Not long after news broke that Pam Bondi had been removed from her post as Attorney General, the Justice Department moved quickly to take down the official portraits of the outgoing cabinet official.
Within hours of Donald Trump announcing the decision publicly, Bondi’s portraits were reportedly stripped from their places and thrown away, with MS NOW capturing the moment on video.
Bondi, who previously served as Florida’s attorney general, held the nation’s top law-enforcement role for a little over a year before her relationship with the President deteriorated and she was dismissed.
Reports indicate Bondi learned she was being fired before Trump’s live White House remarks on Wednesday, April 1, and was already headed back to Florida by the time he spoke.
While officials have not pointed to one definitive explanation for her exit, attention has centered on her disputed approach to documents connected to Jeffrey Epstein.
During the 2024 campaign, Trump voiced openness to declassifying material related to the late sex offender, but significant releases did not arrive until late last year—and even then the documents were heavily redacted.
Bondi also drew backlash in February 2025 when she said Epstein’s client list was “sitting on my desk right now.” The Justice Department later said in July 2025 that she misspoke, stating no such list existed.
Separately, she faced criticism for a hardline effort to remove longtime Justice Department staff tied to former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s inquiries into Trump’s actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
The rapid removal of Bondi’s portraits has been compared to a story she shared after Trump began his second term, when she described personally taking down images of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Merrick Garland.
“I went up on the seventh floor, which is the national security division. The entire floor is a SCIF, so no one can get in there,” Bondi said during an interview that February on Fox News’ My View with Lara Trump. “So, I was able to get the code, open the door, and I look on the wall and see President Biden, [former Vice President] Kamala Harris, and [former Attorney General] Merrick Garland’s paintings still hanging.”
“I personally took all three photos down,” Bondi explained. “I put them in front of someone who said to me, ‘Oh well, maintenance is really slow here.’ I said, ‘Well, it took me about 30 seconds to get them off the wall.’ ”