Trump fires Pam Bondi as US attorney general

By Nandita Bose, Andrew Goudsward and Jana Winter

WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump ousted Attorney General Pam Bondi Thursday after mounting frustration with her performance, especially over the release of files on late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump also felt Bondi was not moving quickly enough to prosecute critics and adversaries whom he wanted to face criminal charges, according to sources.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former personal lawyer to Trump, will lead the Justice Department temporarily, Trump said in a social media post.

In the post, Trump praised Bondi as a "Great American Patriot and a loyal friend" who had overseen a "massive crackdown in Crime." Bondi will soon move to a job in the private sector, Trump said.

Blanche thanked Trump and praised Bondi in a social media post. "We will continue backing the blue, enforcing the law, and doing everything in our power to keep America safe," he said.

During her tenure as the top U.S. law enforcement official, Bondi was a combative champion of Trump’s agenda and dismantled the Justice Department’s longstanding tradition of independence from the White House in its investigations.

But it was repeated criticism over the Epstein files, including from Trump allies and some Republican lawmakers, that came to dominate her tenure. Bondi was accused of covering up or mismanaging the release of records on the DOJ’s sex-trafficking investigations into Epstein, a financier who cultivated ties with wealthy and powerful figures.

Trump informed Bondi at a White House meeting on Wednesday that he was looking to replace her as attorney general, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Trump told Bondi multiple times over the past several months that he was unhappy with her performance, a senior White House official told Reuters. The official said Trump has contemplated replacing her with Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, but has also discussed other candidates.

Bondi spent much of Wednesday with Trump, riding with him to the U.S. Supreme Court in the morning, attending an Easter lunch where he spoke and later watching his address to the nation on the Iran war. At the Supreme Court, Trump watched as one of Bondi's top officials, Solicitor General D. John Sauer, was grilled by justices about the administration's attempt to limit birthright citizenship.

POLITICAL HEADACHE

The Epstein files created political headaches for Trump and drew renewed scrutiny of his past friendship with Epstein, which he has said ended decades ago.

Bondi's firing could lead to a shake-up in strategy at the Justice Department and potentially a renewed push to deploy the U.S. legal system against Trump’s targets.

Bondi is the second senior Trump official to be ousted recently. Trump removed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on March 5 following criticism of her management of the agency and Trump’s immigration agenda.

Bondi, a former Republican state attorney general in Florida, said she worked on restoring the Justice Department's focus on violent crime and rebuilding trust with Trump's supporters after federal prosecutors twice criminally charged Trump during his years out of power.

Bondi also faced criticism over the removal of dozens of career prosecutors who worked on investigations that Trump opposed, with critics accusing her of abandoning the DOJ’s traditional focus on even-handed justice.

Bondi defended the rollout of the Epstein files, saying the Trump administration had been more transparent on the issue than previous presidents and that DOJ lawyers worked on a compressed timeline to review reams of material.

SPARRING WITH LAWMAKERS

During a combative hearing before a House of Representatives panel in February, Bondi responded to criticism with political attacks directed at lawmakers. She refused to apologize or look at Epstein victims and their relatives who attended the proceedings.

Bondi early last year played into fevered speculation about the Epstein files, saying a client list was on her desk for review. But after an initial release included material that had largely already been public, the DOJ and FBI declared in July that the case was closed and that no further disclosures were warranted.

The move prompted an eruption of criticism and eventually a bipartisan law passed in November requiring the Justice Department to release nearly all of its files.

The release of roughly 3 million pages of records still did not quell the controversy, as lawmakers criticized redactions in the files and the disclosure of the identities of some Epstein victims.

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Bondi and she was set to testify on April 14.