Awkward Pam Bondi Moments We Can't Ignore

When you're a public figure, you're bound to make a few embarrassing blunders. But we suspect Attorney General Pam Bondi has lost count of hers. President Donald Trump's loyal sidekick has had more than her fair share of gaffes since joining his administration. In fact, her swearing-in ceremony already hinted that she wasn't going to be your average attorney general. Bondi took her oath in the Oval Office, which was a first. It hinted that she would not operate independently of the president, as is generally expected of both the attorney general and the Justice Department. Bondi's first day in office was then littered with controversy, some of it laughable. 

She hit the ground running with her 14 "first day" directives, which included making some changes that would please her demanding boss. Among these directives was the creation of the "Weaponization Working Group," which technically required the DOJ to investigate itself. It was a thinly veiled attempt to discredit the special counsel that looked into Trump after his first term and to make his 34 convictions obsolete — at least in the eyes of the public. Bondi's obvious attempts at pleasing the president instead of tackling real issues evoked plenty of criticism, with some pundits even accusing her of taking part in Trump's retribution campaign against his political opponents. 

This directive has since backfired terribly; Bondi's appointment of Lindsey Halligan, who was employed solely to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Leticia James, blew up in her face in November 2025 when a judge summarily dismissed both cases and then asked some uncomfortable questions that made Bondi look dreadfully incompetent. However, it was but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to her most embarrassing moments on the job so far. 

Pam Bondi inadvertently proved that she was more interested in insults than facts when her handwritten notes for the Attorney General's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in October 2025 went viral. The proceedings were difficult to watch; Bondi faced tons of tough questions, none of which she provided a straightforward answer to. She was already in hot water prior to her appearance in front of the Senate, with former DOJ employees accusing her of undermining the department's work. Bondi outright refused to answer questions about President Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard, deflected queries about Jeffrey Epstein by accusing Democrats of being complicit in his dealings, and referred to the firing of individuals who refused to prosecute Former FBI Director James Comey as "personnel matters" she was not at liberty to discuss, as the BBC reported at the time. 

Thanks to an eagle-eyed Reuters photographer, Bondi's clap-backs were revealed to be planned, rather than a result of the attorney general thinking on her feet. Photos captured her handwritten notes with pre-prepared jabs for each person who was due to question her. Notably, she'd jotted down "You rail against dark money, but work with dark money groups" and "You are a total hypocrite" in preparation for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's questioning, per HuffPost. Commentators had plenty to say about Bondi's conduct during the hearing. From her notes, it was clear that she never intended to answer any questions and had prepared to deflect like her life depended on it by going on the attack. As one Bluesky user penned, "Telling isn't it, that their notes aren't filled with stats and facts to back up their positions, but name calling and personal attacks against the Dem senators." 

It's been said that Pam Bondi's role in President Donald Trump's cabinet is to just smile for the cameras. Her other job, presumably, is to look good for him. After all, Bondi made the list of the wildest MAGA transformations of 2025, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles even told The New Yorker, "You know, she [Bondi] looks like Barbie." Trump himself gave Bondi his creepy seal of approval when he attempted to flirt with his attorney general during an August 2025 cabinet meeting. "I look at Pam, I would never say she's beautiful because that would be the end of my political career," the divisive politician quipped to awkward laughter (via X, formerly known as Twitter). 

He also called Bondi "a beautiful, strong, wonderful woman" at a Women's History Month event in March 2025. Trump likely embarrassed Bondi when he told her husband, John Wakefield, how handsome he is during her swearing-in ceremony. "I just want to introduce her very, very handsome husband. I hate being around him. He looks too good," Trump shared at the time (via People). 

Some of those who personally witnessed Pam Bond's transformation were left wholly unimpressed with what they saw. In October 2025, "The View" co-host Ana Navarro noted that she's known the attorney general for quite some time but that she no longer recognizes her. "Frankly, I think what she's doing to the institution of the DOJ and the oversight in Congress is shameful and embarrassing and is going to go down in history as one of the worst performances by an attorney general in front of Congress," Navarro opined. She also touched on Bondi's response to a viral "Saturday Night Live" skit, which made fun of her performance during her Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, noting that Bondi tried to lean into the joke by taking to X and asking DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to recreate one of the scenes with her when they saw each other next. 

Some thought it was a great response to the criticism, but others felt it was cringe. "That's what you say when you get publicly embarrassed," one such detractor wrote on X. Navarro is far from the only one who's offered up criticism of Bondi. One of her former colleagues, Scott Maxwell, wrote a column about her spotty past as Florida's attorney general in 2024, disclosing that she made promises ahead of getting elected to the position that she never made good on. In the piece, which was published by the Tampa Bay Times, Maxwell also listed some of Bondi's many alleged indiscretions during her tenure, including accepting an eye-watering donation from Donald Trump before swiftly dropping the investigation into his fraudulent Trump University. Bondi also once opted to postpone an execution because she wanted to throw a fundraiser that day instead. 

One of the biggest blots on Pam Bondi's recover will forever be her mishandling of the Epstein files. She managed to thoroughly embarrass and discredit herself on various occasions relating to the elusive documents. First, there were the binders she handed out to influencers in February 2025, claiming they contained new information on disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Only, the content creators weren't as daft as Bondi bargained for and quickly realized that what they'd been given was a regurgitation of everything that had already been made public about him.

Even avid Trump supporter Laura Loomer called Bondi out for it, labeling her a "total liar," per PBS. The attorney general tried to pass the blame to the FBI and later told the media that the Epstein files are "sitting on my desk right now to review," (via CNN). These words came back to bite her as demands for the documents' release increased while President Donald Trump frantically tried to keep them under wraps. As the MAGA base grew ever more agitated with the lack of information, Bondi's popularity took a nose dive — not just among fanatics, but her colleagues too.

Some prominent MAGA public figures voiced their criticism of Bondi, including Former Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly. "The current DOJ under Pam Bondi is covering up crimes, very serious crimes by their own description," Carlson alleged, per the Daily Mail. Kelly, meanwhile, accused the Trump staffer of "'running all over the media looking for attention on this, yes, click-baity story" and mishandling the entire thing to the point where it had turned into a scandal.