WASHINGTON — Pam Bondi has been removed from her role as Attorney General following her inability to successfully prosecute President Donald Trump’s political adversaries.
However, her replacement may face identical challenges in satisfying the president’s expectations.
Throughout the past year, Bondi’s Justice Department faced opposition from judicial officials, grand jury members, and department staff while attempting to prove criminal behavior by Trump’s opponents. The incoming attorney general will face Trump’s ongoing pressure for politically-motivated prosecutions — a persistent demand from his previous White House tenure — along with the same doubtful judicial system and procedural obstacles that prevented achieving desired outcomes.
“At the end of the day, it’s not like there were some magic steps that Pam Bondi could have taken to make bad cases look good to grand juries or judges,” said Peter Keisler, who previously served as acting attorney general under President George W. Bush. “The problem is that the president is demanding that prosecutions be brought when there’s no evidence and no valid legal theory. A new Attorney General won’t change that.”
Bondi represents another Trump attorney general forced to meet the president’s loyalty expectations and appetite for revenge. During his initial presidency, Trump demanded Jeff Sessions investigate Democrat Hillary Clinton and eventually removed him due to his recusal from the Russia investigation. He also criticized William Barr for refusing to support his unfounded 2020 election fraud allegations, leading to Barr’s resignation.
When Bondi joined the Justice Department 14 months ago, she appeared committed to maintaining Trump’s approval unlike her predecessors, consistently praising him, providing unwavering support, and launching investigations targeting Democrats and presidential critics — despite career prosecutors’ concerns about insufficient evidence.
Following Trump’s September social media request for Bondi to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, the Justice Department obtained Virginia indictments within days.
However, success proved temporary when a judge dismissed the cases weeks later, ruling that prosecutor Lindsey Halligan received an illegal appointment. Grand juries subsequently declined to pursue new mortgage fraud charges against James, while the Comey case remains complicated by evidence disputes and statute of limitations issues. Both Comey and James strongly deny wrongdoing and characterize their cases as politically driven.
Subsequently, a Washington federal grand jury declined to indict Democratic legislators regarding a video encouraging military personnel to resist “illegal orders.” Additionally, a federal judge blocked Justice Department subpoenas directed at the Federal Reserve during an investigation of Chair Jerome Powell’s June testimony about a $2.5 billion building renovation.
Judge James Boasberg stated the government “produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime” and described subpoena justifications as “thin and unsubstantiated” pretexts to pressure Powell into reducing interest rates. A case prosecutor later admitted in court that the investigation found no criminal evidence.
Another investigation targeting a Trump opponent continues as Florida prosecutors examine former CIA Director John Brennan regarding his congressional testimony about 2016 Russian interference. Despite months of activity, this investigation has produced no charges with unclear prospects. Brennan’s attorneys similarly dismiss the investigation as groundless.
Former national security adviser John Bolton represents one prominent Trump critic potentially facing trial, though the investigation resulting in his indictment concerning classified document handling began before Trump’s presidency.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche currently leads the Justice Department, bringing extensive Trump connections from serving as his personal attorney. Multiple sources informed The Associated Press Thursday that Lee Zeldin, a Trump supporter heading the Environmental Protection Agency, has been privately discussed by Trump as a potential candidate.
The eventual long-term appointee will likely face expectations to execute Trump’s retribution agenda more effectively, according to Jimmy Gurule, a former Justice Department official and Notre Dame law professor. Blanche seemed to acknowledge this during a Thursday Fox News interview, stating “I think the president is frustrated, everybody is frustrated” and “what we saw happen for the past four years is unforgivable and can never happen again.”
“If she was fired because Trump did not think that she was moving quickly enough in bringing criminal cases against his political enemies, then you would expect that the person that would replace her would probably agree to escalate those efforts,” Gurule explained.
