Rep. Cloud to Newsmax: Blanche, Zeldin Signal Urgency After Bondi Firing

Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, said Thursday on Newsmax that President Donald Trump's firing of Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared to reflect frustration inside the administration that the Justice Department had not moved fast enough to deliver what many supporters see as long-promised accountability.

Trump said Thursday that Bondi was leaving after a little more than a year in office and that Todd Blanche would serve as acting attorney general, a major change atop a department already shaken by politically charged investigations, internal firings and backlash over its handling of records tied to Jeffrey Epstein.

Bondi had been sworn in as attorney general on Feb. 5, 2025. Blanche, a former federal prosecutor and one-time Trump defense lawyer, was appointed as her deputy.

Cloud, speaking on "Bianca Across the Nation," said the issue went beyond pursuing Democrats and centered on what he described as abuses under the previous administration.

Cloud said Bondi's tenure had at least coincided with a pullback from that approach, even as he suggested many voters expected more aggressive action from the new administration.

"So Pam Bondi came in," he said. "The good news is we haven't seen that kind of craziness out of this administration. As the president mentioned, crime has gone down. But I will say back when I'm back at home, the number one thing I would hear from people is this is the administration of accountability. And we expected to see action and accountability brought to all that malfeasance that we've seen in the previous one."

Asked about criticism from Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., over Bondi's handling of the Epstein files, Cloud said the administration had created confusion for the public.

"I think the rollout could have been a whole lot cleaner, for sure," Cloud said.

"The communication on what was happening and what was the truth of the matter, the way it was communicated to the American people, has left more questions than answers when it comes to Epstein. And so this is why we continue to investigate."

Cloud said the public understood complex legal cases take time, but said patience was wearing thin after a year without arrests in the highest-profile matters.

"We saw two levels of justice out of the previous administration," he said. "We expected to see that corrected. We've made some steps toward that, but we still need to see justice brought to people."

Cloud added, "And so after a year in office, what I would hear from people is, you know, it takes a while to build a legal case, a whole lot longer than to build a public opinion case."

"But at this point, we understand why not everybody's been arrested, but we don't understand why we haven't seen really anyone in these high-profile cases arrested."

Cloud also praised Lee Zeldin, the EPA administrator whose name has surfaced as a possible permanent replacement, saying he believed the former New York congressman could win Senate confirmation and move quickly.

"I knew him as a colleague in the House," Cloud said. "I think he's done a good job at the EPA, otherwise the president wouldn't be looking for him at this post. I do think that he would be able to get through the Senate."

The congressman added that Zeldin has "been levelheaded" and "effective to work with, and he understands, as the president does, the important clock that we're on."

Zeldin, who was sworn in as EPA administrator on Jan. 29, 2025, is a former House Republican from New York and remains a close Trump ally, giving the White House a ready-made contender if the president decides to seek a quick Senate confirmation fight.

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