All posts tagged "pam bondi"

Trump plan to halt his own overthrow flagged by analysts: 'The body count is rising'

President Donald Trump is attempting to halt his own overthrow with frequent cabinet changes, a pair of political analysts claimed.

Bret Stephens and Frank Bruni, sharing their thoughts in The New York Times, believe Trump's hiring and firing in recent weeks have been an attempt at preserving loyalty within his cabinet selection. Trump fired Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi in quick succession during his second term, marking a dramatic purge of his own cabinet members.

Noem faced criticism for her handling of ICE operations in Minneapolis, where federal agents killed two individuals during enforcement actions. Democratic lawmakers condemned her dismissal as insufficient accountability for these deaths. Despite Trump's public support, he ultimately removed her from office, citing performance concerns and policy disagreements.

Trump subsequently fired Bondi, claiming she failed to aggressively pursue his political enemies and investigate perceived adversaries with sufficient vigor. Her removal signaled Trump's intolerance for any perceived disloyalty or failure to weaponize the Justice Department according to his specifications.

Both firings reflected Trump's broader pattern of removing officials who either questioned his directives or failed to prioritize his personal interests over institutional responsibilities.

Bruni said, "I have come to realize that normal language is inadequate and precedents are irrelevant when it comes to appraising Trump’s cabinet and other senior administration officials. Trump didn’t just hire incompetent people.

"He didn’t just hire lickspittles. He visited some perverse preserve of the morally degenerate — some superstore of grifters and goons — and said, 'I’ll take the worst of the worst. A baker’s dozen, please!' And on this score, the self-proclaimed master dealer got exactly the goods he wanted.

"As for her [Bondi's] firing, perhaps the cultural reference point we should be using right now isn’t “Real Housewives” but Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None.” Noem, Bondi, DeRemer — the body count is rising fast.

"I get the feeling that after spending the first year of his second term trying to prove that his White House wouldn’t have the kind of revolving door it did last time around, Trump will be regressing to that velocity of turnover. Watch out, Kash. Keep your head down, Pete. Or maybe I’m gripped not by prescience but by hope. A boy can dream."

Stephens added that Trump's frequent firings reflected an autocratic ruling that would see the cabinet dumbed down further to keep department heads loyal.

He said, "An Egyptian friend of mine, in the years when Hosni Mubarak was dictator, once explained to me that the key to running a long-term autocracy is always to take care that your immediate subordinates are even dumber and more corrupt than you are. That way, they’re too stupid to obstruct or overthrow you, and too compromised to be anything but slavishly loyal.

"At the time he told me this, which was in 2009 or so, I didn’t expect it would describe American government to a ‘T’ in just a few years’ time."

Trump's handpicked loyalists fail at everything — even doing evil: ex-GOP operative

Former Republican strategist Rick Wilson reacted on Wednesday to the most recent Trump cabinet exits, saying it was getting ugly.

In his Substack, the co-founder of anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project, revealed the similarities among President Donald Trump's now-ousted insiders and why he has viewed them as failures. In the last several weeks, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer have all been dismissed — others, reportedly FBI Director Kash Patel and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — may be on the chopping block next.

"Firing season is here," Wilson wrote.

"Here is the fundamental problem, and it is one Trump will never solve because it is downstream of who he is: he picks people for loyalty, and loyalty in his world is inversely correlated with competence," Wilson explained.

And that is problematic considering the nature of the cabinet positions.

"The kind of person who will say 'yes, sir' to anything is, almost by definition, not the kind of person who can actually do a cabinet-level job," Wilson wrote. "You cannot prosecute complex federal cases, run a 3-million-person military, manage a 22-agency national security apparatus, or direct the FBI on trolling, Truth Social posts, and a--kissing."

"And here’s the really incredible part: even the ones who have tried to do evil on Trump’s behalf aren’t even very good at that," Wilson added.

But these cabinet members knew what would eventually come, Wilson explained.

"In 2026, America is watching Trump fire people and seeing something very different," he added. "His approval is in the political Marianas Trench, it’s so far underwater. The midterms are seven months away. Republicans are whispering about a wipeout. And the man who built his brand on never showing weakness is now panic-firing the very people he told us, fourteen months ago, were the greatest collection of talent ever assembled in Washington."

"It’s not a show anymore. It’s a tell."

Gamblers eye these Trump officials for next ousting: 'Turning their attention to the boys'

Prediction markets have started taking bets on the next Trump cabinet member to be removed, according to reports on Tuesday.

