Attorney General Pam Bondi has fired Pamela Hicks, the Chief Legal Counsel for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), marking another major shakeup in the Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Trump administration.
Hicks, who was appointed under the Biden administration in 2021, confirmed her dismissal in a LinkedIn post, revealing that she was officially notified and escorted from ATF headquarters. While she did not provide details on the reason for her firing, Bondi’s decision comes amid a broader effort to clean house within the DOJ and eliminate politically motivated officials embedded under Biden’s leadership.
This firing is part of a larger Justice Department overhaul, which has already seen multiple resignations and dismissals of senior officials. Notably, at least seven federal prosecutors resigned earlier this month following controversy over political interference in a corruption case involving New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Attorney General Bondi, who was confirmed on February 5, has been vocal about her commitment to restoring integrity to the DOJ and purging the department of political bias. She has criticized the agency’s weaponization under previous leadership and vowed to refocus federal law enforcement on its core mission rather than partisan agendas.
Bondi’s latest move signals that the Trump administration is serious about reforming the DOJ, ensuring that agencies like the ATF operate within the bounds of the Constitution and Second Amendment rights rather than pursuing politically motivated crackdowns on law-abiding Americans.
As more DOJ and ATF officials face scrutiny, Bondi’s leadership is expected to bring long-overdue accountability to a department that has faced serious allegations of misconduct and overreach in recent years.