Bondi says she is ‘thrilled’ about new private sector role following firing as attorney general
In a statement on social media, Pam Bondi said that she is “thrilled” about her undisclosed role in the private sector after she was fired as attorney general by Donald Trump.
Bondi said she will “continue fighting” for the administration, despite her ouster. “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 added.
Key events
Sam Levine
Pam Bondi’s swift dismissal on Thursday underscores a reality that has met Trump loyalists from Jeff Sessions to Kristi Noem – no amount of loyalty is enough to save oneself from being dumped by Donald Trump.
Since the president assumed office last year, there have been few people more important to his effort to remake government than Bondi, his longtime friend.
It wasn’t enough.
Read the full analysis here:
Pete Hegseth has reportedly asked Randy George, the US army chief of staff, to step down from his position.
CBS News reported on Tuesday that the defense secretary asked the general to retire rather than serve another three years in the role. The outlet, citing anonymous sources, said that Hegseth wanted to see George replaced with someone who will execute his and the president’s “vision” for the army.
The change was reportedly unrelated to a recent incident involving army training helicopters hovering over Kid Rock’s home. Hegseth had reversed the army’s suspension of the crews involved and said there would be no investigation of the matter.
Democrats continue to celebrate Bondi’s firing, while warning that the effects of her tenure at the justice department will “reverberate for years to come”.
California senator Alex Padilla said that Bondi’s DoJ pursued investigations into Trump’s political enemies, sought to “coerce” states into turning over voter rolls and “dodged accountability” over the Epstein files and that Americans “always deserved better”.
He added: “Trump has raised the price of our food, healthcare and gas, initiated an unauthorized war with Iran, and militarized federal agents against Americans. This firing does not change the facts of Trump’s disaster of an administration.”
Vice-President JD Vance will travel to Hungary next month to meet with prime minister Viktor Orbán.
Vance will be joined by second lady Usha Vance for the trip between 7 and 8 April – just days before Hungary’s general election. The vice-president will also deliver remarks on the “rich partnership between the United States and Hungary”, according to the White House.
Orbán, the far-right leader who has led the country for the past 16 years, is facing a tough re-election challenge. Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind the incumbent, who he considers a staunch ally.
“I hope he wins, and I hope he wins big,” Trump said of Orbán in February.
Bondi says she is ‘thrilled’ about new private sector role following firing as attorney general
In a statement on social media, Pam Bondi said that she is “thrilled” about her undisclosed role in the private sector after she was fired as attorney general by Donald Trump.
Bondi said she will “continue fighting” for the administration, despite her ouster. “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 added.
Here’s a recap of the day so far
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Donald Trump has fired Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, dismissing a loyalist who reshaped the justice department. In a post on social media, the president announced that Bondi would transition to “a much needed and important new job in the private sector”. He added that Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, would serve as acting attorney general. Lee Zeldin, a former New York congressman who now leads the Environmental Protection Agency, is said to be a top contender to replace Bondi.
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Democrats welcomed the news of Bondi’s ouster, with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer saying “good riddance” to the former attorney general. Schumer added that the problems at the heart of the DoJ will continue, as long as Trump uses it “as a tool for revenge and not law enforcement”. Meanwhile, lawmakers from both parties on the House oversight committee said still expect Bondi to honor a subpoena they issued last month as part of their investigation into the government’s handling of the Epstein files. “She will not escape accountability,” said ranking member Robert Garcia.
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Trump’s prized White House ballroom project received the approval of Washington’s planning authorities on Thursday, two days after a judge ruled work cannot proceed without Congress’s go-ahead. The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), which is staffed by several of the president’s allies, gave the green light to the “East Wing Modernization Project” on Thursday, describing the ballroom as just the latest stage over two centuries of continuous changes.
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Also today, Trump said he would sign an executive order to pay all Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees, during a record-breaking partial shutdown. However, it’s unclear what funds he plans to use in order to fund the affected subagencies, which include the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (Cisa), and whether this would include federal immigration enforcement. The president also signed an order last week to pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers.
