2026 is off to a rough start for U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi as immense pressure for her to resign continues to grow. President Donald Trump is standing firm in support of Bondi, but the country can’t help but notice Bondi’s rapid rise to the White House might backfire sooner than you think.
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From being Florida’s first female AG to making it all the way to the White House just last year, Bondi’s resume certainly speaks for itself. But in order to understand how the advocate for justice turned into a staunch MAGA supporter, you’d have to start at the beginning of her story…
Bondi Was Raised by a Respected Democrat
You may be shocked to find out Bondi wasn’t always a die-hard MAGA follower. In fact, her father, Joseph “Joe” Bondi, started the family’s legacy through his work as the strong Democrat Mayor of Temple Terrace, Fla. in the 1970s. Throughout his career, Joe wrote 25 textbooks and was even professor at the University of South Florida’s College of Education, according to the Longboat Observer.
As mayor, Joe was single-handedly credited with building City Hall, a library, a family recreation center and even a police station. “I did it all in four years without raising taxes,” he said during a May 2012 interview with the Longboat Observer. Bondi’s father died of leukemia in 2013, years before the U.S. attorney general ever met Trump.
Joining the Trump Train
The fourth-generation Floridian worked as an attorney for 18 years before she ran for state Attorney General in 2010. Bondi was the 37th and first female AG in Florida history, according to her bio. But after joining Trump’s team in 2019, Bondi never went back.
Then, she was tapped to serve as Special Advisor to Trump in the Office of White House Counsel. She remained by the president’s side through his first impeachment proceedings, proving her loyalty to Trump and basically securing her AG nomination courtesy of the president.
Bondi Confirmation Hearing
In Jan. 2025, Democrats repeatedly raised concerns over Bondi’s integrity and willingness to push false claims of fraud during the 2020 election. The then-nominee previously said Trump was unfairly prosecuted after leaving office in 2021. Still, during her confirmation hearing, Bondi promised she wouldn’t let politics interfere with her job.
“Every case will be prosecuted based on the facts and the law that is applied in good faith — period. Politics have got to be taken out of the system,” she declared back then. Bondi’s previous rhetoric echoed existing sentiments from MAGA believers, but now, she’s been facing scrutiny over one of Trump’s most notable campaign promises.
Epstein Files Controversy
In Feb. 2025, Bondi told America she had the client list for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein “sitting on my desk right now” and ready to be released. But how the tables turned suddenly after Trump declared that the country should “move on” from talking about Epstein, we told you.
The Epstein files have plagued the Trump administration since he got back into the Oval Office, and Bondi is largely taking the fall. The president has dodged questions about his questionable relationship with Epstein all while the AG was called before Congress to testify about the Justice Department’s handling of the files.
During Bondi’s 5-hour questioning last week, she denied any wrongdoing but was met with Democrats like Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett who quickly applied pressure. “The fact of the matter is that you will be remembered as one of the worst attorney generals in history; an attorney general who has prioritized obstruction over justice, corruption over the law, fealty to the president over loyalty to the Constitution,” said Crockett.
“What’s crazy about all of this is just that this is a big cover-up, and this administration is engaged in it,” she continued of the Epstein files. “In fact, this administration is complicit.”
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