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer was the latest to leave the administration and now the third woman to exit President Donald Trump's circle in recent weeks, The Daily Beast reported. Chavez-DeRemer's ousting followed former Attorney General Pam Bondi and former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Despite the pattern, online gamblers have signaled who they think could be at risk in coming weeks: two particular men and close Trump allies.

"But on Polymarket, a crypto-based online prediction marketplace, bettors are turning their attention to the boys," according to The Beast.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were leading in the prediction markets as the next to exit the Trump cabinet with both around 37 percent odds.

Lutnick has faced criticism over the Justice Department's release of the Jeffrey Epstein files — which revealed correspondence and images of the two men — amid questions about his ties to the late financier and convicted child offender. Lutnick, who was appointed by Trump, reportedly continued a relationship with Epstein long after Epstein was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution in Florida; this connection "did not end until at least 2018."

Trump's view of Hegseth, who has helped lead the Israeli-U.S. war in Iran, has apparently changed as the former Fox News host's approval rating has plummeted to 35 percent, according to an April CNN poll. The Pentagon chief has continually faced allegations of alcohol abuse, assault and infidelity.

One male cabinet member appeared to be in a secure spot.

"The definite safest cabinet member, bettors wagered, was—unsurprisingly—Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is rivaling Vice President JD Vance as the president’s closest confidant," The Beast reported.

Subpoena wording could blow up DOJ's bid to let Pam Bondi escape Epstein testimony

Former Attorney General Pam Bondi could still be forced to testify despite claims from the Department of Justice that she would no longer have to, according to an MS NOW report on Thursday.

The House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena last month for Bondi, with five Republicans joining Democrats to vote in favor of requesting Bondi speak to the group of lawmakers under oath. The date was set for April 14. But after President Donald Trump removed Bondi from the top job, questions loomed over whether she would still be required to attend the deposition. This week, the DOJ argued in a letter to House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY) that since Bondi was no longer in her position she would not need to appear, asking for her subpoena to be withdrawn.

MS NOW congressional reporter Mychael Snell described how lawmakers have responded and how the language used in the subpoena was now under dispute.

"Now, a spokesperson for James Comer had confirmed that she wouldn't be appearing on April 14th. But whether or not that's the right interpretation, that is what is in question right now," Snell said.

"The subpoena is made out to Miss Pamela Bondi, Attorney General of the United States, but the motion that was brought to subpoena Pam Bondi, said the Honorable Pam Bondi," Snell added. "So still certainly a lot of questions there. But as you mentioned, there is this bipartisan push for Pam Bondi to still testify, sit for that closed-door deposition as part of the Epstein investigation from Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace, who brought the motion to subpoena Bondi is the loudest voice. I'm going to read to you what she wrote yesterday. 'We expect Pam Bondi's deposition to be rescheduled in a timely fashion. Our motion made clear the committee must issue a subpoena to Pam Bondi, not the occupant of the office of attorney general of the United States.'"

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, had the same message.

"The subpoena is clear. It's for Pam Bondi, whether she is the attorney general or not," Garcia said. "Why she wouldn't want to answer questions about this incredibly important case to so many survivors — and quite frankly, the entire American public — is bizarre. She's going to need to appear before our committee whether she wants to or not."

Acting AG's 'bald admission' implicates Trump in revenge plot: analyst

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche made it clear where he stood — and it's firmly behind President Donald Trump, an analyst reported on Thursday.

Salon's Heather Digby Parton described how Blanche openly defended Trump's attack on his perceived enemies during his first press conference this week as acting attorney general since the president ousted now former Attorney General Pam Bondi. Blanche, who was Trump's personal attorney prior to joining the Department of Justice, has signaled he will continue to be loyal to Trump in his new role.

"Blanche went on to explain that there are 'men, women and entities that the president in the past has had issues with,' and it is Trump’s right and duty to lead the country. He said that while the president doesn’t want to go after his political enemies, 'he wants justice' because people had gone after him and his family," Digby Parton wrote.

"That bald admission shows that, if he hopes to exonerate his boss, Blanche will need to hone his skills as a political mouthpiece," Digby explained. "But what he might lack in rhetorical finesse, he more than has in job experience, as least as defined by Trump."

Blanche has apparently learned from Bondi what Trump values the most. He even admitted that if Trump dismisses him from the top legal job he would say, "Thank you very much, I love you, sir."

