US President Donald Trump has removed Attorney General Pam Bondi, a longtime ally and fierce defender of his administration, from her post as America's top law enforcement officer.
Trump praised her in a post on Truth Social and said she would be "transitioning" to a role in the private sector.
Bondi's time leading the justice department was often overshadowed by its handling of the release of files relating to Jeffrey Epstein and its investigation into the convicted sex offender.
She is the second Trump administration official in recent weeks to be cut from her post, after Kristi Noem was ousted as homeland security chief in March. Bondi will be replaced by her former deputy, Todd Blanche.
Bondi said she would be "working tirelessly" to transfer her work to Blanche, adding that the job had "been the honour" of a lifetime.
She added that in her new private sector position - which she did not identify - she would "continue fighting for President Trump and this administration".
The announcement comes less than two months after a combative congressional hearing in which Bondi was peppered with questions from lawmakers - at times descending into shouting matches in which she called one Democrat a "washed-up loser".
As recently as Thursday morning, Trump was defending Bondi, saying: "She is a wonderful person and she is doing a good job."
But hours later, Trump confirmed her departure on Truth Social, saying that her new private sector role would be "announced at a date in the near future".
Trump lauded Bondi's performance as attorney general in his post, saying she had done "a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in crime across our country".
But the president had reportedly grown increasingly frustrated with Bondi, in particular over her handling of the Epstein files.
When she was sworn into the post in February 2025, she vowed transparency over the Epstein case and promised to release an alleged client list associated with the disgraced financier, who died in 2019.
The department later said no such list existed.
In the end, millions of files related to Epstein were released under pressure - including from Trump supporters - and only after Congress passed a law requiring the Department of Justice to make unclassified records public.
The agency, and subsequently Bondi, faced bipartisan backlash, with lawmakers accusing the justice department of failing to obscure some identifying information about survivors, while protecting the identities of those who were not victims.
A handful of Republicans who worked with her closely over the years praised her on Thursday.
"Pam Bondi led this Department with strength and conviction and I'm grateful for her leadership and friendship," Blanche wrote on X. "We will continue backing the blue, enforcing the law, and doing everything in our power to keep America safe."
Others celebrated her departure.
Among them was Kentucky Republican congressman Thomas Massie, a regular critic of Bondi's handling of the Epstein files.
"I hope the next AG will release all the Epstein files according to the law and follow up with investigations, prosecutions and arrests," he wrote on X.
California Democrat Ro Khanna - who worked with Massie on the bipartisan law to compel the release of the files - told the BBC's Newsnight programme: "This shows that Congress isn't a doormat."
Khanna said lawmakers should refuse to confirm Blanche as the next attorney general unless he will "submit to investigating and prosecuting this Epstein class, this group of men who felt that they could write their own rules, play by their own roles, and treated the rest of us as dispensable".
Another Republican critic of Bondi's, South Carolina representative Nancy Mace, accused her of having "stonewalled every effort to hold the guilty accountable" and "seriously undermined" Trump with her handling of the files.
Survivors also told the BBC that Bondi had yet to meet them or respond to their emails about Epstein's wrongdoing, and that the matter had become a political liability for Trump.
Bondi has called Epstein a "monster" and told the victims she was sorry for the abuse they endured.
Most recently, a congressional committee formally summoned Bondi to answer questions over her handling of the Epstein investigation. She was expected to appear before them this month.
Under her leadership, the justice department has pursued a number of criminal investigations into political opponents of the president, including California Senator Adam Schiff, New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey.
In September, Trump pushed Bondi to more aggressively investigate his political adversaries. He said in a social media post addressed directly to Bondi: "We can't delay any longer, it's killing our reputation and credibility."
The justice department under her tenure faced questions over its handling of the investigation into federal immigration agents fatally shooting two people during confrontations in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which sparked nationwide demonstrations in January.
With Trump's announcement, Bondi becomes the third high-profile member of Trump's cabinet to leave this term, following Noem and, last year, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz - whose duties were given to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The relatively intact inner circle of this Trump presidency stands in stark contrast to his first term in office between 2017-21, which was a revolving door of firings and replacements.
In the first year alone, the administration saw the departure of acting Attorney General Sally Yates, National Security Adviser Mike Flynn, FBI Director James Comey, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, chief strategist Steve Bannon and two press secretaries, among others.
Since returning to the White House last year, commentators and political strategists had remarked that Trump's approach in his second term had been more disciplined and less chaotic.
Bondi was part of Trump's legal team during his first impeachment trial and when he claimed without evidence that the 2020 election had been stolen from him through mass voter fraud.
She also publicly supported him by showing up at court during his hush money trial in New York, which ended in May with a conviction of 34 counts of fraud. Trump is appealing against the verdict.
Source: BBC