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FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino will leave his post next month, he announced Wednesday, ending a short and sometimes tumultuous tenure as the bureau’s second-highest official.
Bongino announced the move on social media hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said he thought Bongino wanted to “get back on his show.” He hosted a prominent right-wing podcast before joining the FBI.
“Dan has done a great job. I think he wants to come back to his show,” Trump told reporters.
Bongino, who also previously served as both a New York City police officer and member of the Secret Service, was an unusual choice for the FBI’s No. 2 job, which was historically filled by career agents who had risen through the ranks.
Bongino was appointed deputy over objections from the FBI Agents Association, a group representing 14,000 mostly current agents, and after assurances from FBI Director Kash Patel that he would appoint a career agent.
Bongino thanked Trump, Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi “for the opportunity to serve with purpose,” in an article on X.
Conspiracy theories promoted
As a podcaster, Bongino promoted a series of conspiracy theories that came back to haunt him once he rose to power, with notable examples relating to the January 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters as well as the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
A 30-year-old man has been arrested and charged with planting two pipe bombs in Washington the night before the 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol, officials announced Thursday. The suspect, Brian Cole Jr., was charged with use of an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction using explosive materials.
Bongino had claimed that planting pipe bombs in the offices of the Democratic and Republican National Committees on the eve of the riot was an “inside job” of the FBI. He walked back that assertion after the FBI arrested a suspect in the five-year-old case in December, and later said in a Fox News interview that he had been paid to express controversial views.
Bongino’s tenure at the FBI has been in question since July, when issues surrounding Epstein came to a head.
That month, the Justice Department and FBI leaders jointly released a memo that walked back their commitment to release investigative files on Epstein and threw cold water on various long-standing conspiracy theories that Bongino had promoted on his podcast.
The memo angered many Trump supporters who bought into Epstein conspiracy theories and rejected the DOJ’s findings that there was no incriminating “client list” to be released and that Epstein committed suicide in his prison cell.
