Donald Trump has reportedly discussed firing Attorney General Pam Bondi over her handling of the ‘Epstein files.’
The president has considered replacing Bondi with EPA Administrator and former Congressman Lee Zeldin. However, he has yet to make a final decision, according to both CNN The New York Times.
In a statement to The Daily Mail, Trump issued praise for Bondi. He did not deny the report.
‘Attorney General Pam Bondi is a wonderful person and she is doing a good job.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to Attorney General Bondi for comment, though the Justice Department referred both CNN and the New York Times to the president’s statement.
The Times reporting was based on four people familiar with the discussions.
People connected to Bondi told the paper that her accompanying the president on his visit to the Supreme Court Wednesday proved Bondi still had Trump’s support.
Trump brought Bondi and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to hear his administration’s defense of his executive order to overturn the constitutional and statutory protection of birthright citizenship.
Donald Trump has talked about firing Attorney General Pam Bondi over her mishandling of the ‘Epstein files’
The president has yet to make a final decision but is considering replacing Bondi with EPA Administrator and former Congressman Lee Zeldin
A source told CNN that their relationship was ‘business as usual’ in recent days.
Those close to the president said, however, that Bondi has made Epstein ‘a political liability’ for Trump, even among his fervent MAGA base.
He has also allegedly been critical of her communication skills and reticence to attack the president’s enemies.
The attorney general would be the second major figure to depart the second Trump administration after Kristi Noem was replaced by Markwayne Mullin as DHS Secretary in early March.
Bondi faces a Congressional subpoena over the Epstein scandal, after the committee passed a motion by Republican Nancy Mace in March, amid concerns the Justice Department has failed to turn over all Epstein-related documents.
Republican chairman James Comer wrote in the cover letter of the subpoena on Tuesday that the committee still had questions over the Justice Department’s handling of the investigation into Epstein and his associates.
‘As Attorney General, you are directly responsible for overseeing the department’s collection, review, and determinations regarding the release of files pursuant to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and the committee therefore believes that you possess valuable insight into these efforts,’ Comer wrote.
Hardline Republicans Tim Burchett, Lauren Boebert, Michael Cloud, and Scott Perry broke ranks to vote with Democrats to compel Bondi to appear.
People connected to Bondi told the paper that her accompanying the president on his visit to the Supreme Court Wednesday proved Bondi still had Trump’s support
The attorney general would be the second major figure to depart the second Trump administration
Those close to the president said that Bondi has made Jeffrey Epstein ‘a political liability’ for Trump, even among his fervent MAGA base
The Attorney General is the latest big name to be snared by the Committee, which in February grilled Bill and Hillary Clinton over their relationship with the pedophile and his co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Bondi has faced fury from across the political spectrum over her botched release of the Epstein files, including leaving victims’ names unredacted while keeping secret the names of alleged abusers.
She clashed with lawmakers at a tense House Judiciary Committee hearing in February, deflecting questions about the administration’s performance by pointing to the Dow soaring past 50,000 points.
Bondi promised to release the files shortly after taking up leadership of the DOJ, but the first tranche of documents she disclosed was already widely circulated.
Pressure on Trump to release the full files ratcheted up last year, eventually culminating in the Epstein Transparency Act, a bipartisan bill that forced the Justice Department to publish the remaining files.
More than three million Epstein-related documents were finally released at the end of January, including new mentions of Trump, as well as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Lutnick agreed to testify after a new photo emerged showing him with Epstein on the pedophile’s private island, Comer announced earlier this month.
Trump, meanwhile, declared Lutnick a ‘very innocent guy.’
He was ultimately subpoenaed after Mace threatened to force a formal vote.
