Long Island's Zeldin reportedly leads Trump's list to replace Bondi as attorney general

WASHINGTON — Lee Zeldin, the former Long Island congressman and now head of the Environmental Protection Agency, is reportedly top on President Donald Trump's list to replace U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Trump said Thursday on Truth Social that Bondi "will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector." He tapped Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to fill in as interim attorney general.

Zeldin is under consideration as a replacement for Bondi, The New York Times and CNN reported earlier. A Zeldin EPA spokesperson did notreturn a Newsday request for comment on Thursday. 

Other potential replacements floated Thursday include Blanche, who served as Trump's personal lawyer before joining the administration, and Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Trump's nominee for the post will need to be confirmed by the Republican-majority Senate.

As his name was being floated as a potential pick to be the country’s next top legal official, Zeldin on Thursday did not address the possibility while attending a public event at EPA headquarters in Washington with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other officials.

Zeldin, an Army veteran from Shirley, previously served as a judge advocate general lawyer in the Army, before serving two terms in the New York State Senate and four terms in the U.S. House representing New York's 1st Congressional District.

Zeldin left his congressional seat to launch an unsuccessful bid for governor against Democrat Kathy Hochul, but remained a staunch Trump campaign surrogate in 2024. He was tapped by Trump to lead the EPA in his second term, and has been frequently praised by Trump at public events.

Bondi has faced public criticism from Trump over his assertion that she has not moved fast enough to prosecute his political enemies. Last September he posted on social media a missive that was initially intended solely for Bondi, questioning why her office had yet to bring charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James and others.

"What about Comey, Adam 'Shifty' Schiff, Leticia???" he wrote, referring to former FBI Director James Comey and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) "They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done."

Bondi has also faced criticism over her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, initially telling Fox News in an interview that she had a list of the convicted sex-trafficker's clients on her desk — only to later backtrack that statement amid mounting calls to release the purported list.

Zeldin emerged as one of the president’s chief Republican supporters in 2019 in battling Trump’s first House impeachment, and then into the Senate impeachment trial in early 2020.

Zeldin joined with fellow Trump supporters like Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Elise Stefanik (R-Schuylerville) and then-Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) as part of a self-designated "defense team" in support of Trump. Zeldin’s district wasn’t as conservative as many of the others, but he argued a lot of his constituents opposed the impeachment. 

Zeldin also used his perch as a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs to sit in on the closed-door depositions of witnesses called by Democrats who were building their case during the impeachment probe. He would often emerge afterward to talk to reporters, attacking the direction of the probe and some witnesses' credibility. Often, Trump would tweet some of Zeldin’s remarks.

Zeldin frequently mentions — including in his state legislative and congressional biography pages, and now on the EPA website — he passed the state bar at age 23 to become the youngest attorney in New York State at the time

Born and raised on Long Island, Zeldin graduated from William Floyd High School in Suffolk County. He earned a political science degree from the State University of New York at Albany before obtaining his law degree from Albany Law School.

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com,billy.house@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa,

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.