Attorney General Pam Bondi’s chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, is leaving the Justice Department, the legal professional basic and her deputy confirmed in statements offered to NCS on Tuesday.
Bondi stated Mizelle served the division “with professionalism, sound judgement, and dedication” and “played a central role in coordinating the Department’s operations, ensuring its resources were aligned and our efforts were carried out with integrity and efficiency.”
Mizelle’s resolution to go away the Justice Department comes as Bondi faces stress on a number of fronts, together with President Donald Trump’s call for her to prosecute his political enemies.
“Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ‘same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done,’” the president said on Truth Social over the weekend.
Mizelle’s deliberate departure, which a number of sources had beforehand confirmed to NCS, additionally comes because the division faces intense backlash over its resolution not to launch any extra proof associated to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation after Bondi made assurances she would achieve this.
Multiple sources stated Mizelle’s departure just isn’t associated to Epstein, however 9 months is a relatively quick tenure for a chief of staff.
Trump introduced in December that Mizelle can be serving as chief of staff on the division. He has additionally served as appearing affiliate legal professional basic – the third-most-senior place at DOJ.
Mizelle, who held a number of key positions within the first Trump administration, labored because the chief authorized officer on the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s non-public fairness agency earlier than being tapped to return to Washington, DC.
Mizelle relocated to Washington for the job whereas his spouse, a federal decide, and youngsters remained in Florida. He had beforehand advised folks he deliberate to return to Florida after his time in authorities was full. A supply advised NCS that Mizelle’s resolution to go away was largely based mostly on his need to spend extra time along with his household.
Recently, a number of White House staffers have been vocal about their frustration with Mizelle, in accordance to two sources accustomed to the discussions. There is not any indication that the frustrations reached the president.
The frustrations stemmed from the idea that Mizelle ought to have been defending Bondi from the fallout over the Epstein recordsdata controversy, the sources stated. The blame got here as early as February, when she distributed binders labeled as the Epstein files to influencers on the White House. The influencers shared later that there was no new data within the binders.
The division has been by way of a sequence of controversies except for Epstein – together with firing hundreds of staff, courtroom fights over deportations, accusations of a quid professional quo for dropping corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, in addition to probes into former President Joe Biden and those that prosecuted the January 6, 2021, US Capitol rioters.
Behind the scenes, Mizelle served as a high adviser to Bondi, however he additionally took a public-facing function in lots of of the division’s largest instances.
In his capability as appearing affiliate legal professional basic, Mizelle signed onto courtroom filings and argued on behalf of the administration, notably defending Trump’s govt orders targeting large law firms.
Mizelle was additionally prolific on X, posting threads defending the division’s work. He railed in opposition to district judges who he claimed overreached their authority and pushed arguments in protection of dropping the case in opposition to Adams.
Mizelle’s departure comes shortly after Emil Bove was tapped to function an appellate decide after serving in high roles at DOJ for only a few months. Bove was confirmed in July.
It just isn’t clear the place Mizelle is headed subsequent. During the primary Trump administration, Mizelle held high authorized positions on the Department of Homeland Security, the White House counsel’s workplace, and the deputy legal professional general’s workplace.
Mizelle “played a key role in advancing the President’s America First agenda here at the Department, and his efforts strengthened our mission to protect the American people. We are grateful for his service, and he will be greatly missed,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche stated in a press release.
NCS has reached out to the White House for remark.