President Donald Trump has privately mused about firing his Attorney General Pam Bondi and replacing her with EPA administrator Lee Zeldin, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Frustrated by the backlash and anger in his base over the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, Trump has asked people about replacing Bondi, who faces a deposition later this month on Capitol Hill related to the congressional investigation into the late sex trafficker, the sources said. He has also fumed that she hasn’t investigated enough of his political opponents.
It’s not clear the president has made up his mind, the sources told CNN. Bondi was with Trump Wednesday, riding in his motorcade as he attended the Supreme Court arguments on birthright citizenship. Trump voiced confidence in her in a statement to CNN.
“Attorney General Pam Bondi is a wonderful person and she is doing a good job,” the president said.
Asked for comment, the Justice Department referred to the White House statement. A source familiar with the matter told CNN that Trump and Bondi have spoken repeatedly in the past several days, and that the discussions were “business as usual.”
The idea of replacing Bondi with Zeldin first arose in January, then subsided as Epstein coverage slipped from the news cycle, sources said. Some senior officials in the DOJ believed that the year-long headache of the Epstein files was finally behind them, a source said. But word that Trump wanted to replace Bondi with Zeldin began to circulate again in the West Wing on Monday.
Zeldin is not seen as a final choice to replace Bondi if she’s dismissed. Trump has mentioned other candidates, but Zeldin the most often, one person told CNN.
The New York Times first reported on Bondi’s potential ouster.
Bondi has several strong allies within the administration, including White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
But in remarks to a reporter for Vanity Fair, Wiles previously acknowledged that Bondi had “completely whiffed” in her handling of the Epstein files.
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