Pam Bondi Confirms She Was Diagnosed With Thyroid Cancer, Had Surgery

Former Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed on May 27 that she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and is seeking treatment for the illness.

Bondi confirmed to CNN that she was diagnosed with cancer and had surgery for it several weeks ago. Currently, she is “doing well” in her recovery, she told the outlet.

It’s not clear how far the cancer progressed or whether she is receiving chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or another form of cancer treatment other than surgery. According to U.S. health officials, thyroid cancer has a high survivability rate, at 98.3 percent over five years.

In April, Bondi was removed as attorney general by President Donald Trump, who said that she would be focusing on working in the private sector. The president named Todd Blanche, his former personal lawyer and the deputy attorney general before Bondi’s departure, as the interim attorney general.

“Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year,” Trump wrote in an April 2 post on social media when she departed the administration. “Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country, with Murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900.”

Trump said in the post that Bondi, 60, would be working in a “much needed” new position in the private sector.

At the time of her departure from the government, Bondi said she would work to transition the Department of Justice to Blanche and offered her thanks to Trump. She also said that she would be taking a private sector role that she was “thrilled about,” and she said that in that role, she would “continue fighting” for Trump and his administration, without elaborating on the details of the position.

Bondi is scheduled to appear for the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein on May 29 and likely will speak about the Department of Justice’s compliance with the release of files under a law that went into effect late last year and mandated that the department release files related to Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

Bondi was not Trump’s first choice for attorney general. Before she was named, Trump announced that he wanted former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to serve in the role, but Gaetz’s name was withdrawn by Trump amid concerns that he would not be able to garner enough votes in the Senate during his confirmation process.

It’s not clear whether Trump would move to submit Blanche’s nomination to the Senate for permanent confirmation as attorney general. As acting attorney general, Blanche can serve for only 210 days. That period, however, could be extended if Trump submits his nomination to the upper chamber of Congress.

“If he chooses to nominate me, that’s an honor,” Blanche said in April. “If he chooses to nominate somebody else and I go back to being the [deputy attorney general], that’s an honor.”

Bondi did not respond by publication time to a request for comment.