With Pam Bondi fired, a showdown to replace her looms in Congress

Pam Bondi is out at the Justice Department. And all roads to replace her lead through one place: the U.S. Senate.

The impending political brawl on Capitol Hill to supplant the embattled attorney general, fired by President Donald Trump on April 2, as the nation's chief law enforcement officer is already getting underway.

For a litany of reasons, it won't be easy or quiet, regardless of whom Trump chooses to permanently take her spot.

Fury over the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein files has spread like wildfire in Congress among both Republicans and Democrats. Tamping down that frustration will be a crucial variable in determining how much support her successor gleans in the GOP-controlled Senate. While the next nominee will only need a simple majority vote to become the next attorney general, just a few Republicans could derail confirmation.

Bondi's replacement will have to answer for much bigger changes at the traditionally apolitical Justice Department, which has been accused of actively pursuing investigations into the president's political enemies under Bondi's leadership. Democratic senators, the former FBI director and the New York state attorney general have all been the subject of investigations. The pattern has drawn the ire even of some GOP senators whom the White House will need on board with another DOJ chief.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, for instance, has been blocking the nomination of Trump's pick to lead the Federal Reserve until the DOJ drops a probe into the current Fed chair, Jerome Powell.

Tillis, crucially, sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where his support may be needed to push the next attorney general confirmation through.

Democrats promise a fight

In February 2025, every Republican senator and one Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman, of Pennsylvania, voted to confirm Bondi to lead the DOJ.

A lot has happened since to rattle the Senate's GOP moderates.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has been critical of some the DOJ's most-scrutinized actions and joined with Democrats to call for an investigation into Bondi's oversight of the release of the files connected to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has spoken out against DOJ budget cuts and previously said the investigation into the Fed raised "a lot of disturbing questions."

Exactly whom the president nominates to succeed Bondi will be a determining factor in how much support in Congress that person musters. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who just took over from Kristi Noem after Trump fired her, faced a glide path to Senate approval, in part because he was a sitting senator and has friends across the aisle in the chamber.

Trump reportedly has considered replacing Bondi with Lee Zeldin, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, according to The New York Times and CNN. He immediately named Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as the acting attorney general.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, praised Bondi's leadership in a statement and said Senate Republicans are prepared to get the next confirmation started.

"The Judiciary Committee stands ready to advance President Trump's next Attorney General nominee," he said. That process won't begin until after Trump names a nominee, though. And the Senate doesn't return from a two-week recess until April 13.

Democrats are vowing to stand in the way. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said while his caucus is happy Bondi's gone, "the rot at the Department of Justice begins and ends with Donald Trump."

"As long as his focus is on using DOJ as a tool for revenge and not law enforcement, the cover up of the Epstein files, along with the countless other problems at DOJ, will continue," he said.

Zachary Schermele is a congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.