Speaker 1: Hey there, folks, it is Thursday, April second. A breaking
Speaker 1: story right now, Attorney General Pam Bondi has been fired.
Speaker 1: And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
Speaker 1: We say fired with a nod and a wink and
Speaker 1: a smirk. And I don't know what else we're going
Speaker 1: to share with you some of the back and forth
Speaker 1: and how we all found out, but rogues, this is
Speaker 1: a big deal for the second time. And what a week.
Speaker 1: A very high profile and a high profile female in
Speaker 1: the president's cabinet has been let go.
Speaker 2: I was just going to say, two of the most
Speaker 2: prominent women within the administration, within days of one another,
Speaker 2: have now been fired. And we know that Christy Nome
Speaker 2: has been replaced by a white man, and there is
Speaker 2: now word that the same thing is happening with Pam
Speaker 2: Bondy as well. And look, this is now a pr
Speaker 2: campaign at this point, because look, we talked about this
Speaker 2: on Morning Run today, New York Times and CNN both
Speaker 2: had independent sources and reporting suggesting this was going to
Speaker 2: happen as soon as today, and lo and behold it does.
Speaker 2: But my issue we were just talking about before we
Speaker 2: came on, Look, this happens in every administration. We understand
Speaker 2: that presidents go grow frustrated with or don't like how
Speaker 2: certain members of their cabinet are performing, or perhaps don't
Speaker 2: like how they're being received by the public. Either way,
Speaker 2: this happens in every administration. However, I always find it
Speaker 2: so interesting that people or our administration or our presidents
Speaker 2: don't just speak the truth. They don't shoot straight with us,
Speaker 2: and they try to act as if this is an
Speaker 2: amazing person who's going to spend more time with their family.
Speaker 2: I say that because that's just something people say, but
Speaker 2: it's they've been fired. But there's never an actual acknowledgement
Speaker 2: of that from the administration.
Speaker 1: And we are speaking about that because of the statement
Speaker 1: we are going to that you hear now from the
Speaker 1: President in making this announcement. Again, this had been previewed,
Speaker 1: if you will, by multiple news outlets today, but the
Speaker 1: president's officially mate has be known a short time ago
Speaker 1: by posting this on truth Social Again, we use the
Speaker 1: word fired. Everyone has used the word fired. Here are
Speaker 1: the words the President use.
Speaker 2: Yes on Truth's Social he said, Pam Bondi is a
Speaker 2: great American patriot and a loyal friend who faithfully served
Speaker 2: as my Attorney General. Over the past year, Pam did
Speaker 2: a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown and crime across
Speaker 2: our country, with murders plummeting to their lowest level since
Speaker 2: nineteen hundred. We love Pam and she will be transitioning
Speaker 2: to a much needed and important new job in the
Speaker 2: private sector to be announced at a date in the
Speaker 2: near future, and our Deputy Attorney General and a very
Speaker 2: talented and respected legal mind, Todd Blanche, will step in
Speaker 2: to serve as acting Attorney General. Thank you for your
Speaker 2: attention to this matter, President Donald J. Trump. My question is,
Speaker 2: does anyone leave a prominent position like Attorney general after
Speaker 2: a year because they have an opportunity to serve in
Speaker 2: the private sector for a lot more money.
Speaker 1: Happens all the time.
Speaker 2: Okay that actually, uh, does I know what I'm asking that?
Speaker 2: Because I did think that that is possible after just
Speaker 2: one year? Is my question?
Speaker 1: Okay, bro this okay, I give him credit, and maybe
Speaker 1: this is a bit of loyalty. Is to try to
Speaker 1: make it seem or come across as best he can
Speaker 1: the idea to say she's transitioning to something somewhere that
Speaker 1: will soon be announced at a later date. Almost sounds comical.
Speaker 1: It's comical. Fine, and again I give him credit and
Speaker 1: I will on this one if he's trying to just
Speaker 1: make it sound better.
Speaker 2: Robes.
Speaker 1: This was wide reporting to the point of silliness this morning.
Speaker 1: You and I have been in this industry a long
Speaker 1: long time, and it used to be one source was okay.
Speaker 1: He got to the point you need it too. The
Speaker 1: industry standard became three robes. We saw folks like The
Speaker 1: New York Times doing four and more sources about this
Speaker 1: story happening.
