By Andrew Goudsward and Nandita Bose
WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has removed Attorney General Pam Bondi from her post, a White House official said on Thursday, following mounting frustration with her performance, including her handling of investigative files related to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump had also reportedly grown frustrated that Bondi was not moving quickly enough to prosecute critics and adversaries who he wanted to face criminal
charges.
In a social media post, Trump praised Bondi as a "Great American Patriot and a loyal friend" and said she will move to a job in the private sector. Trump said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, his former personal lawyer, will lead the Justice Department in the interim.
During her tenure as the top U.S. law enforcement official, Bondi was a combative champion of Trump’s agenda and dismantled the Justice Department’s longstanding tradition of independence from the White House in its investigations.
But it was repeated criticism over the Epstein files, including from Trump allies and some Republican lawmakers, that came to dominate her tenure. Bondi was accused of covering up or mismanaging the release of records on the DOJ’s sex trafficking investigations into Epstein, a financier who cultivated ties with an array of wealthy and powerful figures.
POLITICAL HEADACHE
The issue created political headaches for Trump and drew renewed scrutiny of his past friendship with Epstein, which he has said ended decades ago.
Her ouster could lead to a shake-up in strategy at the Justice Department and potentially a renewed push to deploy the U.S. legal system against Trump’s targets.
Bondi is the second senior Trump official to be ousted recently. Trump removed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on March 5 following criticism of her management of the agency and Trump’s immigration agenda.
Bondi, a former Republican state attorney general in Florida, said she worked on restoring the Justice Department’s focus on violent crime and rebuilding trust with Trump’s supporters after federal prosecutors twice criminally charged Trump during his years out of power.
Bondi also faced criticism over the removal of dozens of career prosecutors who worked on investigations disfavored by Trump, with critics accusing her of abandoning the DOJ’s traditional focus on even-handed justice.
Bondi defended the rollout of the Epstein files, saying the Trump administration had been more transparent on the issue than previous presidents and that DOJ lawyers worked on a compressed timeline to review reams of material.
SPARRING WITH LAWMAKERS
During a combative hearing before a House of Representatives panel in January, Bondi responded to criticism with political attacks directed at lawmakers. She refused to apologize or look at Epstein victims and their relatives who attended the proceedings.
Bondi early last year played into fevered speculation about the Epstein files, saying a client list was on her desk for review. But after an initial release included material that had largely already been public, the DOJ and FBI declared in July that the case was closed and that no further disclosures were warranted.
The move prompted an eruption of criticism and eventually a bipartisan law passed in November requiring the Justice Department to release nearly all of its files.
The release of roughly 3 million pages of records still did not quell the controversy, as lawmakers criticized redactions in the files and the disclosure of the identities of some Epstein victims.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Bondi and she was set to testify on April 14.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward and Nandita Bose, additional reporting by Bhargav Acharya, Doina Chiacu, Bo Erickson and Steve Holland; Editing by Michelle Nichols)
