When members of Congress challenged Pam Bondi over the Epstein files in February, she hurled insults that could have been plucked straight from the president’s mouth.
“Washed-up lawyer loser!”
“Failed politician!”
“Hypocrite!”
Bondi’s appearance before the House Judiciary Committee was a particularly aggressive display of loyalty.Â
She answered questions about the Epstein files by talking about stock market growth, declining crime and other unrelated reasons to sing Donald Trump’s praises.
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Some saw the fiery performance as a fight to save her job.
There were already whispers Trump was unhappy with her work as his attorney-general.
The whispers have now borne out.
“We love Pam,” Trump said, but she was “transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector”.
Loyalty isn’t everything
For the second time in a month, Trump has sacked one of his most fierce female defenders.
Bondi and former homeland security secretary Kristi Noem were the two most prominent women in Trump’s cabinet.
Both were fired after controversial tenures carrying out Trump’s instructions in particularly tricky roles.
Noem had sparked intense backlash by smearing ICE protester Alex Pretti, baselessly accusing him of “domestic terrorism” after a federal agent shot him dead in the street in January.
But what really upset Trump, by most reports, was Noem’s decision to spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to star in glossy TV ads.
Noem’s firing signals Trump is fed up
In some ways, Noem had it easier than Bondi. She was the face of a policy that was popular with Trump’s base. Bondi had a tougher task keeping the MAGA movement happy.
As attorney-general, she oversaw the release of the Epstein files. A myriad of issues — including delayed releases, questionable redactions and files that remain locked away — enraged some of Trump’s biggest supporters.
Trump never wanted the files released. But Congress forced his hand, and Bondi took the blame for what followed.
The saga could prove to be as politically damaging for the president as anything else.
MAGA rarely rebels against Trump, even when he does things to upset a fair chunk of the rest of America. But the way his administration handled the Epstein files left some in the MAGA movement feeling betrayed.
Pushed to prosecute
The Epstein files are likely not the only factor behind Bondi’s dismissal.
Trump was known to be frustrated that she was not using the powers of government to go harder after his adversaries.
In September, he famously published a Truth Social post — which looked like a private message made public — urging her to prosecute his political enemies.
When Trump was later asked if the post meant he was upset with her, he said: “No, I just want people to act.”
It’s a difficult position for a government lawyer, whose professional ethics should mean cases are pursued on the basis of evidence rather than a president’s instruction.
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Soon after the post went out, though, the government charged two of the people named in it — former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney-General Letitia James.
Both had previously investigated Trump. Both cases were thrown out of court.
Controversy over those failed cases has faded. But public anger over the Epstein files endures.
And Trump’s latest move has put them back in the headlines, after a month of war dominating the news.
‘Eternally grateful’
Publicly, Trump and Bondi have been praising one another since he sacked her.
He called her a patriot and a friend. She said she was eternally grateful for the trust he’d put in her.
Pat Bondi’s attorney-general job made it challenging to keep both Donald Trump and his MAGA supporters happy. (AP: File)
This doesn’t appear to be an acrimonious break-up like that between Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former MAGA firebrand he called a “traitor”.
Trump’s social media post suggests he’s setting her up with a new job. She said it was one she was “thrilled” about, and where she will “continue fighting for President Trump and this administration”.
Trump has many reasons to keep Bondi on side.
Among them, she has been subpoenaed to face more questions about the Epstein files before another congressional committee.
Members of the House Oversight Committee — which recently grilled the Clintons — still want Bondi to appear.
“My subpoena still stands,” Republican committee member Nancy Mace said on X.
“Bondi handled the Epstein Files in a terrible manner and seriously undermined President Trump.”
Whether Bondi will or won’t face the committee is now unclear.
But if she does, her loyalty to Trump — and maybe her ability to channel his insults — will be tested again.