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Attorney General Pam Bondi spent much of last month at the center of a political firestorm, lambasted by prominent MAGA pundits for the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Things look remarkably brighter for her these days.
President Donald Trump’s administration is rallying conservatives behind its federal military and law enforcement deployment in DC and its renewed focus on Democrats’ handling of Russian election meddling charges that plagued his first term.
At the center of both pivots is Bondi.
Mere weeks after self-styled Trump loyalty enforcer Laura Loomer called for her firing and Republican lawmakers began grumbling privately about her, Bondi’s place in the administration appears as secure as ever. Meanwhile, the FBI deputy director who Bondi tangled with over whether to release Epstein case files is now relegated to sharing the No. 2 job.
“It’s not because of the vagaries of politics, really, as much as it’s the attitude of the base,” one person close to Trump said of Bondi’s bigger role and the waning criticisms aimed at her. “It’s because of the base.”
In other words, while many of the president’s grassroots supporters haven’t exactly moved on from demanding that more Epstein files be released, specific anger at Bondi is subsiding. Part of that stems from the fact that the drip-drip of further news in the Epstein saga is slow by design — a pace controlled in part by Bondi herself, who is expected to start complying later this week with a congressional subpoena for more documents.
But it’s also thanks to the administration’s own work to encourage Trump’s base to move on from Epstein, as some of his aides have long predicted would happen. The leading vehicles for the president to change the subject — his anti-crime show of force in DC and his revival of allegations that intelligence was politicized ahead of the 2016 election — happen to feature Bondi at the helm.
“I flew in yesterday, and I went on a long walk, and I didn’t see any homeless,” said Alabama GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who noted that DC “looks like it’s gotten better” with the DOJ’s help.
The DOJ, in response to a request for comment, pointed Semafor to Bondi’s daily visits to meet with law enforcement officials deployed in DC before their patrols.
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The blowback came fast for Bondi after the DOJ and FBI, in an unsigned two-page memo released on a Sunday night in early July, declared the case of the late sex trafficker to be effectively closed. Loomer dubbed her “Blondi,” Tucker Carlson fretted about a “coverup,” and the now-co-deputy FBI director, Dan Bongino, wanted her out as attorney general.
The MAGA-friendly humor site Babylon Bee headlined one of its parody news stories: “Bondi Explains She Was Going To Release The Epstein Files But Then Some Pedophiles Asked Her Not To.”
Though he never aired public negativity about Bondi, Trump’s frustration with the public focus on Epstein grew — then peaked with a lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal for reporting on a birthday message to his onetime friend Epstein that carried his name.
But Bondi is finding plenty of other things to talk about. On Monday, she announced the hiring of Andrew Bailey, the Missouri attorney general who will share the FBI’s No. 2 spot with Bongino. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt lauded Bailey on Tuesday, as well as the “all hands on deck” FBI and DOJ.
Policing in DC and a grand jury investigation into Russia intelligence aren’t the only new projects Bondi has launched this month; she’s also served as a face of efforts to target drug cartels.
“Every day that Pam Bondi is featured as a law enforcement official is a good day for Pam Bondi,” as the person close to Trump put it.
A second person close to the White House said that while “she’s finding a way forward,” Bondi’s long-term success as attorney general will depend on her ability to deliver on “the big-ticket items.”
This person specifically pointed to anti-cartel action and “accountability for Tish James,” the New York state attorney general whom Bondi’s DOJ is investigating in response to her fraud prosecution of Trump.
Room for Disagreement
Even if the Epstein case no longer proves a major test for Bondi, it’s also guaranteed to resurface in the public eye soon. And while some Republicans are less exercised about it and Trump’s role in it, they also don’t see the matter as closed.
“I honestly think it’s a tempest in a teapot. I don’t think there are things in there that are going to hurt President Trump or any Republicans,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., who added: “But I’d like to see it resolved as soon as possible.”
Shelby’s view
Bondi has regained her footing with the president’s base by focusing on a host of Trump-friendly topics, but she’s also benefited from Congress being out of Washington and no longer pushing Epstein back to the forefront.
That will change quickly next month, when Republicans return to the Hill with no clear path out of the internal friction over Epstein that plagued them in July. A bipartisan push to force a House vote on releasing more files from the case appears likely to advance at that point.
Which will put Bondi in a tough spot once again, almost inevitably.
Notable
- Bondi recently sent letters to a number of sanctuary city mayors warning of prosecution against them if they don’t comply with administration policies on immigration.
- The New Yorker details Bondi’s role as attorney general and how she’s engrained herself as a Trump figure.
- The New York Times looks at the “procedural traps” Democrats are trying to lay on Epstein ahead of Congress’ return next month.
Eleanor Mueller contributed to this report.