{"id":17950,"date":"2026-04-02T07:01:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=17950"},"modified":"2026-04-03T07:15:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T14:15:38","slug":"i-think-its-time-the-inside-story-of-pam-bondis-ouster-the-wall-street-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=17950","title":{"rendered":"“\u2018I Think It\u2019s Time\u2019: The Inside Story of Pam Bondi\u2019s Ouster”, The Wall Street Journal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Back to News<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Attorney<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pam Bondi at the White House in February.\u00a0ALEX BRANDON\/AP<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attorney general was always on the ropes but thought she was finally on safer footing. She wasn\u2019t.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Josh Dawsey<\/a>,\u00a0Alex Leary<\/a>,\u00a0C. Ryan Barber<\/a> and\u00a0Sadie Gurman<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 2, 2026 at 9:00 pm ET<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WASHINGTON\u2014On Wednesday morning, Attorney General Pam Bondi descended the sun-splashed steps of the White House with President Trump, smiling at him just before entering the presidential limousine for a two-mile ride to the Supreme Court. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was on that short ride in \u201cThe Beast\u201d when Bondi learned\u00a0she was being removed<\/a> from her job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the drive, Trump told her, \u201cI think it\u2019s time,\u201d she would later tell an associate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ensuing hours were as awkward and chaotic as Bondi\u2019s 14-month tenure as the nation\u2019s top law-enforcement official. Trump and Bondi briefly sat near each other during the Supreme Court hearing on birthright citizenship, but the president soon switched chairs. Later, Bondi would ask Trump if she could keep her job until the summer. The president declined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump had decided earlier in the week that he was replacing her. He was frustrated she didn\u2019t do more to contain fallout from the department\u2019s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigative files and incensed that she had not successfully prosecuted a number of his political enemies. Trump has floated Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin as attorney general to other advisers but hasn\u2019t decided on anyone, according to White House officials. He is also interested in evaluating how soon-to-be interim Attorney General Todd Blanche performs, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bondi and Trump had talked about her leaving since around the beginning of the year, according to a person familiar with the discussions, and he had regularly expressed dissatisfaction with the speed at which she handled his agenda. She is expected to leave the Justice Department in about a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On numerous occasions, she seemed to go out of her way to appease him, launching what many prosecutors in the department viewed as weak probes of Trump\u2019s favored targets. Some of those cases were later blocked by judges or grand juries. The Justice Department even had a giant banner with Trump\u2019s face on it hung on its main building, an unprecedented move that illustrated his control over the agency. Last week, she appointed a prosecutor to look into allegations of election fraud in 2020 in a bid to address another gripe the president had. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was never enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pam<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bondi and President Trump during a roundtable on criminal cartels last October. EVAN VUCCI\/AP<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people close to Trump and Bondi say it wasn\u2019t a single issue that led to her dismissal but a steady drip of frustrations, including what Trump saw as a lack of positive news coverage on the Justice Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to Zeldin and Blanche, other names have been floated as potential successors. They include U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been previously mentioned for the job, but the term-limited governor has some high-profile detractors close to the president. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thin ice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Bondi\u2019s eventual ouster built for months. Still the swiftness in which it came\u2014just one month after he fired another cabinet member, Department of Homeland Security Secretary\u00a0Kristi Noem\u2014delivered another shock through Washington. Trump had spent the first year of his presidency trying to avoid personnel shake-ups. Now he is contending with low approval ratings, increasingly dim midterm election forecasts, rising gas prices and the war in Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wall Street Journal reported in January<\/a> that Trump\u2019s frustration with Bondi was nearly constant. He had mused to allies that he was thinking of appointing special counsels to pick up some of the work he felt she wasn\u2019t doing. At one point, he showed White House visitors printouts of social-media posts from conservatives trashing his attorney general. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When one ally mentioned Bondi\u2019s name in a casual setting at a sporting event in January, Trump unleashed into a diatribe immediately, saying she was doing a \u201cterrible job\u201d and expressing frustration he chose her for attorney general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, Bondi rallied other senior figures in the administration and Congress to support her publicly and with Trump privately. This ultimately bought her more time largely because the president was personally fond of her, officials said. But he remained unhappy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"US<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bondi earlier this year rallied senior figures in Congress and the administration to support her publicly as well as with Trump privately. ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS\/AFP\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attorney general told others she constantly felt pressure from Trump to deliver more than was possible, and that some of his demands were outside of things she could do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president also regularly heard from outside advisers that Bondi wasn\u2019t aggressive enough. Two officials said the criticism sometimes came from Boris Epshteyn, the president\u2019s personal lawyer who often speaks to Trump. Another administration official, Bill Pulte, often talked to Trump about cases the Justice Department could bring against his foes, the Journal has previously reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump had long envisioned more of a bulldog in the role; his first pick was\u00a0Matt Gaetz, the hard-charging former Florida congressman who became ensnared in an investigation into sexual misconduct and faced impossible odds at Senate confirmation. Bondi was a trusted fallback with an easy Southern demeanor and many years in public office. Still, she has been known to be sensitive to criticism. The Epstein controversy weighed on her especially, friends said. Some of that was her own doing, but at other times White House officials felt Bondi faced unfair attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Bondi has been stung by the dismissal she has been heartened by the support she has received and a flood of job offers, ranging from television to law, that have come in recent weeks as rumors grew. One possibility is she will join a firm and work on artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year,\u201d Trump wrote on social media, avoiding the public vitriol he has used in past dismissals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reached by text on Thursday, Bondi replied with a short note: \u201cIt\u2019s ALL so positive,\u201d alluding to her next role. When asked for comment, a White House spokeswoman referred to Trump\u2019s post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some White House officials tried to paper over any fallout between the two longtime friends. Bondi is scheduled to testify before Congress under oath April 14 about the Epstein case so she could soon be back in the news.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bondi appearing before the House Judiciary Committee earlier this year.\u00a0KENT NISHIMURA\/REUTERS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Epstein files<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Bondi was narrowly confirmed by the Senate<\/a> for her job, winning the backing of just one Democrat, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. She shared Trump\u2019s view that the Biden administration had wielded the Justice Department to target him and other Republicans, and she promised to change course, saying it would be an independent branch of government that would not pursue political enemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is not about targeting,\u201d she said at the CPAC convention in Maryland two weeks after becoming attorney general in February 2025. \u201cThis is not about weaponization. This is about keeping America safe going forward and prosecuting violent criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bondi was a seasoned state prosecutor, having served as Florida\u2019s attorney general, but she had a habit of slip-ups. One day after her CPAC appearance, she suggested in a Fox News interview that she had a folder on her desk of Epstein\u2019s clients. \u201cIt\u2019s sitting on my desk right now to review,\u201d\u00a0she said<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s been a directive by President Trump. I\u2019m reviewing that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comment excited many in Trump\u2019s base, who had believed for years that such a list existed and contained the names of powerful Democrats. (Bondi later said she was referring to Epstein files awaiting her review, not a specific client list.) They hoped Bondi would finally be the one to bring it to light. Senior White House aides had no idea what Bondi was talking about. That comment would haunt her. White House officials were again stunned when she handed out binders to social-media influencers at the White House. They began asking Bondi to secure approval before television hits related to Epstein. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She argued internally against releasing more information about the Epstein files, administration officials said, and told lawmakers it was just \u201cchild pornography that nobody wants to see,\u201d said Rep. Thomas Massie, who met with Bondi in April 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July, the FBI and Justice Department said they wouldn\u2019t release more, setting in motion a chain of events that led Congress to pass a law mandating the department produce more. Trump blamed Bondi for keeping his relationship with Epstein in the news, even though he repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said the files exonerated him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair in a piece published in December<\/a> that Bondi didn\u2019t appreciate how passionate some supporters were about the Epstein files. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many conservatives never forgave Bondi, and Trump regularly raised her handling of the issue with top White House officials and allies, according to people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the criticism, Wiles and Bondi maintained a friendship. At a recent White House event, Bondi was asking friends about Wiles, who had been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer and is in treatment while still on the job. \u201cPam is a brilliant, kind, thoughtful person and the next chapter of her life will be a wonderful one,\u201d Wiles said in an interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Epstein case would lead to some of the biggest cracks<\/a> that have yet formed in Trump\u2019s conservative coalition. A number of GOP lawmakers bucked the White House and demanded the Justice Department release all files related to the Epstein investigation, rebuking Trump\u2019s efforts to make his allies fall in line. And then the release of those documents, which included millions of records<\/a>, created months of negative news for Democrats, Republicans and global political