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This comes as the US House took no action on the funding bill to end the historic DHS shutdown, after Senate-passed legislation was sent to the lower chamber earlier today. The House’s next procedural meeting will be on Monday, meaning the lapse in funding for several subagencies will continue until at least next week. However, Republican House speaker Mike Johnson may even wait until lawmakers return from a two-week recess to ensure the measure, that his party rejected last week, can pass.
George Chidi
Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project received the approval of Washington’s planning authorities on Thursday, two days after a judge ruled work cannot proceed without Congress’s go-ahead.
The National Capital Planning Commission, which is chaired by one of Trump’s former lawyers, gave the green light to the “East Wing Modernization Project” on Thursday, describing the ballroom as just the latest stage over two centuries of continuous changes.
“While some might wish for history in the world to stand still, the fact of the matter is that the White House complex has constantly evolved to meet the programmatic needs of the federal government and the office of the president,” said commission chair William Scharf. “I believe that in time, this ballroom will be considered every bit as much of a national treasure as the other key components of the White House.”
The justice department appealed against Tuesday’s ruling that the president cannot construct his planned ballroom on the site of the White House’s demolished East Wing without approval from Congress.
The federal judge in the case granted a request for a preliminary injunction by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a non-profit organization that brought a lawsuit alleging Trump exceeded his authority when he razed the historic East Wing and launched construction on the new building.
The top Democrat on the House judiciary commitee, Jamie Raskin, said that Bondi’s tenure as attorney general “will be remembered as a profound betrayal not only of the Department of Justice but of the American people the Department exists to serve”.
He noted that Bondi’s work purging the department of prosecutors who were part of criminal investigations into Donald Trump, as well as her “grotesque mishandling of the Epstein files” will be part of her “shameful legacy”.
Raskin added that Bondi “used the machinery of federal law enforcement not to pursue justice, but to carry out political vendettas” at Trump’s direction. “Her firing today is long overdue, but it does not erase the damage done and it does not absolve her of accountability,” he said.
Anna Betts
Annie Farmer, a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein, said in a statement on Thursday in response to Pam Bondi’s firing that “this is not about a single person” but rather “it is about a government and judicial system that has repeatedly failed Epstein survivors.”
“Regardless of who holds power, survivors deserve accountability, transparency, protection from retaliation, and assurance that those who enabled Epstein, Maxwell, and others will be investigated and, if appropriate, prosecuted,” added Farmer, who has said that she was 16 when she was abused by Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, heralded Pam Bondi’s firing.
“Good riddance,” he said, while noting “the rot at the Department of Justice begins and ends with Donald Trump.”
While leading the justice department, Bondi was a loyal foot soldier for the president’s campaign to target his perceived political enemies. Schumer added that the problems at the heart of the DoJ will continue, as long as Trump uses it “as a tool for revenge and not law enforcement”.
Meanwhile, Hakeem Jeffries, Schumer’s counterpart in the House, noted that “Pete Hegseth is next”.
Meanwhile, Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican and one of the most vocal GOP critics of the Jeffrey Epstein files, said she would welcome Lee Zeldin, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, as the next attorney general, amid reports that he would take over the justice department permanently.
Writing on X, Mace said Bondi “handled the Epstein Files in a terrible manner and made this situation far worse than it had to be for President Trump”.
Maxwell Alejandro Frost, a Democratic representative from Florida, released a statement noting that Bondi is still expected to testify before the House oversight committee, noting that her ouster “does not get her out of that bipartisan, lawful subpoena. We will see her soon.”
Reactions are starting to come in to the news that Donald Trump has fired Pam Bondi as attorney general.
Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, welcomed Bondi’s ouster and said that she led “a White House cover-up of the Epstein files”.
A reminder that the oversight committee was leading an investigation into the government’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, and voted to subpoena Bondi in March. The committee chair, Republican James Comer, scheduled a hearing for 14 April.
Today, Garcia said that he still expects the ousted attorney general to testify.
“She will not escape accountability,” he said. “She must answer for her mishandling of the Epstein files and the special treatment she has given Ghislaine Maxwell.”
Bondi is the second cabinet member fired by the president during his second term in office. Kristi Noem was replaced by Markwayne Mullin as homeland security secretary last month.
“If they think we are moving on because they were fired, they are gravely mistaken,” Garcia said of the Democrats’ ongoing investigations into the former officials.
