US Politics
2 min read
Dan Bongino is out at the FBI after less than a year
The deputy director announced his departure after Trump confirmed it to reporters.
Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino is leaving his post, ending a nine-month tenure during which he drew criticism from within the agency for his lack of experience and clashed with Attorney General Pam Bondi over the handling of the Epstein files.
Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and podcaster known for spreading conspiracy theories, announced his departure in a social media post Wednesday shortly after President Donald Trump confirmed his departure to reporters.
“I want to thank President Trump, AG Bondi, and Director Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose,” he said in a post on X. “Most importantly, I want to thank you, my fellow Americans, for the privilege to serve you.”
Trump picked the podcaster and former Secret Service agent to serve as the FBI’s No. 2 under Kash Patel in February. What followed was a period that saw the media personality struggle to square his broadcast tendencies against the reality of helping run the nation’s top law enforcement agency.
Expectations that he would leave the FBI surged earlier this month after an internal agency report that was critical of both Patel and Bongino leaked to conservative media.
Asked why Bongino was leaving his post at the FBI, Trump told reporters that “Dan did a great job. I think he wants to go back to his show.”
Bongino was lauded by other Trump administration officials for his efforts in helping the FBI arrest a suspect in the long-stalled Jan. 6 pipe bomb case. As a podcaster, he had spread false information and conspiracies about the investigation.
Bongino was also embroiled in the administration’s difficulty managing the fallout from the investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
His approval with allies plummeted when he and Patel emphatically worked to convince Fox News viewers that Epstein had died by suicide when he was found in a New York jail cell in 2019. Bongino reportedly clashed with Bondi after the DOJ concluded Epstein died by suicide and didn’t keep an incriminating client list. Prior to working for the federal government, Bongino spent years promoting the conspiracy theory that Epstein was murdered by special interests.
He faced further scrutiny as the administration stared down pressure from its own base to release more information into Epstein and his associates.
Eventually, then-Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey was tapped as deputy FBI director alongside Bongino in August, a rare dual appointment for one of the nation’s top law enforcement jobs.
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