Is Trump Souring on Pam Bondi?

Attorney General Pam Bondi has done some good things and some atrocious sideshows that are embarrassing. She shot her mouth off, saying she had the Epstein client list on her desk. That was a lie. She overshot the landing, creating months of political mayhem for the White House. It’s still ongoing. She has done well pushing back against rogue judges, deploying lawyers to appeal all matters related to the judicial coup against Trump, but there are reports that President Trump is souring on his top legal enforcer. As with anything, though, we must wait and see.

The Wall Street Journal’s lengthy piece on the reported friction between Trump and Bondi also includes statements of support. This is DC—who knows that’s going on, especially with this administration regarding palace intrigue. But Trump usually gives hints, as he did with Steve Bannon in his first presidency.

The ‘well, you know Steve came in late’ regarding the Trump operation was the kiss of death. The publication added Trump’s statement of support, though the core of the piece focuses on officials saying that relations between the president and the attorney general are strained, with Trump even personally conveying his disappointment over the Justice Department’s waffling record in defending his agenda in the legal system. Yet he’s allegedly more concerned with the failure to prosecute James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, though both cases were quarterbacked by lawyers who lacked the experience to win them, even if the appointments of the interim US attorneys were deemed legal:

President Trump has complained to aides repeatedly in recent weeks about Attorney General Pam Bondi, describing her as weak and an ineffective enforcer of his agenda, administration officials and other people familiar with his complaints said.
The criticisms appear to be part of an intense campaign by Trump to pressure the Justice Department to more aggressively pursue his priorities, some of the officials said. Trump has previously criticized Bondi at times but his vocal concerns about his attorney general have grown more frequent in recent months, officials said.
This month, Trump has talked with allies about how he could appoint special counsels at the Justice Department because he is so frustrated with what he sees as the slow progress of its work, people familiar with the matter said.
Chief among his grievances is what he sees as Bondi’s failure to quickly and effectively prosecute the investigators who had pursued him for years, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James, the officials and others familiar with his complaints said. Both criminal cases were dismissed in November by a judge who said the Trump aide who secured the indictment had been improperly appointed to her post. Trump has wanted to see the cases continue quickly.
A Justice Department investigation into another of Trump’s antagonists, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, became public on Sunday night. Powell, whom Trump has publicly berated and pressured to lower interest rates, disclosed that the Justice Department was pursuing a criminal investigation over his testimony last summer about the central bank’s building-renovation project.
Trump has also complained frequently that Bondi’s handling of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has created months of political and personal headaches for him, officials familiar with the complaints said. When White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair that Bondi “whiffed” on her handling of the files, Trump told staff that he agreed with Wiles, two officials said.

It’s this embarrassing tangle, plus the Epstein Files fiasco, that has likely led to frustration between Trump and his DOJ, and rightfully so. Will he remove Bondi? There’s a lot to do, and the crucial 2026 midterm cycle is upon us. Adding a new attorney general fight when the Democrats smell blood in the water could turn a political headache into a full-blown cerebral hemorrhage.

Not saying that Bondi hasn’t committed embarrassing blunders, but she hasn’t pulled a Jeff Sessions yet, and she is likely, again, despite her administrative foul-ups, the best person available for the job.