The Daily Populous Friday April 3rd, 2026 night edition
Authored by independent.co.uk and submitted by The__Illuminaughty

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Donald Trump has fired Attorney General Pam Bondi after a tumultuous 14 months leading a radically transformed and politically driven Department of Justice.

Trump’s former criminal defense attorney Todd Blanche will serve as acting attorney general after Bondi’s departure.

“Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year,” Trump announced on Truth Social on Thursday. “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.”

Bondi said her she will transition leadership to Blanche over the next month before she moves to “an important private sector role to “continue fighting for President Trump and this Administration.

“Leading President Trump’s historic and highly successful efforts to make America safer and more secure has been the honor of a lifetime, and easily the most consequential first year of the Department of Justice in American history,” she said. “I remain eternally grateful for the trust that President Trump placed in me to Make America Safe Again.”

open image in gallery Donald Trump has announced the departure of Attorney General Pam Bondi from his administration after a tumultuous 14 months at the Department of Justice ( AP )

Bondi’s ousting follows bipartisan outrage over her handling of investigations into Jeffrey Epstein and the release of millions of files connected to the late sex offender. Trump appears to have lost confidence in Bondi’s leadership after the scandal blew up into a massive political liability for the president and his allies.

The president has also publicly raged against the Justice Department’s failure to prosecute his political enemies after the president demanded their imprisonment, as cases against former FBI director James Comey and the New York Attorney General Letitia James fell apart in court.

Trump, who repeatedly praised Bondi and even called her a “wonderful person” who is “doing a good job” up until the moment he announced her departure, has been reluctant to remove members of his Cabinet within the first years of his chaotic second stint at the White House after his first was marked by a rapid series of exits.

But Bondi’s firing, days before her scheduled testimony to members of Congress over Epstein investigations, follows the president’s removal of now-former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the relatively smooth transfer of the role to Markwayne Mullin.

Lee Zeldin, a former New York congressman who is currently the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has also reportedly been considered for attorney general after Bondi’s exit.

“Pam Bondi led this Department with strength and conviction and I’m grateful for her leadership and friendship,” Blanche said in a statement.

“Thank you to President Trump for the trust and the opportunity to serve as Acting Attorney General,” he said. “We will continue backing the blue, enforcing the law, and doing everything in our power to keep America safe.”

open image in gallery Bondi, a Trump loyalist whose leadership at the Justice Department erased the agency’s historic independence from the White House, is expected to move into the private sector, according to the president ( AFP via Getty Images )

Bondi, among Trump’s former personal attorneys who later joined his administration, was Trump’s second choice for the job. He initially nominated former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who withdrew his nomination eight days later after allegations of sexual misconduct involving a 17-year-old girl and illicit drug use fueled doubts that he make it through a Senate nomination process.

Since entering office last February, Bondi has overseen one of the most chaotic periods at the Justice Department in modern history and obliterated the agency’s historic independence from the White House. A massive banner with a picture of Trump’s face was unfurled outside the agency’s headquarters.

Dozens of career prosecutors and law enforcement agents were forced out or fired for their connections to Trump’s own criminal cases, federal judges have issued countless rebukes against the Justice Department’s evasion of court orders, and thousands of criminal prosecutions were abandoned in the apparent pursuit of the president’s sweeping efforts to arrest and deport tens of thousands of people from the country instead.

The DOJ’s storied Civil Rights Division effectively abandoned its historic task of combatting discrimination against marginalized groups to instead pursue cases against states and institutions allegedly violating the president’s anti-transgender and anti-diversity mandates. The division also dropped investigations into local police departments for civil rights abuses.

open image in gallery Trump’s former criminal defense attorney Todd Blanche, who represented the president during his hush money trial in New York, will serve as acting attorney general following Bondi’s exit ( AFP via Getty Images )

Trump, who condemned what he saw was a “weaponized” Justice Department under his predecessor Joe Biden, campaigned on a promise of “retribution” against his perceived political enemies who later became the Justice Department’s targets.

The president pardoned hundreds of people charged in connection with the January 6 attack on his first day in office, eliminating the largest-ever investigation in Justice Department history with the stroke of a pen, which Bondi has defended. The Justice Department later launched several criminal investigations fueled by the president’s baseless allegations that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” against him and “stolen” from him.

But Bondi’s Justice Department began facing intense scrutiny from the president’s base of support shortly after she entered office last February, when she declared the Epstein files were “sitting on my desk.” A much-anticipated release of Epstein documents in prepared binders handed out to far-right influencers at the White House was largely already public information. And by the summer, the Justice Department and FBI declared there was “no basis” to release any more Epstein-related documents, sparking allegations of a government-wide cover up to protect powerful public figures who exploited and abused young girls.

Her fierce defense of the president’s agenda boiled over into shouting matches with lawmakers in a series of volatile congressional hearings in recent months.

In February, she deflected questions about Epstein to talk about the stock market and repeatedly chastised and insulted Democrats who questioned her.

“The Dow is over 50,000 right now,” she told the House Judiciary Committee after she was questioned about a lack of indictments against Epstein’s co-conspirators.

The Nasdaq is “smashing records” and Americans’ retirement accounts are “booming,” she said. “That’s what we should be talking about.”

open image in gallery Despite her firing, Bondi is still expected to testify to members of Congress about Epstein investigations after the House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena compelling her testimony on April 14 ( Getty Images )

“Pam Bondi tried her best to turn the DOJ into Trump’s personal-vendetta strike force,” Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee said Thursday. “But robotic sycophants can’t make Trump’s problems go away. Release all the documents and let the chips fall where they may.”

Under legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by Trump in November, the Justice Department was ordered to release all files connected to investigations into Epstein by December 19.

The Justice Department eventually published millions of pages of files connected to the predator after blowing deadlines for the full disclosure of all documents in the possession of federal law enforcement, though lawmakers have critical questions over countless redactions and potential investigations into the figures named throughout the files.

Last month, the House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena compelling Bondi to sit for a deposition on April 14. That testimony is still on the schedule, according to lawmakers.

“Pam Bondi and Donald Trump may think her firing gets her out of testifying to the Oversight Committee,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, the committee’s top Democrat. “They are wrong — and we look forward to hearing from her under oath.”

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, who also sits on the committee, said she “welcomes” the news of Bondi’s departure.

“Bondi handled the Epstein Files in a terrible manner and seriously undermined President Trump,” she said Thursday.

LawFluid7886 on April 2nd, 2026 at 14:46 UTC »

we all saw the horrible shit bondi was willing to do with her position and it still didn't satisfy trump.

whomever replaces her has to have signed up for some really, truly repugnant shit to clear whatever bar is in place

alexlicious on April 2nd, 2026 at 14:46 UTC »

I guess the Dow is not at 50,000 anymore

StabbingHoboReturns on April 2nd, 2026 at 14:45 UTC »

The next will somehow be worse