Within hours of President Donald Trump announcing that Pam Bondi was out as attorney general, images of her framed portrait — removed from its place alongside those of the president and vice president in Department of Justice offices — began circulating online. One photo showed the portrait sitting inside a rubbish bin.
The image spread rapidly across social media on 3 April. Current and former DOJ officials said the swift removal was not coincidental, reflecting how deeply unpopular Bondi had become among career staff — thousands of whom had left the department rather than follow her orders, with dozens more forced out. Many DOJ veterans were quietly celebrating her exit.
A Portrait Dispute That Defined Her Tenure
Much of the anger among career staff traced back to an episode at the start of Bondi's tenure. She walked into the national security division and found the portraits of former President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Attorney General Merrick Garland still hanging on the wall. She was outraged, took them down herself, and publicly told the story as evidence that the career workforce was more sympathetic to Democrats than Republicans.
What Bondi did not discuss publicly was the respected veteran she demoted over the incident: Devin DeBacker, who had been the acting chief of the national security division. DeBacker's demotion came the same day Bondi saw the portraits still hanging; he was reassigned to his prior role as chief of the foreign investment review section. 'They better take her picture down,' one former national security division official, who remains disturbed by DeBacker's removal, said.
BREAKING: Pam Bondi’s portrait has been thrown into the garbage bins at the Department of Justice. pic.twitter.com/hGGHL4g3rQ
— The General (@GeneralMCNews) April 3, 2026
Fired Amid Epstein Fallout
Trump announced Bondi's dismissal on 2 April via Truth Social, writing that she was 'a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend' who would be moving to 'a much-needed and important new job in the private sector.' He named Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former personal defence lawyer for Trump, as acting attorney general in the interim.
Sources said Trump had grown 'more and more frustrated' with Bondi, not only over the Epstein files, but over her failure to deliver the retribution campaign he had sought against political opponents. Indictments secured against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James were both thrown out by a federal judge, who ruled the prosecutor who obtained them had been invalidly appointed. A Justice Department attorney separately acknowledged in court last week that the department had no real evidence of criminality against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, another of Trump's targets.
The Epstein files, however, loomed largest. Early in her tenure, Bondi said in a television interview that an Epstein client list was 'sitting on my desk right now to review.' Months later, the DOJ reversed course, with an unsigned memo stating investigators had found no incriminating client list and no evidence that Epstein had blackmailed prominent individuals. Congress subsequently passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, compelling the department to release all related materials. The DOJ missed its 30-day deadline, and when files were eventually released, lawmakers from both parties objected to the volume of redactions. Epstein survivors also noted that information about possible accomplices had been redacted whilst details identifying victims had, in some instances, been left exposed.
Subpoena Stands
Bondi's departure has not ended her legal obligations to Congress. The House Oversight Committee had subpoenaed her to testify on 14 April regarding the DOJ's handling of the Epstein investigation. Representative Nancy Mace, the South Carolina Republican who moved to subpoena Bondi, said the writ remained in force after the firing. 'My subpoena still stands. When the Oversight Committee moved to subpoena Bondi, I did it by name, not as the sitting Attorney General of the US,' she wrote on X. Representative Ro Khanna, California Democrat, said Bondi must still testify regardless of her departure. 'Even though she was fired, she must still answer to Congress about the remaining documents, why we have no new prosecutions, and why she participated in a cover-up,' Khanna said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi is out, but my subpoena still stands.
— Nancy Mace (@NancyMace) April 3, 2026
She is still required to appear before the House Oversight Committee and answer questions about the Epstein files.
It's us against the two-tiered system. The American people deserve the truth.
RELEASE THE EPSTEIN… pic.twitter.com/9Nt7fLQyR7
Bondi posted on X that she would transition her office to Blanche over the coming month and was 'thrilled' about an unnamed private sector role. Trump is reported to be considering EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin as a permanent replacement, though no formal nomination has been made.
Bondi's exit is the second major cabinet-level dismissal of Trump's second term in under a month, following the removal of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in early March. With a congressional subpoena still active and the Epstein investigation unresolved, her departure from government does not appear to be a clean break.
