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Spring cleaning has begun at the White House.

Donald Trump on Thursday fired Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, dismissing a loyalist who reshaped the justice department but still failed to please a president fixated on prosecuting political enemies and frustrated with the politically explosive release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

“We love Pam,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, “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.”

The president added that Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, would serve as acting attorney general. Lee Zeldin, a former New York congressman who now leads the Environmental Protection Agency, is said to be a top contender to replace Bondi.

Bondi will be perhaps best remembered for complying with Trump’s public demand last year that federal prosecutors bring criminal charges against his personal enemies, including James Comey, a former FBI director, Letitia James, the New York attorney general, and John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser. The Department of Justice has continued to investigate other Trump foes.

Trump fires Pam Bondi, a loyalist and ally, as attorney general

During her 14 months as attorney general, Bondi presided over a major purging of career justice department staff, shifted focus away from criminal prosecutions toward immigration cases and spearheaded the defense of Trump’s towering stack of executive orders as they faced legal challenges.

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Trump polled advisers about replacing Tulsi Gabbard as intelligence chief

Exclusive: Donald Trump has privately asked cabinet officials in recent weeks whether he should replace Tulsi Gabbard, his director of national intelligence, venting frustration that she shielded a former deputy who undercut his rationale for war with Iran, according to two people briefed on the discussions.

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Rationale for Iran war questioned after Trump says ‘I don’t care’ about uranium stockpiles

Donald Trump has said he does not care about Iran’s stock of highly enriched uranium (HEU), arguing it was deep underground and could be monitored by satellite, raising questions about one of the key US justifications for the war.

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Trump’s White House ballroom wins approval of planning authorities

Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project received the approval of Washington’s planning authorities on Thursday, two days after a judge ruled work cannot proceed without Congress’s approval.

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Republican senators break with Trump on Nato withdrawal as tensions rise

A second Republican senator spoke out in defense of Nato on Thursday, joining Mitch McConnell and the Democrats, after Donald Trump said that he was “absolutely” considering withdrawing from the alliance after it refused to take part in the joint assault with Israel against Iran.

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Trump warns Tehran ‘more to follow’ after strike destroys Iran’s largest bridge

Donald Trump claimed responsibility for destroying Iran’s largest bridge, a day after he threatened to bomb the country “back to the stone ages” if a deal to end the five-week-long war he started was not reached.

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Oil price jumps and markets slide after Trump warning to Iran

Oil prices soared and stocks sank after Donald Trump vowed in a televised speech to hit Iran “extremely hard” over the coming weeks, knocking hopes of a near-term end to the conflict in the Middle East.

Brent crude prices jumped by 8% on Thursday morning to pass $109 (£82) a barrel, reversing Wednesday’s drop when hopes of a de-escalation in the Iran war pushed the international benchmark below the $100-a-barrel mark at one point.

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What else happened today:

• The US has lifted sanctions on Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, in the latest step towards normalising relations between the two countries after US forces abducted her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife.

• A coalition of civil rights groups sued the Trump administration on Thursday, saying that a new executive order to limit mail-in voting was unconstitutional.

• The Costa Rican government has agreed to receive up to 25 deported migrants a week from the US, the latest deal in the Trump administration’s unprecedented efforts to deport scores of people to “third countries”.

• The US House of Representatives on Thursday took no action on a compromise measure that would end the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), raising questions about how much longer the record-long funding lapse will persist.

• Donald Trump is threatening 100% tariffs on pharmaceutical companies that have not struck deals to lower US drug prices. The new tariff would only apply to branded drugs and their active ingredients.

• Randy George, the US army’s top officer, is stepping down from his role after Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, reportedly requested that he retire immediately. The Pentagon confirmed on Thursday that George, who had been serving as the army’s 41st chief of staff, was retiring.

Catching up? Here’s what happened Wednesday 1 April.