Pam Bondi’s swift dismissal on Thursday underscores a reality that has met Trump loyalists from Jeff Sessions to Kristi Noem – no amount of loyalty is enough to save oneself from being dumped by Donald Trump.
Since the president assumed office last year, there have been few people more important to his effort to remake government than Bondi, his longtime friend. As attorney general, she obliterated the longstanding norm that the justice department be apolitical and keep the White House at arm’s length. She oversaw purges of career employees and politically motivated prosecutions against Trump’s political enemies.
“Pam Bondi took a sledgehammer to the justice department and its workforce. The DoJ’s independence, integrity and workforce have degraded more under her leadership than at any other time during the department’s 155-year history,” said Stacey Young, a former justice department lawyer. “What she destroyed in a year could take decades to rebuild. But we have a president who fired her because she didn’t go far enough.”
Trump reportedly fired her in part because she was unable to make progress on prosecuting his enemies and over the way she handled the Epstein files. A federal judge dismissed cases against James Comey and Letitia James last year, and grand juries rebuffed efforts to re-indict James. The administration’s failure to move past those safeguards was a blunt reminder of checks and balances.
Bondi tried to save face with Trump – insulting members of Congress and meeting with prosecutors to discuss investigations into Trump enemies as recently as Wednesday. But in the end, her loyalty was not enough.
