"Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year. Pam did a tremendous job..."

"... overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country, with Murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900. We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future, and our Deputy Attorney General, and a very talented and respected Legal Mind, Todd Blanche, will step in to serve as Acting Attorney General. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP"

Trump, at Truth Social.

The spin at the NYT: "The firing of Ms. Bondi, 60, ends a turbulent 14-month tenure as attorney general in which she tried desperately to appease a boss who demanded unimpeded control of the Justice Department to pursue politically motivated investigations against targets of his choosing, even when prosecutors warned that there was no evidence to do so.... Yet Mr. Trump remained annoyed by Ms. Bondi’s inability to secure indictments of people he referred to as 'scum' during a speech in the department’s Great Hall about a year ago.... He has also complained about her shortcomings as a communicator and TV surrogate — a role he thought would suit her talents.... In mid-March, five Republicans on the House Oversight Committee blindsided their own leadership — and Ms. Bondi — by joining Democrats to vote to subpoena her to testify under oath behind closed doors about the Epstein case...."

The spin at The Daily Mail: "Trump's reasoning for the sudden dismissal comes in part because the President believes Bondi tipped off Eric Swalwell about the FBI's efforts to release investigative documents related to his relationship with an alleged Chinese spy."

"Ms. Bondi is the latest administration official to move into heavily guarded quarters at military facilities in or near the nation’s capital..."

"...  after citing danger from criminals, adversaries overseas and protesters. Other officials who have relocated include Stephen Miller, the president’s top domestic policy adviser and the architect of his hard-line immigration policy; Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Kristi Noem, the exiting homeland security secretary; and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth...."

From "Bondi Is Said to Move to Military Housing Because of Threats/The attorney general relocated from a Washington apartment to a base in the area within the past month, according to people familiar with the situation" (NYT).

5 things I've been finding unbloggable.

1. Nancy Guthrie, still missing.

2. Bondi yelling at congressfolk and getting yelled back at by. 

3. Millions of Jeffrey Epstein papers, full of names names names. 

4. Marco in Munich. 

5. Obama and the aliens.

"Federal agents arrested the former CNN anchor Don Lemon late Thursday..."

"... on charges that he violated federal law during a Jan. 18 protest in St. Paul, Minn., against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, his lawyer said. The case had been rejected last week by a magistrate judge. Attorney General Pam Bondi said that she had ordered the arrests of Mr. Lemon and three others in connection with the demonstration at a church.... Mr. Lemon, who was scheduled to appear in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday morning to contest the charges, has said he was reporting as a journalist when he entered Cities Church in St. Paul to observe a demonstration against the immigration crackdown...."

The NYT reports.

"Mr. Bongino’s obsession with his own image, as projected through a constant stream of gung-ho social media posts, landed flat in a proud law enforcement agency..."

"... where working hard and keeping a low profile has been a calling card of leadership. In a lawsuit filed in September, the former head of the bureau’s powerful Washington field office, Steven J. Jensen, said he was taken aback by the 'intense focus' that Mr. Bongino devoted to 'increasing online engagement through his social media profiles in an effort to change his followers’ perception of the F.B.I.'... Mr. Bongino... fell out of favor after lambasting Attorney General Pam Bondi over her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case — and alienating Ms. Bondi’s friend and ally, Susie Wiles.... Mr. Bongino’s departure represents a tempered victory for Ms. Bondi, who accused him in a contentious meeting over the summer of planting negative stories about her in the right-wing news media, after the Justice Department issued a memo stating that the Epstein files warranted no further investigation. Mr. Bongino, apparently upset by the exchange, did not show up for work the next day...."

From "Dan Bongino Says He Will Step Down From F.B.I. in January/The departure of Mr. Bongino had seemed inevitable since August, when the White House hired Missouri’s attorney general, Andrew Bailey, to share his job as deputy director" (NYT).

"Over the course of 11 interviews, Ms. Wiles offered pungent assessments of the president and his team: Mr. Trump 'has an alcoholic’s personality.' Vice President JD Vance has 'been a conspiracy theorist...'"

"'... for a decade' and his conversion from Trump critic to ally was based not on principle but was 'sort of political' because he was running for Senate. Elon Musk is 'an avowed ketamine' user and 'an odd, odd duck,' whose actions were not always 'rational' and left her 'aghast.' Russell T. Vought, the budget director, is 'a right-wing absolute zealot.' And Attorney General Pam Bondi 'completely whiffed' in handling the Epstein files."

From "Trump’s Top Aide Acknowledges ‘Score Settling’ Behind Prosecutions/In interviews with Vanity Fair, Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, said Trump 'has an alcoholic’s personality,' called JD Vance a 'conspiracy theorist' and concluded that Pam Bondi 'completely whiffed' the early handling of the Epstein files" (NYT)(gift link)..

Here's the Vanity Fair article: "Susie Wiles, JD Vance, and the 'Junkyard Dogs': The White House Chief of Staff On Trump’s Second Term (Part 1 of 2)Throughout the first year of Donald Trump’s second administration, Vanity Fair writer Chris Whipple has interviewed Wiles amid each moment of crisis. This insider’s account joins a portfolio of portraits for an unflinching, up-close look at power—and peril."

Here's Wiles's response, on X. It's quite generic:

The Epstein Files Transparency Act "requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to publish (in a searchable and downloadable format) all unclassified records, documents, communications..."

"... and investigative materials in DOJ's possession that relate to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein. This includes (1) materials that relate to Ghislaine Maxwell, (2) flight logs and travel records, and (3) individuals named or referenced (including government officials) in connection with the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein. DOJ is permitted to withhold certain information such as the personal information of victims and materials that would jeopardize an active federal investigation."

Says the summary of the bill the House passed today, 427-1.

