President Trump announced Thursday that Attorney General Pam Bondi would be leaving her position as the nation’s top law enforcement official. In a post on Truth Social, the president called Bondi a “Great American Patriot and a loyal friend” who had done a “tremendous job” leading the Department of Justice.
In her own social media post, Bondi described working in the Trump administration as the “honor of a lifetime.” She said she was leaving the position to take an “important” role in the private sector.
Bondi is the second Cabinet-level official to be ousted in the past month. Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in early March amid persistent criticism of her handling of the department, including questionable expenditures and the sweeping nationwide immigration crackdown.
Until recently, there had been relatively little turnover in Trump’s second term relative to his first stint in the White House. In 2017, national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned after just 24 days in the role when it was revealed that he had lied about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the United States.
Flynn’s exit was the first in a string of high-profile personnel changes early in Trump’s first term. By the end of Trump’s first 12 months in office, he had seen a long list of major figures exit his administration, including his chief of staff Reince Priebus, top strategist Steve Bannon, press secretary Sean Spicer and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. Trump also replaced his first homeland security secretary, John Kelly, six months into his term — Kelly became his new chief of staff.
Overall, Trump oversaw 14 Cabinet secretary changes during his first term, by far the most of any president dating back to Ronald Reagan, according to a tally by the Brookings Institution.
His successor, Joe Biden, had two, with the first coming during his third year in office. Trump also saw turnover in more than 90% of key positions in his administration outside of his Cabinet, a significantly higher rate than previous presidents.
So far in his second term, Trump has had significantly less upheaval than he did in his first. He hasn’t had many changes in the most important positions in his administration. But there have been some major departures recently, and reports suggest that more may be coming in the near future.
Here’s a rundown of the key figures who have left Trump’s second administration, what they did while in office and why their time in the executive branch came to an end.
Pam Bondi
Position: attorney general
During her 14 months as the head of the Department of Justice, Bondi aggressively pursued Trump’s priorities — sparking accusations from critics that she had abandoned the Justice Department’s independence in favor of carrying out the president’s wishes. She oversaw the mass firings of career DOJ prosecutors, forced out top FBI officials who had investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, riot and took steps to give the Trump administration more power over elections.
Under Bondi, the DOJ opened investigations into several of Trump’s perceived political foes, including Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Bondi has also been at the center of controversy over files related to Jeffrey Epstein, including the incomplete release of millions of pages of documents from the federal government’s investigation of the notorious sex offender.
Though Trump only had positive things to say about Bondi in his announcement on Thursday, reports suggest that the president had become increasingly frustrated with her inability to accomplish the goals he had set out for her. Trump has been particularly dissatisfied with Bondi’s handling of the Epstein files and her inability to secure indictments against Trump’s supposed political enemies, reports say.
During his first term, Trump pressured his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to resign over his decision to recuse himself from investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election. His second attorney general, William Barr, resigned about a month after Trump lost his reelection bid in 2020.
On Thursday, Trump tapped Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to lead the DOJ after Bondi’s departure. It’s unclear whether he intends to nominate Blanche for attorney general on a long-term basis.
Kristi Noem at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on March 4.
(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Kristi Noem
Position: secretary of homeland security
As homeland security secretary, Noem was tasked with carrying out Trump’s immigration agenda. On her watch, agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection carried out an unprecedented campaign of raids, detentions and deportations. She came under particularly intense scrutiny after two U.S. citizens were killed by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis in January. Throughout her tenure, there were reports that the White House was unhappy with the rate of deportations carried out on her watch.
Noem also came under fire for her decision making while leading DHS, including using $220 million on an ad campaign in which she was prominently featured.
Trump announced on March 5 that Noem would be replaced by Markwayne Mullin, who was a Republican senator from Oklahoma at the time.
Six different people led DHS during Trump’s first term. Only two of them were confirmed by the Senate. The other four served in an acting capacity.
Dan Bongino
Position: deputy director of the FBI
Bongino, a former police officer and conservative commentator, served as second in command at the Federal Bureau of Investigation for less than a year before stepping down to return to his media career.
His role at the top ranks of federal law enforcement put him in the position of investigating some of the topics he had discussed on his popular podcast. He helped oversee the hunt for the suspect who had left pipe bombs near the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a case he had discussed regularly on his show. He was the target of criticism from his former listeners when his official statements about the Epstein case failed to validate the unfounded theories he had previously promoted.
Lindsey Halligan
Position: U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (served unlawfully)
Trump tapped Halligan, a White House aide with no prosecutorial experience at the time, to serve as the government’s top prosecutor in one of the country’s most pivotal federal districts in September. Her appointment came the day after the previous U.S. attorney, Erik Siebert, resigned amid pressure from the White House to bring charges against James Comey or Letitia James.
Halligan signed indictments against both Comey and James. Those charges were later dismissed after a federal judge ruled that Halligan had been appointed unlawfully and did not have the authority to issue indictments. The Trump administration attempted to keep Halligan in the position, but she ultimately stepped down in January before leaving the DOJ altogether a week later.
Joe Kent
Position: director of the National Counterterrorism Center
Kent served as one of the federal government’s top counterterrorism officials for seven months before resigning over the Iran war. A former Green Beret and longtime Trump ally, Kent announced his resignation last month in a letter that was deeply critical of the Trump administration’s decision to attack Iran.
“I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives,” he wrote.
In his letter, Kent accused Trump of allowing himself to be dragged into the conflict by Israeli officials, a claim that some Republicans said was steeped in antisemitism.
