President Donald Trump has fired Attorney General Pam Bondi and named his former personal lawyer, Deputy AG Todd Blanche, as the acting chief of the Justice Department. This move comes after reports stated that Trump was frustrated with Bondi's handling of the Epstein files and her failure to successfully prosecute several perceived Trump political foes.
Bondi will be transitioning to a new job in the private sector, according to the president. Trump's decision to fire Bondi has been linked to her handling of the release of the Justice Department files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
Blanche has defended the department's approach in handling the Epstein files, stating that the department is working to prosecute every perpetrator and that claims of ignoring victims are false. He also dismissed several conspiracy theories tied to Epstein.
Meanwhile, former Republican congressman Lee Zeldin, who is being considered as the next attorney general, was at the center of a controversy involving campaign donations made by a Long Island neurosurgeon who shares the same name as the convicted financier.
