Washington — President Trump is seriously considering replacing Pam Bondi as attorney general because of dissatisfaction with how aggressively the department has pursued some of his priorities, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.
White House officials have discussed several possibilities as options for attorney general, but Lee Zeldin, the Senate-confirmed administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, is the likely replacement, sources said Thursday.
Mr. Trump met with Zeldin on Tuesday.
The president is fond of Bondi, and expresses personal affection for her in private conversations, multiple sources said earlier this week. He has also long praised her publicly and is likely to offer her another position in the administration.
Nothing was final as of Thursday morning.
“Attorney General Pam Bondi is a wonderful person and she is doing a good job,” Mr. Trump said in a statement to CBS News.
During Bondi’s tenure, the department has pursued a wide variety of criminal investigations into Mr. Trump’s perceived political opponents, but most of the cases to date have not proven successful.
Mr. Trump has felt frustrated there haven’t been more indictments and arrests of his political adversaries, even as sources told CBS News that efforts to prosecute former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson and former CIA Director John Brennan are looming.
Some of Bondi’s allies believe that the lack of prosecutions against Mr. Trump’s enemies is being driven by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who has not pushed them too hard amid political concerns and worries about his future after his Justice Department career.
Zeldin, a former congressman, also has very little legal experience, and that could cause a crisis of confidence at the department among both career and politically appointed officials.
Bondi, who has defended Mr. Trump as a private attorney and as the nation’s top law enforcement official, is viewed as a loyal political ally to the president. She was part of his legal team during his first impeachment.
The Justice Department has seen sweeping changes in the year since Bondi was confirmed, from the shuttering of multiple offices to the mass exodus of thousands of federal lawyers who resigned, took buyouts or were fired.
Most employees who were fired worked on issues that were disfavored by Mr. Trump and his allies — including prosecutors and FBI agents who were involved in probes into Mr. Trump over his retention of classified records and efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
