President Donald Trump is losing one of his most loyal defenders. Pam Bondi is leaving the Department of Justice after months of political blowback and turmoil. On social media, the president praised Bondi, calling her tenure tremendous, but saying she’s now heading to the private sector. He also said Bondi’s deputy and his former personal defense attorney Todd Blanche will serve as acting attorney General. Bondi said her time. At the Justice Department was an honor, and she praised the work fighting crime during her tenure. She also led *** dramatic shakeup at the DOJ with firings, resignations, and investigations targeting some of President Trump’s political foes. Critics say that made the Justice Department look more like *** political weapon than an independent agency, but allies say she was carrying out the president’s agenda on crime, immigration, and what they saw as. Past abuses of power. In the final months of her time at the DOJ, there was growing bipartisan backlash over the department’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein. Congressional Democrats say Bondi still needs to testify before them on that matter. Bondi’s exit is just the latest turnover within the administration. It comes just weeks after former DHS Secretary Christie Nome was removed from the cabinet. At the White House, I’m Christopher Sales.
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President Donald Trump announced Thursday that Attorney General Pam Bondi was leaving the administration and that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche would replace her as acting attorney general.Blanche has served as Bondi’s deputy since March 2025, when he was confirmed by the Senate in a party-line 52-46 vote. Additionally, Trump tapped Blanche to be the acting librarian of Congress in May 2025 after the president abruptly fired Carla Hayden.Before joining the administration, Blanche worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York from 2006 to 2014.He then entered private practice, representing clients such as Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, Igor Fruman, an associate of Rudy Giuliani, and Trump himself.He was Trump’s defense attorney in the Stormy Daniels hush-money criminal case, the two 2020 election obstruction cases, and the classified documents case. Trump was convicted on all counts in the criminal case.While Bondi drew most of the scrutiny over the handling of the Epstein files, questions were also raised about Blanche’s role. Many Democrats in Congress were especially critical of his meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker and Epstein associate, particularly after she was transferred to a minimum-security prison a week later.“Sending Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, to interview Ghislaine Maxwell while she’s in prison, a woman who’s been convicted of abusing people, to offer some kind of corrupt deal so that she can exonerate Donald Trump just stinks of high corruption,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a social media video at the time.Transcripts of the meeting were later released, showing that Blanche offered Maxwell limited immunity during the interview, but that the meeting was not part of a “cooperation deal.”Blanche also faced criticism over statements and decisions related to the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers in Minnesota. In his role overseeing the FBI, he opposed calls to open inquiries into their deaths and defended the officers involved. On top of that, Blanche accused Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey of encouraging violence against law enforcement and equated their actions to “terrorism.”It’s unknown at this time whether Trump envisions Blanche becoming the permanent attorney general at some point. Earlier this week, it was reported that Trump was weighing replacing Bondi with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin.
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that Attorney General Pam Bondi was leaving the administration and that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche would replace her as acting attorney general.
Blanche has served as Bondi’s deputy since March 2025, when he was confirmed by the Senate in a party-line 52-46 vote. Additionally, Trump tapped Blanche to be the acting librarian of Congress in May 2025 after the president abruptly fired Carla Hayden.
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Before joining the administration, Blanche worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York from 2006 to 2014.
He then entered private practice, representing clients such as Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, Igor Fruman, an associate of Rudy Giuliani, and Trump himself.
He was Trump’s defense attorney in the Stormy Daniels hush-money criminal case, the two 2020 election obstruction cases, and the classified documents case. Trump was convicted on all counts in the criminal case.
While Bondi drew most of the scrutiny over the handling of the Epstein files, questions were also raised about Blanche’s role. Many Democrats in Congress were especially critical of his meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker and Epstein associate, particularly after she was transferred to a minimum-security prison a week later.
“Sending Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, to interview Ghislaine Maxwell while she’s in prison, a woman who’s been convicted of abusing people, to offer some kind of corrupt deal so that she can exonerate Donald Trump just stinks of high corruption,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a social media video at the time.
Transcripts of the meeting were later released, showing that Blanche offered Maxwell limited immunity during the interview, but that the meeting was not part of a “cooperation deal.”
Blanche also faced criticism over statements and decisions related to the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers in Minnesota. In his role overseeing the FBI, he opposed calls to open inquiries into their deaths and defended the officers involved. On top of that, Blanche accused Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey of encouraging violence against law enforcement and equated their actions to “terrorism.”
It’s unknown at this time whether Trump envisions Blanche becoming the permanent attorney general at some point. Earlier this week, it was reported that Trump was weighing replacing Bondi with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin.
