Front Runner Emerges in Trump’s Search for a New Attorney General

Several familiar names are already circulating as candidates to lead the Justice Department, filling the vacancy created by Pam Bondi’s ouster as attorney general this week. Mr. Trump confirmed Ms. Bondi’s departure in a Truth Social post Thursday, making her the second Cabinet official to be removed during his second term. He announced the same day that the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, would take over on an interim basis. Tapping Mr. Blanche allowed the president to fill the top Justice Department seat without a Senate confirmation vote. Under federal vacancy law, the president can assign a Senate-confirmed official to perform the duties of an open position, though only temporarily.Mr. Blanche, whom the president praised as “a very talented and respected Legal Mind,” has served as the nation’s number-two law enforcement official since his Senate confirmation last March. A Trump loyalist and former federal prosecutor, he represented the president in the criminal cases brought by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, and former special counsel Jack Smith.Whether Mr. Blanche will assume the role permanently remains unclear. Since Ms. Bondi’s removal, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Lee Zeldin, has emerged as a leading candidate.Mr. Zeldin has led the EPA since January 2025, focusing on deregulation and restoring American energy dominance. A lawyer by training, he became one of New York’s youngest licensed attorneys at 23. He is also an Army veteran who served 22 years, including a deployment to Iraq in 2006.Prediction markets place Mr. Zeldin as the heavy favorite to replace Ms. Bondi. He met with the president at the White House on Tuesday to discuss wildfire prevention, though the conversation touched on Ms. Bondi’s replacement, sources told Fox News. Several outlets reported this week that Mr. Trump had been floating Mr. Zeldin’s name as a possible replacement even before Ms. Bondi’s removal. Other names reportedly in the mix include the assistant attorney general for civil rights, Harmeet Dhillon, who has led the administration’s crackdowns on campus antisemitism, and Jeanine Pirro, the United States attorney for the District of Columbia.Whether any of these candidates is up for the job is another question. Mr. Trump has long demanded personal loyalty from his attorneys general, and many have struggled to balance legal obligations against the president’s wishes. His first term saw a revolving door of two full-time attorneys general and three acting ones.Whoever takes the job will likely be expected to manage the fallout from the Epstein files and to carry forward stalled cases from Ms. Bondi’s tenure. The next attorney general will also have to decide whether to revive prosecutions that collapsed under Ms. Bondi, including the dismissed federal criminal cases against the former FBI director, James Comey, and New York’s attorney general, Letitia James.The incoming AG will also inherit a slate of consequential litigation, including the criminal investigation of the Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell; the administration’s effort to remove a Fed governor, Lisa Cook; and the Justice Department’s civil rights lawsuit against Harvard University.

Front Runner Emerges in Trump’s Search for a New Attorney General

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