and business leaders. The scandals only grew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A banner with an image of President Trump hanging on the Justice Department\u2019s main building in Washington, D.C. KEN CEDENO\/REUTERS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Bondi promised at the February 2025 CPAC convention that the \u201cweaponization\u201d of the Justice Department wouldn\u2019t continue. Yet soon she found herself under constant pressure to investigate and prosecute people Trump deemed to be his political enemies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This list would include former FBI Director\u00a0James Comey, New York Attorney General\u00a0Letitia James, Federal Reserve Chairman\u00a0Jerome Powell, Sens. Mark Kelly (D., Ariz.) and Adam Schiff (D., Calif.), among others. Amid Trump\u2019s mounting frustration over the pace of the probes, the department also stepped up its scrutiny of other Trump targets, including former CIA Director\u00a0John Brennan\u00a0and left-wing organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s anger over prosecutions with Bondi wasn\u2019t contained in private. It accidentally spilled out in September when the president posted on social media what had been intended to be a private message for Bondi urging her to bring charges against Comey and other targets. \u201cWe can\u2019t delay any longer, it\u2019s killing our reputation and credibility,\u201d Trump wrote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The post upset Bondi, who immediately began calling senior White House officials, allies and even Trump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of federal prosecutors expressed reservations about launching criminal probes of Trump\u2019s perceived enemies based on what they viewed to be directives from the president, rather than strong evidence. The White House moved to install handpicked replacements who might be more accommodating. The tactic led to indictments against Comey and James, but both were dismissed by a judge who said the former Trump aide behind the cases, Lindsey Halligan, was unlawfully appointed as the interim U.S. attorney in eastern Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPam Bondi used the machinery of federal law enforcement not to pursue justice, but to carry out political vendettas at the direction of the president,\u201d Rep. Jamie Raskin(D., Md.) said Thursday. \u201cHer firing today is long overdue, but it does not erase the damage done and it does not absolve her of accountability.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time Bondi was publicly ousted, she had left Washington. On Thursday, she was in her home state of Florida for a preplanned meeting with local sheriffs to promote a National Child ID Kit program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis initiative will save lives and find kids,\u201d\u00a0Bondi wrote on X<\/a>, shortly after Trump had already said she was leaving government to take a still-undisclosed job in the private sector. \u201cThat\u2019s the most important thing law enforcement can do: protect the most vulnerable among us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Josh Dawsey<\/a> is a political investigations and enterprise reporter for The Wall Street Journal. He most recently worked as a political enterprise and investigations reporter for the Washington Post. He joined the Post in 2017 and previously covered the White House. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Josh was part of a team of journalists who won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2022 for the newspaper\u2019s coverage of Jan. 6 and won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for the newspaper’s coverage of the role of the AR-15 in American life. He also is a two-time recipient of the White House Correspondents Association award for news reporting. He is also a lecturer at the Allbritton Journalism Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Josh is a proud graduate of the University of South Carolina and the enthusiastic owner of a rambunctious rescue dog named Pepper.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex Leary<\/a>\u00a0is a White House reporter for The Wall Street Journal. He previously worked for the Tampa Bay Times.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

C. Ryan Barber<\/a>\u00a0is a reporter in The Wall Street Journal’s Washington, D.C. bureau, where he covers the Justice Department and legal affairs. Prior to joining the Journal, Ryan reported on the Justice Department and federal law enforcement for Insider and the National Law Journal.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ryan began his journalism career in high school at his hometown newspaper, the (Wilkes-Barre, PA) Times Leader and later worked at the Reading Eagle and Cape Cod Times.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

S<\/a>adie Gurman<\/a>\u00a0covers the Justice Department and federal law enforcement for The Wall Street Journal, with an emphasis on the intersection of politics and the law. She writes about the Justice Department’s leadership and policy priorities ranging from national security matters, enforcement and criminal justice issues to terrorism, gun violence and civil rights enforcement.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadie has 20 years of experience covering law enforcement and legal issues. Prior to joining the Journal in 2018, she was a reporter for the Associated Press and worked for several local newspapers covering police and public safety, including her hometown Denver Post and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.<\/em><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back to News Pam Bondi at the White House in February.\u00a0ALEX BRANDON\/AP The attorney general was always on the ropes but thought she was finally on safer footing. She wasn\u2019t. By\u00a0Josh Dawsey,\u00a0Alex Leary,\u00a0C. Ryan Barber and\u00a0Sadie Gurman April 2, 2026 at 9:00 pm ET WASHINGTON\u2014On Wednesday morning, Attorney General Pam Bondi descended the sun-splashed steps of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17950"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17950"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17955,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17950\/revisions\/17955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}