Speaker 2: Yes, and I actually even just read to you. NBC
Speaker 2: News just put out something that said President Donald Trump
Speaker 2: has grown dissatisfied with Attorney General Pam Bondi and was
Speaker 2: considering replacing her, eight people familiar with the situation said
Speaker 2: before he ultimately fired her on Thursday. Eight people, I've
Speaker 2: never seen that before.
Speaker 1: This is a story like this, somebody that high profile,
Speaker 1: with the high stakes there are in politics, a news
Speaker 1: organization knows better than to just put out some rumor
Speaker 1: or something they heard. Yes, they made sure they asked,
Speaker 1: and they asked, and they asked and they asked. When
Speaker 1: you start seeing The New York Times got four sources
Speaker 1: on this this morning, CNN had three. You're talking about eight.
Speaker 1: The writing was on the wall. The thing, I guess
Speaker 1: robes A lot of people looked and say, well, who
Speaker 1: WHOA wait a minute. She was right by his side yesterday.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so she was, And I think we even talked
Speaker 2: about this on his way to the Supreme Court, which
Speaker 2: was the first for any sitting president to go listen
Speaker 2: to the arguments for the Supreme Court, listening to whether
Speaker 2: or not birthright citizenship should be changed or amended or limited.
Speaker 2: I guess is what the President has asked. But Pam
Speaker 2: Bondi was seen traveling with him from the White House
Speaker 2: to the Supreme Court. She was right there with him
Speaker 2: at his prime time address yesterday evening on Thursday evening,
Speaker 2: there she was, And he even spoke of her yesterday.
Speaker 2: Because obviously these rumors have been circulated, so even as
Speaker 2: early as this morning, President Trump said to NBC News,
Speaker 2: Attorney General Pam Bondi is a wonderful person, and she
Speaker 2: is doing a good job. My issue is, look, I
Speaker 2: understand you don't want to He's doing his best to
Speaker 2: give her the kindest send off possible. But when you
Speaker 2: have sources saying one thing and rumors of a heated
Speaker 2: argument that apparently took place last week between the two
Speaker 2: of them, where you've got multiple sources describing one thing
Speaker 2: and then publicly you're hearing a complete opposite story line.
Speaker 2: It's just again we wonder why there is distrust in
Speaker 2: our government. This would be exhibit A no.
Speaker 1: I give them. Look, yeah, this always happens. Things start leaking,
Speaker 1: sources start talking, and an administration is trying to get
Speaker 1: ahead of it, or not to confirm anything, or not
Speaker 1: trying to get ahead of announcement they know might be coming.
Speaker 1: These games get played all the time.
Speaker 2: I get that, I get that, and I'm not naive,
Speaker 2: But I'm just wondering what would a world look like
Speaker 2: in which you could actually have an administration. Say, Pam
Speaker 2: Bondi is a wonderful person. We think the world of her,
Speaker 2: and her legal expertise is beyond reproach. However, we aren't
Speaker 2: necessarily on the same page on a couple of things,
Speaker 2: and so it's best for Pam to move on and
Speaker 2: for us to bring in someone who we feel like
Speaker 2: is a better fit for our administration. We wish for
Speaker 2: the best, and there's no hard feelings, but at least
Speaker 2: there's some honesty in there. I just feel like to
Speaker 2: act like she's the best Attorney General ever, She's an
Speaker 2: amazing human being, she did such good work, but we're
Speaker 2: firing her. That doesn't make sense. And I understand, I
Speaker 2: get the pr behind it, but I'm just wondering why
Speaker 2: we can't actually have an honest and still kind conversation
Speaker 2: about moving forward. Or people lose jobs all the time,
Speaker 2: people go in a different direction all the time, people
Speaker 2: get divorced, and they can still say kind things about
Speaker 2: each other. But to not acknowledge, but to not acknowledge
Speaker 2: there was an irreconcilable difference or some sort of issue,
Speaker 2: To not even acknowledge that there was an issue is
Speaker 2: what I always find to be strange. Like we're smarter
Speaker 2: than that, We get it. You can be honest with
Speaker 2: us and still say she's a great person. She could
Speaker 2: be an amazing lawyer and an amazing human being, and
Speaker 2: it still turned out it wasn't the right fit. And
Speaker 2: that's okay.
Speaker 1: One issue that's going to have to be dealt with
Speaker 1: is if she's going to be showing up what mid April,
Speaker 1: the committee investigating the Epstein investigation House Overside Committee has
Speaker 1: called for her to testify. I believe they do have
Speaker 1: it on the books April fourteen, April for April fourteenth.
