Fact Check: Was Pam Bondi’s portrait removed and thrown in a trash bin after Trump fired her?

WASHINGTON, DC: Former US Attorney General Pam Bondi was fired by President Donald Trump on April 2, 2026, from the Department of Justice. Reports have highlighted not only her sudden dismissal but also a striking photo showing her framed portrait removed from the department and reportedly placed in a trash bin, sparking questions about the circumstances behind this symbolic act. Let’s fact-check the claim.

Claim: Pam Bondi’s portrait was removed and thrown in the trash

MS Now’s report was the source of the claim that Pam Bondi’s portrait ended up in the trash.

According to the outlet, “Within hours of the news that President Donald Trump had fired Pam Bondi as attorney general, images began circulating of her framed portrait, unceremoniously removed from its place of honor near the president and vice president on the walls of Justice Department offices. One photo obtained by MS NOW showed Bondi’s portrait in a trash bin.”

An X user said, “Pam Bondi’s portrait was removed from the Justice Department hours after being fired by Donald Trump — MS Now.” The post included a photo showing Bondi’s framed portrait in a DOJ trash bin.

The post also confused X users about whether the news was real. One user wrote, “Confirm?” while another asked, “Is this true?”

Trump announced that Bondi had been fired as part of his second Cabinet shakeup. Bondi, who was Florida’s attorney general before serving just over a year as the nation’s top law enforcement officer, was reportedly told about her dismissal before Trump’s live White House address on Wednesday, April 1. By the time the broadcast started, she was already returning to Florida, according to Fox News.

Her sudden departure came after months of controversy and public criticism over how the administration handled documents related to the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, documents that Trump had said he was willing to declassify while campaigning in 2024.

Fact Check: Yes, Pam Bondi’s portrait was removed

Reports say Pam Bondi’s portrait was removed from the Department of Justice and later found in a trash bin after she was fired. However, officials have questioned some of the circulating photos, so the full context and authenticity are unclear. Notably, reports confirmed that her portrait was removed from the DOJ. But government officials have not confirmed the authenticity of the photo showing her portrait in the trash bin.

While it seems the portrait was taken down, there is debate over the exact circumstances of the images being shared online.

After the photo went viral, MSNBC’s Chris Jansing reported on Friday: “If you want a sense of just how quickly things are moving at the DOJ, MS NOW has new reporting that Bondi’s portrait has already been taken down, and you see it there thrown in the garbage!”

Jansing asked reporter Ken Dilanian, “This portrait, does it signal something wide about a feeling within DOJ right now?”

Dilanian replied, “I think it does, Chris. Look, there’s a lot of anger, especially among the career workforce, about Pam Bondi and what she did to change the Justice Department, more so than any attorney general in modern history." 

Ken added, "And, you know, those portraits are up all over the place. They’re in every major office. Her portrait would be hung next to that of the president and the vice president. And we had another picture that we weren’t able to publish based on the ground rules that showed her portrait taken down from the wall. And then this one shows it thrown in the trash.. So there’s a lot of anger about episodes like that amid all of the other things that Pam Bondi has done with the Justice Department."