Trump fires AG Pam Bondi

Hello readers, and welcome to On Politics. Kathryn Palmer here. Let's dive straight in to Thursday's news.

Trump fires Pam Bondi after criticism over Epstein docs: reports

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, no longer. The former Florida attorney general who represented Trump in his first impeachment trial has been fired, according to multiple media reports. Her departure comes after several Justice Department investigations of Trump's perceived enemies were thwarted, and amid consistent controversy from lawmakers and the public over her handling of files related to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Bondi’s firing was Trump’s second removal of a Cabinet official in his second term. He fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in March and replaced her with Markwayne Mullin, a former senator from Oklahoma. Bondi will be succeeded temporarily by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

A politics roundup:

• Trump paints rosy picture in last night's Iran address: key takeaways
• Despite reaching a deal, the DHS shutdown will continue for a while longer
• Trump's ballroom getting a vote after judge orders construction stopped
• Bryon Noem, Kristi Noem and a tabloid investigation, explained

Gallery: President Trump speaks to the nation on Iran from the White House

How the US is waging AI-assisted war on Iran

Hundreds of Iranian civilian deaths in the war have put the U.S. military's new AI systems in the spotlight, raising concerns from lawmakers over whether these systems are making deadly mistakes.

Experts and former officials say the military's artificial intelligence systems are central to Operation Epic Fury, which is seeing AI deployed on the battlefield to a new degree. At a closed-door House Armed Services Committee briefing last week, Pentagon officials told lawmakers AI was used in data management, but not final target selection, a person with knowledge of the briefing told USA TODAY.

But as the war drags on, AI could play an increasing role, one expert said, including in "prioritization" of targets – telling soldiers where to hit first.

Dems, advocates sue over effort to restrict mail-in voting

A series of voting rights groups and top Democrats are suing Trump in two separate lawsuits, aiming to block his new restrictions on mail-in voting.

The ACLU and other civil rights organizations are representing the voting rights groups, which include the League of Women Voters of the United States. They are arguing Trump's order could prevent millions of citizens from voting. A day earlier, a group of Democrats filed their own legal challenge: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and a group of Democratic organizations argue that the changes to voting threaten to "disenfranchise lawful voters" and is an overreach of presidential authority.

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