Pam Bondi: “Eternally Grateful”
This is an entirely fictional creative work. It does not represent the actual thoughts, words, or views of any real person. This is satire and literary fiction for entertainment purposes.
April 03, 2026
Pam Bondi — Former U.S. Attorney General (fired April 2, 2026)
Eternally Grateful
April 3, 2026
Couldn't sleep. Up since 3. The condo smells like the lilies someone sent — no card — and they're already dying and the smell is just too sweet, almost rotting. I should throw them out.
I keep going over the statement I put out yesterday. "Eternally grateful." I workshopped that with Julie for an hour. Eternally grateful. I thought it struck the right tone. Gracious. Classy. The kind of thing where people read it and think, that's a woman who knows how to handle herself. But sitting here now with the AC humming and my phone finally quiet for the first time in fourteen months, I keep hearing it in my head and it sounds like something a dog would say. Eternally grateful. Like I'm thanking him for letting me fetch.
That's not fair. I did the job. I did exactly what I said I'd do in that confirmation hearing — restore the department's credibility, refocus on law and order, bring transparency. The Epstein files — I released more than any AG in history would have touched. I fought career staff on that. I burned relationships at FBI that took me years to build. And the thanks I get is a call from Molly at 4pm telling me to expect a Truth Social post. Not even a phone call from him first. A heads-up from his scheduler.
Todd Blanche. Acting AG. His personal defense attorney. I mean — I'm not going to pretend I didn't see that coming eventually. But the speed of it. Like they had it in a drawer.
The thing that keeps eating at me is the conversation I had with Matt Whitaker back in February. He said something like, "Pam, with this president, the finish line keeps moving. You think you crossed it and then you look up and it's another hundred yards out." I told him that was a Jeff Sessions problem, not a Pam Bondi problem. I told him I understood the assignment. I actually said that — "I understand the assignment." God.
Maybe I did understand it and just couldn't stomach all of it. The Jack Smith stuff — I wound that down, every bit of it. I reorganized the national security division the way they wanted. But when they started pushing me on the congressional Democrats, the state-level AGs, the journalists — I kept saying we need predicates, we need actual cases, we can't just — and they'd get quiet on the phone and then someone would leak that the President was "frustrated with DOJ's pace." Pace. Like justice is DoorDash.
I'm a prosecutor. Was a prosecutor. I know what a real case looks like and what a political stunt looks like, and there is a difference, and that difference used to mean something.
Although — and I need to be honest with myself here, because who else is going to read this — there were times I came close. Times I let them get further down the road than I should have before I pumped the brakes. Times I told myself I was managing the situation when really I was just
I don't know.
I keep thinking about the Department. That building. The way the hallway on the fifth floor echoes. Walking past the portraits of every AG going back to Randolph. My portrait won't go up for months probably. Or maybe they just won't hang it. Is that a thing they can do?
Mom called twice today. I haven't called her back because I know she's going to cry and then I'm going to cry and I just can't right now.
Lee Zeldin. They're saying Lee Zeldin. EPA to DOJ. That's
I need to figure out what firm to call first. Need to water the plants on the balcony. Need to sleep. The lilies really do smell terrible.
AFTER THE CAMERAS is a daily publication of speculative psychological fiction. Each entry imagines the private thoughts of a public figure on the day's biggest story. No entry represents real thoughts, statements, or beliefs of any individual. All internal monologue, emotional reactions, and private observations are entirely invented. External events referenced are real; inner experiences are fictional. All content is created for entertainment purposes only.