Bondi's Official DOJ Portrait Found in a Trash Can — Hours After Being Fired

Within hours of Trump firing Pam Bondi as attorney general on April 2, her framed official portrait was found in a trash bin at the Justice Department. Photos circulated widely on social media.

Current and former DOJ officials said the image reflected how deeply unpopular Bondi was with career staff — thousands of whom had left the department rather than follow her orders. Career officials quietly celebrated her exit.

The karma was poetic. On her very first day as AG, Bondi had personally entered a secure area of the DOJ's national security division and ripped down portraits of President Biden and former Attorney General Merrick Garland that were still hanging on the walls. She recounted the story proudly.

Now her own portrait received the same treatment — except it ended up in the garbage rather than a storage closet.

The DOJ's Rapid Response X account attempted to debunk the viral photo, claiming it was "Fake News." Whether the specific photo was staged or real, the sentiment it captured was unmistakable: the career officials who serve the institution — regardless of which party holds power — were glad she was gone.

Bondi's tenure: weaponized the DOJ against political enemies, failed at it repeatedly (three grand jury refusals for Letitia James, "zero evidence" against Powell, accidentally released damning evidence against her own boss), got fired, and had her portrait end up in the trash. The arc of justice is long, but sometimes it bends toward the dumpster.