I'm skeptical about statements like this (from the NYT): "The House on Tuesday approved a bill directing the Justice Department to release all files related to its investigation into the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in a near-unanimous vote that was a stunning turn for an effort that Republicans had worked for months to kill."

All files?

"Every time I listen to a lawyer-trained representative saying we should criminalize free speech in some way, I think to myself, that law school failed."

Said Sonia Sotomayor, quoted in "Sotomayor rebukes calls to 'criminalize free speech' in apparent swipe at Pam Bondi/The justice, in public remarks, didn’t name the attorney general, who has come under fire for comments to target people over 'hate speech'" (Politico).

And so ends the decades long push — by the left — to criminalize hate speech. Thanks, Justice Sotomayor!

"There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society. We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech."

Said Pam Bondi, quoted in "Bondi takes heat from the right after vowing to prosecute 'hate speech': ‘We will absolutely target you'" (NY Post).

Takes heat and deserves it.

Among the conservative commentary at the link there is this 2024 tweet from Charlie Kirk himself:

Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There's ugly speech. There's gross speech. There's evil speech. 

And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment. 

Keep America free.

"Let’s... not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about."

Writes Donald Trump, at the end of this long post at Truth Social:

What’s going on with my “boys” and, in some cases, “gals?” They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening. We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and “selfish people” are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein. For years, it’s Epstein, over and over again.

"Ms. Bondi and her allies believe that Mr. Bongino, who parlayed a he-man image and promotion of conspiracies into a top law enforcement job, planted stories..."

"... in the conservative news media blaming Ms. Bondi for the backlash after an announcement earlier this week that the Epstein case would be closed, according to officials close to the situation.... It escalated into an angry face-to-face confrontation at the White House on Wednesday, when an irate Ms. Bondi accused Mr. Bongino of leaking information to the news media in the presence of the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, the White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and one of her deputies, Taylor Budowich. Mr. Bongino denied it, they said."

From "Fallout Over Handling of Epstein Case Erupts Into the Open/An irate attorney general is said to have confronted the deputy director of the F.B.I. at a tense White House meeting earlier in the week" (NYT).

Presumably, what was done in the presence of Kash Patel was the accusation, not the leaking.

Will Bongino resign? "On Friday, a high-profile Bongino booster — the far-right influencer and conspiracist Laura Loomer — claimed, in two dramatic social media posts, that the bureau’s deputy director had taken Friday off to collect his thoughts, and was 'now seriously thinking about RESIGNING' over Ms. Bondi’s actions in the Epstein case. A person close to Mr. Bongino did not dispute her characterization, describing him as very angry and considering a range of options, including quitting."

"Trump’s Top Aides Spread the Epstein Conspiracy. Now They Are Trying to Kill It.

Today's episode of the NYT "Daily" podcast — transcript and audio at Podscribe.

Excerpt: "It's one thing to be on the outside when you can say whatever you want. There's no responsibility for proving anything. It's another, when you have to actually run the organizations you've spent years and years beating up and accusing of coverups, it only takes an instant for the outsiders to then turn on you. And I think that's what Pam Bondi is learning. That's what Kash Patel is learning, and that's what Dan Bongino is learning.... The day-to-day responsibilities that these people are bearing forces them to accept realities that folks outside the wall don't have to.... They may have ultimately stood on the path of truth here, but they've weakened their own position in the movement that elevated them...."

"Attorney General Pam Bondi actually seemed to lean into the idea that this was part of the larger pattern of judicial wrongs that the administration now seeks to right...."

"Appearing on Fox News, Bondi discussed the Wisconsin case and another in which a local New Mexico judge resigned after a man the government has alleged is a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was arrested at his home. But rather than just focus on those two cases, Bondi repeatedly talked as if they were part of a broader problem with the judiciary. 'What has happened to our judiciary is beyond me,' Bondi said.... When Fox host John Roberts asked about the perception created by arresting judges — 'They’ll say this is a government that is expanding the powers of the Article One of the Constitution, now they’re arresting judges,' he said — Bondi didn’t dispute that. 'No one is above the law, John,' she said...."

I'm reading "Pam Bondi’s striking comments on arresting judges/Amid criticisms that the administration is intimidating judges, the attorney general didn’t exactly downplay the idea that this was part of a larger crusade against the judiciary" by Aaron Blake (in WaPo).

No one is above the law is what Trump antagonists said when the authorities arrested him. Four times.

I don't like the use of government authority as a political weapon or as a means of personal revenge, but that WaPo article doesn't get into the meat of what is alleged in the Wisconsin-judge case. Here's Pam Bondi explaining it (on ABC News):

"The DOJ may be releasing the list of Jeffrey Epstein's clients?"/"It's sitting on my desk right now...."

Reporter asks US AG Pam Bondi: Will you really be releasing the Epstein files?

Bondi: "It's sitting on my desk right now to review."

Wow. pic.twitter.com/sjXlATAYSa

— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) February 21, 2025

"On her first day in office, [Attorney General Pam Bondi] announced the creation of a 'Weaponization Working Group,' purportedly intended to root out 'abuses of the criminal justice process'..."

"... by local and federal law enforcement officers, including those who had investigated Mr. Trump. Current and former Justice Department officials view those claims as merely an excuse to justify the brazen politicization of the department under Mr. Trump and his team. It has left many employees angry and worried for the department’s future. The [Eric] Adams case brought those concerns to a head. One veteran prosecutor told a friend late Thursday that he was not answering phone calls, in hopes of avoiding a demand to take an action that would force his resignation...."

From "Trump Official’s Demand in Adams Case Forces Justice Dept. Showdown/A crisis at the department over the Eric Adams case is an early test of the criminal justice system’s resilience against a retribution-minded president and his appointees" (NYT).