Speaker 1: Does this do anything to it? It shouldn't. It doesn't
Speaker 1: matter what her status is necessarily, but Garcia, who's on
Speaker 1: that committee, has already said this change is nothing.
Speaker 2: So I was just going to say, can you imagine,
Speaker 2: so she is scheduled to testify, she's been she's been
Speaker 2: compelled to testify April fourteenth, that is next week. If
Speaker 2: President Trump replaced her fired her within days of her testimony,
Speaker 2: and that was the reason why she didn't testify. Can
Speaker 2: you imagine the conspiracy theorists and what would happen if
Speaker 2: that were the case. I can't. I cannot think of
Speaker 2: a scenario in which she wouldn't testify without massive repercussions
Speaker 2: and massive fallout and everyone would say, oh, well, this
Speaker 2: is why he let her go. So I that would
Speaker 2: be insane if she didn't testify.
Speaker 1: Okay, now to what you are saying here, now, there
Speaker 1: are plenty plenty of reporting from these NBC news and
Speaker 1: like that this was he's grown frustrated with her for months.
Speaker 1: So it's not like just now because she's been called
Speaker 1: in to testify. That is the one argument.
Speaker 2: Again, I'm not saying that that's what is true. I'm
Speaker 2: saying that's what the would be. Okay.
Speaker 1: So here's the other thing. I thought this was the
Speaker 1: direction you were going to go. What if she's pissed.
Speaker 1: What if she'll say I'll show up on the fourteenth, fifteen,
Speaker 1: and sixteenth if you want me to, and she decides
Speaker 1: to go scorch dearth any chance.
Speaker 2: No, she's too smart. I don't think she's too smart
Speaker 2: for that. She knows this isn't just about losing an
Speaker 2: administration job President Trump and certainly the folks who support him. No,
Speaker 2: you don't want to make an enemy of him. And
Speaker 2: I think she's acutely aware of that because she was
Speaker 2: tasked with, many people would say, basically trying to seek
Speaker 2: legal revenge against folks who had done just that. So
Speaker 2: she understands more than most of us do, what President
Speaker 2: Trump's appetite is for pursuing revenge through legal means for
Speaker 2: people who have crossed him. So I would think her
Speaker 2: more than most would know not to do.
Speaker 1: So you are, I can't It crossed my mind for us. Second,
Speaker 1: I thought you were going in that direction, but that
Speaker 1: there is zero chance for me that that would take place.
Speaker 1: So why exactly that the President's sour on Miss Bondi
Speaker 1: state here will explain what everybody is reporting, what was
Speaker 1: the issue, and why did this have to happen? Now
Speaker 1: stay here, we continue here on Amy and TJ. The
Speaker 1: news just breaking this afternoon that Pam Bondi, the attorney general,
Speaker 1: has been fired by President Trump. He did put out
Speaker 1: a nice truth social post about her, saying that she's wonderful,
Speaker 1: but saying she's going to be transitioning to a yet
Speaker 1: to be named or created or something job in the
Speaker 1: private important. He is a it was a critical role
Speaker 1: in the private sector. Fine and Dandy rose the writing
Speaker 1: on the wall. This is a she might have had
Speaker 1: the most difficult job in the administration because she was
Speaker 1: tasked with going after essentially, hey, go after that person.
Speaker 1: Figure it out legally. That was a pretty tough job
Speaker 1: and that is certainly one of the things people are
Speaker 1: wanting to that led to her demise. But Robes, it's
Speaker 1: I mean, if you gave, you don't have to wait
Speaker 1: and think that long, and that hard to figure out
Speaker 1: why he might have had an issue with the jobs
Speaker 1: he was doing solid by Epstein.
Speaker 2: Uh. Look, she was not able to get indictments against
Speaker 2: folks that he wanted to pursue legally, she went through
Speaker 2: grand juries. They chose not to indict. There was also
Speaker 2: this concept of the Jeffrey Epstein file saga and how
Speaker 2: the files were released when they were released. That was
Speaker 2: kind of on her. And so if there was any
Speaker 2: criticism about the Epstein files release and the transparency of
Speaker 2: all of that and any criticism about it, he can
Speaker 2: just point to her and said she messed it up.
Speaker 2: She didn't do it right, correct. I mean.
Speaker 1: That was obviously and widely reported. That was a big
Speaker 1: part of why she is now out of this job.
