bondi, with a deposition scheduled for April 14, even as she and allies try to avoid testifying.
Her Capitol Hill appearances haven’t helped. In a tense hearing, Bondi brushed off Epstein-focused criticism by saying Democrats were ignoring that “the Dow right now is over 50,000”—a remark that drew blowback from Republicans as well.
Trump’s frustrations go beyond Epstein.
He has complained that the Justice Department is not aggressive enough in going after his political enemies and has fumed over failed or nonexistent cases against figures like James Comey and Letitia James. In one social media post, he openly grumbled about the lack of indictments.
Still, Trump is sending mixed signals. He continues to praise Bondi’s loyalty and remains in regular contact with her.
If he does act, it would mark a shift. Trump had been wary of the kind of staff turnover that defined his first term—but aides say that’s changing after the “smooth” removal of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
Zeldin, a close ally, is already being discussed as a successor. “He’s our secret weapon,” Trump said. “He’s getting those approvals done in record setting time.”
However, on Thursday morning, Politico’s Dasha Burns reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi will “will be out imminently” following Wednesday evening stories from CNN and The New York Times suggesting that Bondi would likely be leaving her post soon.
“A person close to the White House tells Dasha that when Trump met EPA boss Lee Zeldin on Tuesday to discuss last year’s California wildfires, Trump also discussed the potential of tapping him for the AG role (CNN and the NYT last night both named Zeldin as the most likely successor.) A second person familiar with the situation tells Dasha that Bondi will be out imminently,” read Thursday’s edition of Politico Playbook.