"Blanche would most likely be easily confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate, and his paean to Trump at Tuesday’s press conference shows that he understands his boss very well," Digby Parton wrote. "By expressing his unconditional love for the president and making clear his willingness to be tossed aside like one of his discarded wives, Blanche has signaled he will do anything Trump wants him to. And if anything goes wrong, he’ll happily take the fall."

It might all be temporary.

"Blanche is the attorney general of Trump’s dreams. Until he isn’t," Digby Parton added.

Acting attorney general: 'Nobody has any idea why' Pam Bondi was fired

Interim Attorney General Todd Blanche insisted that he had no idea why President Donald Trump had fired former Attorney General Pam Bondi.

During a Tuesday press conference, Blanche was asked to square his pledge to root out weaponization at the Department of Justice with Trump's demand that his enemies be prosecuted.

"You had [people in] this department who stood idly by why states tried to keep President Trump off the ballot," Blanche complained. "When I see reporting about shock and awe at this supposed weaponization of this department, of this Department of Justice, it means nothing to me because it's completely false."

"So, so I, I understand the question and I understand the, the pretty constant role of the media that somehow this department is weaponizing itself, but it happens not to be true," he continued. "We have tens of thousands of prosecutors all over this country putting bad guys in jail, OK?"

"Did she lose her job, though, because she was not successful in that pursuit?" one reporter said of Bondi.

"You read the same exact communication from the president that I did," Blanche quipped. "Pam Bondi is a trusted friend of President Trump's; will remain so. And no, nobody has any idea why the attorney general is no longer the attorney general, and I'm the acting attorney general except for President Trump."

Later at the event, a reporter pressed Blanche on why nobody knew the reason for Bondi's dismissal.

"Can you just expand on your comment that nobody has any idea why Ms. Bondi is no longer the Attorney General?" the reporter said. "It seems like it's kind of a problem if you don't know what it is the President wants you guys to be doing better."

"Now, that's an assumption that's baked into your question that I don't know that it's true," Blanche snapped. "I don't operate every day trying to second-guess what President Trump or anybody else is thinking. I just operate every day on doing everything that I need to do to execute the president's agenda and priorities."

"So what I was commenting on, and to expand on my comment, is that I grow tired of people in the media saying why President Trump did or did do something, because President Trump's the only one that knows that. And so that was, I meant nothing more and nothing less than that, that President Trump's decision for making the decision he did are his own and nobody else's."

FBI agents blew the whistle on Trump's attempt to interfere in major gov race: lawmaker

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, on Friday debunked reports that said the president was angry with Pam Bondi and suspected the now former attorney general had tipped off a candidate for California governor about a potentially damaging FBI investigation about him and his relationship with an alleged Chinese spy.

Swalwell told CNN anchor Pamela Brown that he denied the claims, saying he did not have any direct conversations with either Bondi or now acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. He called out Trump for attempting to interfere in the upcoming California gubernatorial election in May, a crowded race that Swalwell has been leading as the top Democratic contender according to recent polls.

"No, absolutely not," Swalwell said. "In fact, it's laughable. And the president was tweeting about this at 4:45 in the morning yesterday. Again, we're at war. And the FBI is focused on interfering in a California governor's race where I am leading, when they should just be focused on the homeland."

Swalwell suggested what actually happened.

"And it looks like from the Washington Post and New York Times reporting that they were tipped off by FBI agents who were alarmed that the president and the FBI director would use the FBI to try and interfere in an election 30 days before Californians start voting," Swalwell added. "They should just focus on bringing down the gas prices and protecting the homeland. That's what I'm focused on in my job in Congress and my candidacy to be governor of California. They should do the same."

Top aide's cancer diagnosis may have unleashed Trump's firing spree: analyst

Donald Trump has fired two high-profile Cabinet members over the last month, and it could be because a crucial aide is absent, a political analyst has claimed.

Both the Department of Homeland Security head Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi were shown the door in quick succession, with the latter fired by Trump earlier this week. Trump has turned over fewer staff members in his second term as president, but an increase in high-profile firings may be because the aide keeping him in check is less present than usual.

Slate columnist Jill Filipovic suggested Susie Wiles' absence may have given Trump free rein to clean house, as he does not have any opposition to firing members of his administration.

Filipovic wrote, "The second Trump administration has seen far less churn than the first. That’s in part because, this time around, Trump appointed a slate of hardcore loyalists. Those include Noem and Bondi, who bent over backward to serve the president, even when it meant bending the law, too.

"And the lack of churn has also been credited to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who by most accounts has enforced significant restraint from a famously chaotic leader. Wiles, though, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, and while she has remained in her role, her influence may not be quite as forceful as it once was."

