On December 31, Pam Bondi withdrew a social media post that falsely attributed a decline in drug-related deaths to Donald Trump’s administration, even though the decrease happened under Joe Biden’s presidency. This led to widespread ridicule and allegations of ineptitude.
Bondi shared and then removed a chart that plotted drug overdose deaths from October 2015 to October 2024. The chart indicated a 27 percent reduction in such deaths, data that came several months before Trump’s second term. Screenshots of the post were taken by social media users before it was deleted.
The chart, which was taken from an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed how deaths began to rise across the country in 2015 with the introduction of fentanyl. The rate of overdoses experienced a surge just before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic during Trump’s initial term, and then mostly stabilized in 2022 and 2023. From October 2023 to October 2024, a period when Biden was president, the rate of overdose deaths fell dramatically.
Responding to Bondi’s initial post, Ted Lieu criticized her sharply. “Thank you for unintentionally giving massive credit to Joe Biden,” Lieu stated. After Bondi took down the post, Lieu posted a screenshot along with further remarks.
“Lol, the truth hurts,” Lieu posted. “@AGPamBondi was praising Trump again with another dishonest tweet, but the chart she used stopped in Oct 2024, thus showing the great work done by Joe Biden.”
Bondi had used the chart to argue that the Trump administration was effectively combating the country’s drug crisis, asserting that Trump had secured the border and that Department of Justice agents had confiscated hundreds of millions of potentially lethal doses of fentanyl. She stated that the administration was actively prosecuting drug traffickers and cartel leaders.
The researchers who conducted the study noted that the slowdown that Biden oversaw was nearly double the rate of the increase that occurred between 2019 and 2021. The striking decrease recorded in the final year of Biden’s presidency represented significant progress in tackling a crisis that has taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans over the past ten years.
Healthcare professionals have expressed worry that the progress made towards the end of Biden’s term could now be in jeopardy. Trump’s hallmark spending bill removed $1 billion from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The Department of Health and Human Services announced in March 2025 that over a third of the SAMHSA staff had been laid off and the agency was being restructured and folded into a new Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The drug crisis has been a focal point in Trump’s rhetoric and policy decisions during his second term. The president has ordered a series of attacks on small vessels in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the deaths of at least 115 people as of late December 2025. The administration has also attacked Venezuela and brought President Nicolás Maduro and his wife into custody in NYC, justifying these actions as necessary responses to drug trafficking.
Furthermore, Trump has claimed that some of his extensive tariffs on goods from numerous U.S. trade partners are driven by the fentanyl crisis. However, the administration’s tough stance on narcotics terrorism is complex due to Trump’s pardoning decisions.
During his first term, Trump granted numerous pardons for drug-related crimes. Since assuming office in January 2025, he has pardoned multiple individuals convicted of drug offenses, including Jand Ross Ulbricht, creator of the Silk Road dark web marketplace.
Trump also pardoned Ross Ulbricht, an American who created and operated the illegal darknet market Silk Road from 2011 until his arrest in 2013. Across both his terms, the president has pardoned dozens of individuals for drug crimes.
The contrast between aggressive enforcement rhetoric and lenient pardoning practices has led to confusion about the administration’s actual priorities concerning drug policy. Critics argue that applauding military strikes overseas while simultaneously pardoning major drug traffickers sends conflicting messages about the government’s dedication to addressing substance abuse.
The restructuring of federal substance abuse infrastructure, in particular, has alarmed public health experts. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) had a central role in coordinating treatment programs, prevention efforts, and support services across the country. The agency’s restructuring into the Administration for a Healthy America and the departure of more than a third of its experienced staff members have left gaps in the federal response to addiction.
Fentanyl overdoses have been particularly catastrophic in recent years. The synthetic opioid is much more potent than heroin and cheaper to produce, making it appealing to drug trafficking organizations. Its presence in the drug supply has been linked to dramatic increases in overdose deaths, especially when users inadvertently consume substances containing fentanyl.
The Biden administration had invested in harm reduction strategies, expanded access to naloxone (a medication that reverses overdoses), and increased funding for medication-assisted treatment programs. These evidence-based interventions contributed to the documented decrease in deaths in 2024. Public health officials attribute a combination of better treatment access, wider distribution of naloxone, and improved awareness campaigns to the saving of lives.
Social media users mocked Bondi’s mistake and subsequent deletion as proof of the attorney general’s ineptitude. One critic suggested that everything the administration does is detrimental and harmful to Americans. Another person expressed concern that the incident reflects the current attorney general’s level of intelligence, which they found alarming.
This incident underlines the ongoing clash between political messaging and factual accuracy in government communications. As the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, the attorney general’s credibility relies on careful attention to evidence and truthful representation of data. The swift deletion of the post, rather than a correction or clarification, has raised questions about transparency and accountability within the Department of Justice.