Speaker 1: We don't know where she'll land. Of the lasting memory
Speaker 1: at least I have or I remember her is her
Speaker 1: essentially juxtaposing her confirmation hearings with the last couple of
Speaker 1: hearings she's had on Capitol Hill. There was so much
Speaker 1: good will for her, I would say, in a lot
Speaker 1: of ways from both sides of the aisle, when they
Speaker 1: greeted her and were respectful to her and the questions
Speaker 1: they asked in her confirmation. I just remember that having
Speaker 1: a particular tone that wasn't like the others, and I
Speaker 1: was frankly, I remember her family sitting there, and I
Speaker 1: felt hopeful that, Okay, they like her. She's she seems sharp.
Speaker 1: Even if she it doesn't matter what I don't know.
Speaker 1: I was very, very hopeful. And then she had a
Speaker 1: couple of confirmation hearings where she was unrecognizable, at least
Speaker 1: to the woman that we had been introduced to. She
Speaker 1: was combat of, She had a list of things she
Speaker 1: wanted to throw back in their faces. She showed up
Speaker 1: there not to answer questions but to be an attack
Speaker 1: dog for the president, and that was a bad, bad
Speaker 1: look for.
Speaker 2: Her on a couple Interestingly, you just said she was
Speaker 2: an attack dog for the president. Right, she was his
Speaker 2: attorney general. You would think that would have garnered some
Speaker 2: support from him. That she was basically taking incoming and
Speaker 2: returning fire on behalf of the president and clearly not
Speaker 2: necessarily representing herself in the best flight, but doing it
Speaker 2: in protection of the administration's policies.
Speaker 1: Nobody, nobody was applauding her performances. They were shocking robes,
Speaker 1: they were shocking in how she went at them. Doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: Democrat Republic just answered some questions. It doesn't robes. We've
Speaker 1: seen a lot of hearings of any kind and senators
Speaker 1: their moments, so you know they're going to do their
Speaker 1: thing for the camera and some sit there and they
Speaker 1: take it and they're fine. But she has a job.
Speaker 1: I wrote, I was shocked, and I was I was shocked.
Speaker 1: So panbody's gone, Christinome is gone. Who's next?
Speaker 2: Who's next? Uh? You know, I don't know, but this
Speaker 2: is It's been interesting to have these two in a
Speaker 2: row so quickly. And we just got word that she
Speaker 2: might be gone what last night yesterday, and boom, less
Speaker 2: than twenty four hours later, turns out it was true.
Speaker 2: I was thinking maybe even the president, obviously he reads
Speaker 2: the news. He's very aware of what people are saying,
Speaker 2: and certainly with the New York Times and what CNN
Speaker 2: is reporting, I would think that maybe even just to
Speaker 2: say face, he'd be like nah, and he would have
Speaker 2: waited a little bit. I was actually surprised to have
Speaker 2: it happen this quickly given the reporting that was going
Speaker 2: on yesterday.
Speaker 1: Because that reporting was in obviously accurate. This was imminent.
Speaker 1: Everybody was reporting it. So the point wrote, if you
Speaker 1: get that many sources, they've gotten to a point they're
Speaker 1: comfortable enough speaking. Oh oh, this is happening. So Pambondy
Speaker 1: is out after fourteen months at the helm of the
Speaker 1: Justice Department, Todd Blanche taking over in the interim. We'll
Speaker 1: see who gets a gets that most difficult job in
Speaker 1: the administration long term.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the rumors were, at least the I shouldn't say rumors,
Speaker 2: The reports were that the EPA, correct, the EPA secretary
Speaker 2: was the top man potentially for that job. I don't
Speaker 2: know much about him at all. Obviously we know Todd Blanche.
Speaker 2: He was the president's former personal attorney, correct, and certainly handled.
Speaker 2: He of course became a household name after the Glenn
Speaker 2: Maxwell interviews, and so he has been very loyal to
Speaker 2: the president. So that makes a lot of sense. But
Speaker 2: in terms of who he turns to next, this will
Speaker 2: be interested because this person will have to be confirmed
Speaker 2: by the Senate. Correct, So this will be a whole
Speaker 2: other process for the President that we will be following
Speaker 2: here as you know. So thank you everyone for listening
Speaker 2: to us. We always appreciate you. I'm Amy Roboc alongside TJ. Holmes.
Speaker 2: We will talk to you soon.