Filipovic went on to note several other high-profile staff members had been ousted from their positions in recent weeks, with Border Patrol head Greg Bovino dismissed in late January.

"Even after all of that, he was simply moved back to his previous role in California and allowed to quietly retire," Filipovic noted. "National Security adviser Mike Waltz accidentally added the editor in chief of the Atlantic to a private Signal chat about bombing Yemen; he was removed from his national security post, but made ambassador to the United Nations.

"Other men who have made colossal errors have retained their posts. Pete Hegseth is the one who decided to send war plans and other sensitive classified information to his colleagues, his wife, and his brother on Signal in the first place, and he remains in charge of the Department of Defense (and continues to insist on calling it, ridiculously, the Department of War).

"Stephen Miller is one of the administration’s most odious members and a near-constant source of public embarrassment; he was also, by most accounts, the one actually pulling the strings at Noem’s Department of Homeland Security and setting the administration’s immigration policies, including spreading the lie that Alex Pretti, the U.S. citizen who was gunned down in the street by ICE agents, was an 'assassin' planning a 'massacre.'

"And if Miller is the administration’s most odious, FBI Director Kash Patel is its most buffoonish."

Bondi's ousting reveals what Trump really thinks of women: analyst

Donald Trump's decision to remove Attorney General Pam Bondi — despite her loyalty to the president — has reportedly revealed how he really sees even the most supportive women around him: disposable.

Salon's Amanda Marcotte described how even "the most faithful MAGA acolytes" could be cut from their Trump administration jobs. And for Bondi, even after years of service to Trump, she was the "latest victim of her own hubris."

"Trump has surrounded himself with people who had little to no chance of rising to high levels of power in Washington on their own merits, and certainly not in a traditional Republican administration," Marcotte wrote. "He has no use for expertise or talent; he prefers people who will grovel before him. But because most of Trump’s appointees are talentless hacks, they are disposable. Losing them causes no problems for the president, who can easily replace them with other mediocrities who may not know how to do the job, but are gifted at debasing themselves for the boss."

But Bondi's ousting added another layer of complications, Marcotte explained.

"Bondi’s firing, though, is an especially brutal heave under the MAGA bus," Marcotte wrote. "As the former attorney general of Florida, the president’s adopted state, she has one of the longest histories of Trump staffer at pleasing him."

Trump has made it clear that removing women from the top administration roles doesn't cause a problem for him, especially if he's feeling "grumpy" or frustrated, Marcotte added.

"If she weren’t such an indefensible character, Bondi’s efforts to save her job would be sad," Marcotte wrote. "At congressional hearings, she avoids answering real questions by yelling a lot and heaping embarrassing, disingenuous praise on the president. Trump has reportedly enjoyed these performances, but that’s all water under the bridge now. He had a bad day on Wednesday, where both his sit-in at the Supreme Court during arguments over birthright citizenship and his big White House speech on the Iran war backfired horribly. He needed a whipping post."

'Rumor mill is swirling' as MAGA women reportedly 'on edge' over who Trump will cut next

MAGA women in the Trump cabinet were reportedly "on edge" Friday after President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Bondi's ousting followed the removal and demotion of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as questions arise over who might get the axe next, according to The Swamp, the Daily Beast's Substack.

"Pam Bondi’s ouster has sparked a mild panic across Washington as officials and aides wonder: Who’s next? And will it be another woman?" The Swamp reported. "While Bondi’s sacking was somewhat inevitable after her botched handling of the Epstein files and her failure to successfully prosecute Trump’s enemies, the fact it comes merely weeks after Kristi Noem was replaced by Markwayne Mullin hasn’t gone unnoticed. Now, the rumor mill is swirling over Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer."

It's unclear whether Trump intends to cut Gabbard or Chavez-DeRemer — but both members of the administration have come under scrutiny over different concerns.

"Gabbard has been at odds with Trump over Iran, while Trump is reportedly unhappy with Chavez-DeRemer’s performance," according to The Swamp.

Those weren't the only Trump administration officials in hot water.

"But there have also been other women in Trump’s orbit who haven’t fared well — just ask Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who was forced to give up a plum post as UN ambassador so Trump could keep his razor thin GOP House majority," The Swamp reported. "Or MAGA loyalist Kari Lake, who wanted a senior role in Trump’s cabinet and ended up with the headache of trying to overhaul The Voice Of America. Even Education Secretary Linda McMahon has effectively been hobbled given the dismantling of her department. Coincidence or trend?"