Attorney General Pam Bondi deleted a social media post on December 31, 2025, after being called out for falsely crediting President Donald Trump with a dramatic decline in drug overdose deaths that actually occurred under the Biden administration.
Bondi had shared a graph on December 30, 2025, tracking overdose deaths from October 2015 to October 2024, attempting to portray the Trump administration as effectively battling the nation’s drug epidemic. However, the data she posted told a very different story—one that undermined her own claims.
The graph showed that overdose deaths surged nationwide beginning in 2015 with the advent of fentanyl. The overdose rate spiked just before the start of the coronavirus pandemic during Trump’s first term, before largely plateauing in 2022 and 2023. From October 2023 to October 2024, when Biden was in office, the rate of overdose deaths began to fall sharply.
“President Trump closed the border. DOJ agents have seized hundreds of millions of potentially lethal fentanyl doses,” Bondi wrote in her post. “Elections have consequences. Electing President Trump and enforcing the law is saving American lives.”
Social media users quickly pointed out the obvious problem: the graph’s data ended in October 2024, before Trump took office for his second term. Democratic Representative Ted Lieu of California was among the first to respond, thanking Bondi for “unintentionally giving massive credit to Joe Biden.”
After the criticism mounted, Bondi deleted her post. Several users had captured screenshots, ensuring the evidence remained available for public scrutiny.
Lieu later wrote alongside a screenshot that Bondi’s chart stopped in October 2024, thus showing the work done by Joe Biden.
The incident highlights a pattern of the Trump administration claiming credit for achievements that predated their return to office. The deletion, rather than a correction or acknowledgment of error, suggested an attempt to erase inconvenient evidence rather than address the mistake transparently.
Healthcare professionals have expressed concern that the gains made at the end of Biden’s term may be at risk. Trump’s spending bill cut $1 billion from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Agency. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has laid off more than a third of the SAMHA staff and is dissolving the agency, the Department of Health and Human Services is expected to announce in March.
The opioid crisis has been one of the most devastating public health emergencies in modern American history.
Bondi’s attempt to credit border security and law enforcement seizures for the decline oversimplifies a complex public health crisis.
The incident also raises questions about the Attorney General’s willingness to accurately represent data. As the nation’s top law enforcement officer, Bondi’s credibility depends on truthful communication with the public.
This isn’t the first time Bondi has faced scrutiny during her tenure. On September 20, Trump accidentally posted a message pressuring Bondi to charge his enemies, including former FBI Director James Comey, Senator Adam Schiff, and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump had intended the post as a direct message to Bondi but mistakenly published it to his Truth Social account.
Following that post, Comey and James were both indicted by the Justice Department on October 10, 2025, raising concerns about political retribution through prosecutorial power.
The deleted post about overdose deaths represents another example of the administration’s complicated relationship with facts and data. When information supports their narrative, it’s amplified; when it contradicts their claims, it’s quietly removed from public view.
For families affected by the overdose crisis, political point-scoring offers little comfort. What matters is continued investment in evidence-based solutions that save lives. The data Bondi shared—before deleting it—showed progress was being made. Whether those gains continue will depend on policy choices made in the months and years ahead, not on who receives credit for past progress.
