Many people, including myself, were stunned when Donald Trump named former Fox News personality and podcast host Dan Bongino as his deputy director at the FBI.
Bongino did have prior law enforcement experience, but it just seemed like a rather large leap.
As it turns out, Bongino’s time in the role will be short-lived, as he just announced that he will be stepping down after the new year.
In February, Trump decided that Bongino was going to join the administration to help restore the FBI and rid the agency of what were deemed to have been rogue actors, including leadership at the agency.
Bongino was a notorious pro-Trump pundit, a former New York Police Department member, as well as having served in the Secret Service, but he had no FBI experience (neither does Kash Patel).
After accepting the appointment, Bongino noted that one reason for it was that Kash Patel would be heading the agency, having vowed to bring the FBI back to its former glory. Bongino added, "How amazing would it be in four years to look back with a good, high-quality, reformed FBI free of woke culture and DEI that goes out making headline, big arrests of real bad guys destroying your community. How good would that be?"
Bongino’s appointment was met with skepticism, to say the least, as he had backed Trump on just about every claim he ever made, and he also pushed conspiracy theories, including those related to Jeffrey Epstein.
There have been whispers about Bongino leaving the agency ever since Attorney General Pam Bondi and Patel said there was no client list for Jeffrey Epstein in existence, and there was no proof that he had ever blackmailed anyone.
The whispers grew louder this week, with Bongino finally announcing that he would be stepping down.
He stated, "I will be leaving my position with the FBI in January. I want to thank President [Donald] Trump, AG [Pam] Bondi, and Director [Kash] Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose.”
He continued, “Most importantly, I want to thank you, my fellow Americans, for the privilege to serve you. God bless America, and all those who defend Her."
It was only a few days ago that I had put both Bongino and Bondi as my picks to leave the administration in the near future, so I am already halfway home. To me, this development was to be expected, as I just don’t think Bongino wanted to keep his mouth shut about things he was seeing, and I believe that is what ultimately drove him out.
I am sure Trump was disappointed, but he gave Bongino a pat on the back on his way out the door, stating, "Dan did a great job. I think he wants to go back to his show."
Patel was also very complimentary, stating, "Dan is the best partner I could’ve asked for in helping restore this FBI. He brought critical reforms to make the organization more efficient, led the successful Summer Heat op, served as the people’s voice for transparency, and delivered major breakthroughs in long unsolved cases like the pipe bomb investigation. And that’s only a small part of the work he went about every single day delivering for America.”
It will be really interesting to see what happens once Bongino revives his show, because I know he will not be able to keep his mouth shut for long in regard to what he saw behind the scenes. It should make for a fun 2026.
