Pam Bondi has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and says she is still working while undergoing treatment, including surgery a few weeks ago. The former U.S. attorney general, 60, disclosed the diagnosis in comments to CBS, days before she is scheduled to testify on Friday before the House Oversight Committee over her handling of the Epstein files.
Bondi’s health disclosure adds a new layer to a public week already shaped by scrutiny over her past actions at the Justice Department. She was removed from her role as America’s top law enforcement officer last month, and her appearance on the White House’s new advisory council on artificial intelligence is the first public sign of work beyond the department.
The council, the Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, was established by President Donald Trump in January 2025, but the first members were not announced until March 2026. Bondi’s inclusion puts her alongside a group the White House says will help guide science and technology policy, even as she remains at the center of a separate political fight over the release of the Epstein files.
That fight has drawn bipartisan criticism. Some Democratic lawmakers have argued that important files were withheld from the public, and Bondi and Trump have both faced pressure over how the Justice Department handled the release. Bondi said when she left the department at the beginning of April that she was excited to be entering a role in the private sector, making the council appointment the first news of her work outside government.
The diagnosis itself appears serious but manageable. Thyroid cancer has a five-year survival rate of over 98%, and many forms are treatable and permanently curable, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Bondi has not said what stage of cancer she has.
Support for Bondi surfaced on social media from Katie Miller, who said Pam has been quietly kicking cancer's ass the last few weeks and described her as having a heart of gold. Vice-President JD Vance also said Bondi has been an enormously valuable asset to the president's team and said he was glad she would remain involved in major administration work.
Bondi is one of four members of Trump’s cabinet to have left their positions so far this year. Kristi Noem was removed as Homeland Security secretary before Bondi’s departure, Lori Chavez-DeRemer left as labour secretary before that, and Tulsi Gabbard said last week that she was resigning as director of national intelligence, citing her husband’s recent bone cancer diagnosis. For Bondi, the immediate question is no longer whether she has stepped back from public life. It is how much work she can keep doing while fighting cancer in the middle of one of the administration’s most closely watched political disputes.
