US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that his Attorney General Pam Bondi would be leaving her post.
"Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year," Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social.
"Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country," added.
Trump said Bondi "will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector to be announced at a date in the near future."
She will be replaced on an interim basis by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump said. Blanche was one of Trump's personal lawyers, who defended him in multiple criminal cases he faced prior to being elected to his second term.
The sacking comes as Bondi has faced criticism in Washington over her handling of investigative files related to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Reports had also surfaced suggesting Trump had grown frustrated with Bondi for not moving fast enough to prosecute critics and adversaries of his administration.
In particular, Bondi's department fell short of successfully prosecuting figures such as former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, whom Trump saw as foes.
Prior to her time at the White House, Bondi had served as a prosecutor for 18 years before being elected Florida's attorney general in 2010, becoming the first woman to hold the post.
A strong supporter of the president, Bondi joined Trump's legal team during his first term impeachment trial and later, she helped push Trump'sfalse claims of voter fraud after he lost the 2020 election to Biden.
Democrats welcome Bondi's departure
Bondi's sacking follows that of Kristi Noem, who was removed as the head of the Department of Homeland Security nearly a month ago.
Congressional Democrats praised Bondi's firing, sharply criticizing her work and her legacy at the justice department.
"Under Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Department of Justice became a cesspool of corruption," Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said.
"Bondi will be remembered for blocking the release of the Epstein files (and) weaponizing the DOJ to go after Trump's political opponents," she added.
Senator Mark Warner of Virginia said Bondi had denied Epstein victims transparency and "further undermined trust in our justice system."
"Americans deserve a Justice Department that is actually focused on delivering justice, not on serving a president's agenda of personal and political self-interest," Warner added.
Bondi still faces a subpoena to appear before Congress, at the House Oversight Committee on April 14. It is part of the continued inquiry into how the Department of Justice handled the release of the Epstein files.
Committee chair, Republican James Comer, said in a statement that he and his colleagues on the committee would decide whether they still wanted to enforce the subpoena.
But Democrats quickly urged the committee to follow through, Democrat Robert Garcia saying in a statement that Bondi "will not escape accountability and remains legally obligated to appear before our Committee under oath."
Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah
