Dan Bongino, the former FBI deputy director who stepped down in January after ten months on the job, told Sean Hannity he is "scared" and "terrified" that a future Democratic administration will target him for the work he did alongside FBI Director Kash Patel.
The remarks, made during Tuesday's episode of "Hang Out with Sean Hannity," amount to a blunt warning from a man who spent nearly a year inside the bureau's senior leadership: the same machinery of federal law enforcement that was turned against Donald Trump could, Bongino believes, be turned against the people who tried to reform it.
It is a fear rooted not in abstraction but in recent history, the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, the post, White House charges against Trump, and what Bongino described as a political class willing to "rewrite the book" when it suits them. Whether one shares his alarm or not, the fact that a former deputy director of the FBI is publicly saying he lives in fear of his own government deserves more than a shrug.
Bongino did not mince words on Hannity's podcast. He told the Fox journalist that his concern centers on what Democrats might do if they regain control of the Justice Department.
"I'm scared, man. I'm terrified... They're going to send some thugs to my house."
He went further, connecting his fear to the treatment Trump received during and after the Russia investigation.
"After reading what I read about how many people did this to President Trump, this Russia hoax, collusion, Crossfire Hurricane bulls***, and not a single person stopped them."
Bongino said he was "extremely concerned they are going to weaponize the justice system and start arresting people for jaywalking or mattress tag ripping. It worries me every day. I'd be lying to you if I said otherwise."
The "they" in Bongino's remarks was not precisely defined. But the context was clear enough: he was talking about a future Democratic administration and the federal enforcement apparatus it would inherit.
He also expressed pride in his tenure, saying he and Patel operated within the rules. During his time as deputy director, Bongino made headlines for using fake schedule details to catch FBI leakers, the kind of internal housecleaning that made allies but also enemies inside the bureau.
"I know what I did. And I'm proud of my work. And I am proud of what me and Kash [Patel] accomplished in the past year."
He insisted everything was done "by the book", and said his fear is that Democrats would "rewrite the book, just like they did for President Trump."
Bongino took on the deputy director role in March 2025 under Patel. A former Secret Service agent and conservative podcast host, he was an unconventional pick for the bureau's number-two position. His tenure lasted roughly ten months before he announced he would step down and return to his media career.
President Trump praised him on the way out. "Dan did a great job," the president said. "I think he wants to go back to his show."
But the exit was not entirely smooth. AP News reported that Bongino's departure followed clashes with the Justice Department over the handling of Jeffrey Epstein records, months of questions about his future, and pressure from Trump supporters over the pace of promised FBI reforms.
One of the sharpest points of friction involved then-Attorney General Pam Bondi. Bongino clashed with Bondi over the Epstein files, reportedly taking issue with what he saw as overpromising about a supposed client list. Bondi and the Justice Department insisted the list did not exist and maintained that Epstein died by suicide in his jail cell.
Bongino himself had to reckon with the gap between his prior media commentary and what he found once he had access to actual investigative files. In a Fox News interview, he stated plainly about Epstein: "I've seen the whole file. He killed himself." That was a reversal from the kind of speculation that had been common in his podcast days, and it drew notice.
Axios reported that security footage inside the jail on the night Epstein died was missing a minute, and that Bongino was internally blamed for that gap. The episode added to the turbulence of a tenure that was never going to be quiet.
Bongino also found himself in public disputes with figures on his own side. He fired back at claims made by Joe Kent, a confrontation that underscored the factional pressures facing anyone who tries to reform the FBI from the inside while keeping allies on the political right satisfied.
Bongino's fear is not hypothetical daydreaming. He anchored it to a specific chapter of recent history: the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible ties to the Trump campaign.
The FBI grew suspicious of Trump in 2017 after then-Director James Comey raised questions about obstruction of justice. What followed was years of investigation, political warfare, and, in the eyes of Trump and his allies, a weaponized federal bureaucracy aimed at a sitting president. Trump has consistently called it a "hoax."
Comey himself remains a central figure in the ongoing political drama. In May 2025, the former director posted a photo of seashells arranged to show the numbers "8647." The number 86 is slang for "remove," and 47 refers to Trump as the 47th president. The Trump administration claimed the post was a direct threat against the president's life and recently indicted Comey over it.
Comey declared his innocence in an April 2026 video, striking a defiant tone.
"I'm still not afraid and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let's go."
The contrast is worth noting. Comey says he is "not afraid." Bongino says he is "terrified." Both men held senior positions at the same agency. Both believe the other side of the political aisle is capable of using federal power as a weapon. The difference is which side each man trusts, and which side each man fears.
Meanwhile, the broader FBI investigation landscape continues to generate controversy, with questions about security leaks and internal accountability that show no sign of quieting down.
Set aside, for a moment, whether Bongino's fears are justified in their specifics. The larger point is harder to dismiss: a man who served as the FBI's second-in-command believes the federal justice system can be turned into a political weapon, because he watched it happen.
He is not the first person to say this. Trump said it for years. Conservatives across the country have said it since at least 2016. But there is a difference between a podcast host making the argument and a former deputy director of the FBI making it after ten months inside the building.
Bongino saw the files. He sat in the meetings. He dealt with the bureaucracy. And he walked out the door saying he is afraid of what comes next.
That fear reflects a broken compact. In a healthy republic, public servants should not have to worry that the next administration will prosecute them for doing their jobs lawfully. Trump was charged after he left the White House. Comey has been indicted over a social media post. Bongino now says he expects to be next in line whenever the political winds shift.
The pattern is corrosive. It does not matter whether you think Trump's charges were justified or Comey's indictment is warranted. What matters is the trajectory: a federal law enforcement apparatus that increasingly looks like a tool of whoever holds the White House, rather than an institution bound by law and insulated from politics.
Democrats, of course, will dismiss Bongino's remarks as self-serving drama from a partisan media figure. And it is true that Bongino came to the FBI from the world of conservative commentary, not from the career ranks. But that does not make his warning less serious. If anything, his outsider-turned-insider perspective gives weight to what many Americans already suspect: the system is rigged to protect the people who run it and punish the people who try to change it.
Congressional Democrats have shown little interest in restraining the weaponization of federal agencies when their side benefits. They have instead focused their energy on partisan attacks on FBI Director Kash Patel and other Trump-era appointees, a posture that does nothing to rebuild public trust in federal law enforcement.
Bongino's podcast appearance raises a question that neither party has been willing to confront honestly: What happens when the people tasked with reforming a broken institution believe that reform itself will be treated as a crime by the next administration?
The answer, if Bongino is right, is that no one will try. The bureaucracy wins by default. The career officials who slow-walked investigations, leaked to friendly reporters, and shielded their own will outlast every political appointee who walks through the door. And the cycle of weaponization continues, with each side escalating in response to the last.
Bongino said he did everything by the book. He said he is proud of his work. He also said he is terrified of what happens next.
When a former FBI deputy director tells the country he is living in fear of his own government, the problem is not Dan Bongino. The problem is the government he is afraid of.
