OUSTED: President Trump did one of his favorite things yesterday. He fired Attorney General Pam Bondi, making her the second casualty in his cabinet in just over a year in office. Homeland Security’s Kristi Noem was first.

  The kiss of death for Bondi came in a Trump social media post in which he said, “We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future.” 

  Trump demands absolute loyalty and is loyal to no one in return.

  Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal defense lawyer, steps in as acting attorney general.

  Bondi did everything to please Trump, purging lawyers who had investigated him after his first term, ordering up politically-motivated investigations and indictments, and having her assistant AGs flout the law and court orders. She surrendered the traditional independence of the Justice Department to Trump.

  But Bondi tripped over the investigative files on the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Congress passed a law ordering release of the files and Bondi went over the deadline, then suspiciously releasing documents with names of potential sex offenders and Epstein cronies redacted.

  At one point Bondi said she had a list of Epstein’s “clients” on her desk, then said no such list exists. 

  Bondi also enraged Trump when she was unable to secure legitimate indictments against such declared enemies as former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

FRENCH TOAST: French President Emmanuel Macron castigated Donald Trump for his daily change of messaging about the war against Iran and his seeding of doubt about the NATO defense alliance.

  “When we’re serious, we don’t say the opposite of what we said the day before every day, and maybe one shouldn’t speak every day,” Macron told reporters during a trip to South Korea. Macron also said about Trump’s attacks on NATO and the possibility of pulling out, “If you create doubt every day about your commitment, you hollow it out.”

  European leaders are learning that there’s no danger in fighting back against Trump because he’s going to betray you anyway.

  The allies are reading the wind direction, and it’s not blowing in their favor under Trump. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, “Our long-term national interest requires closer partnership with our allies in Europe.”

THE WAR ROOM: President Trump on social media celebrated the destruction of what he called the biggest bridge in Iran. The bridge is reported to have been destroyed in a joint US-Israeli strike.

  Along with video of the bridge collapsing in an explosion, Trump posted. “The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again — Much more to follow!” He said, “IT IS TIME FOR IRAN TO MAKE A DEAL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, AND THERE IS NOTHING LEFT OF WHAT STILL COULD BECOME A GREAT COUNTRY!” 

TO THE MOON: NASA’s Artemis II blasted its way out of earth’s gravity last night and is on its way to the Moon. At 7am EST the spacecraft  75,000 miles from Earth, and 179,000 miles from the moon, travelling faster than a mile a second.

INFINITE SCROLL:

— Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the Army’s top general as he continues to purge the highest ranks in an effort to wrest control of the military.

  The deposed Gen. Randy George, a 40 year veteran, was appointed Chief of Staff in 2023 under President Joe Biden. George is credited with turning around the Army’s recruiting crisis and pushing the service to accelerate its acquisition of cheap drones and other kinds of weapons that have come to dominate the war in Ukraine.

  Hegseth also fired other senior officers, including the Army’s top Chaplain.

  George is reported to have clashed with Hegseth in the past week over the secretary’s decision to pass over four officers for promotion to general, two of them women, two of them Black.

— Hegseth also announced that members of the military will be allowed to carry personal weapons on base, complaining that military properties have become “gun free” zones. Until his order, weapons were allowed only for training, guard duty, or the military police.

— The National Capital Planning Commission, which is stacked with Trump appointees, approved the president’s $400 million White House ballroom project despite major public opposition and the ruling by a federal judge that the building requires congressional approval.  

  Will Scharf, the chair of the planning commission and the White House staff secretary, said, “I believe that in time, the nation and successive presidents of both parties and all political stripes long into the future will be grateful to President Trump for having initiated and brought this project into being.”

BECAUSE IT’S THERE: Authorities in Nepal busted what they say is a sizable fraud scheme in which guides on Mt. Everest drugged climbers to make them sick requiring emergency rescue by expensive helicopter services. Thirty-two people have been charged.

  The bust includes sherpas, owners of trekking companies, helicopter operators, and hospital executives … all splitting a take of at least $20 million in insurance money according to the accusations.

THE SPIN RACK:  A federal judge in New York tossed out actor Blake Lively’s sexual harassment claims against her co-star Justin Baldoni in the movie “It Ends With Us.” The remaining allegations for a trial to start on May 18 are for breach of contract and retaliation. Lively and Baldoni’s drama has fed the tabloids for years. 

BELOW THE FOLD: The Hershey’s company announced a return to real chocolate in its Reese’s peanut butter cups after Brad Reese, grandson of the candy’s inventor, spent weeks campaigning and complaining about what the company has done to the confection that carries his family name. He called the current concoction “disgusting.”

  But the company said it will not make the change until 2027. The 70-year-old Reese said, “If they were serious, they would do it right away.”

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