Politics
BREAKING: Trump Appoints Dan Bongino To Key Administration Role
In a surprising Sunday night move, President Donald Trump appointed top-rated conservative radio host and 12-year-Secret Service veteran Dan Bongino to serve as deputy director of the FBI.
“Great news for Law Enforcement and American Justice,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Sunday night. “Dan Bongino, a man of incredible love and passion for our Country, has just been named the next DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE FBI, by the man who will be the best ever Director, Kash Patel.”
The president went on to explain that Bongino’s extensive career in law enforcement and willingness to understand why federal agencies need to be reformed makes him a perfect candidate for the job. “He was a member of the New York Police Department (New York’s Finest!), a highly respected Special Agent with the United States Secret Service, and is now one of the most successful Podcasters in the Country, something he is willing and prepared to give up in order to serve,” Trump wrote. “Working with our great new United States Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and Director Patel, Fairness, Justice, Law and Order will be brought back to America, and quickly. Congratulations Dan!”
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD – MARCH 6, 2014: Then-Congressional candidate Dan Bongino speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
Bongino — who hosts both the most popular radio show and podcast in the conservative media space — has long used his platform to call for extensive reforms of the FBI and Secret Service. In the aftermath of the assassination attempt against President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania this past Summer, Bongino testified before Congress about security failures leading up to the event and how they can best be addressed.
“The joke in the Secret Service, which is sadly no longer funny when I was there, and it wasn’t funny then either, is they rely on yesterday’s technology tomorrow,” Bongino told lawmakers. “Everything from computer systems that waste agents’ times filling out time and attendance records they were doing” and “implementing slings – a technology as old as the wheel – about… five or six years into my time in the Secret Service,” he continued, a delay he called “embarrassing.” In addition, “the weaponry was old. Everything was old. These are things I would’ve talked about sooner if they didn’t create a security crisis.”
Much of the issues that plague the Secret Service are also evident within the FBI, Bongino has said many times. The top Trump ally is a fierce critic of former FBI Director Christopher Wray, the bureau’s handling of the January 6 cases, and numerous instances of bias displayed against President Trump during the dubious criminal cases brought against him.
Former Attorney General Merrick Garland infamously authorized an unprecedented FBI raid on the president’s Mar-A-Lago estate, during which agents rooted through Melania’s underwear drawer after they were explicitly told they could use deadly force if necessary.
In a 2023 interview with Breitbart News, Bongino stated that the bureau has been “burned to the ground” and has “disgraced itself” due to its involvement with partisan politics and targeting of the Democratic Party’s political opponents. “This guy [Wray] has been in charge with the targeting of pro-lifers, the targeting of Catholics, the targeting of parents at school boards, the SpyGate operation and the aftermath — what else do you need to hear with this guy? This guy has been a total train wreck,” he said.
“By what independent measure is that a good job? If you were running a private company and that had happened, you would’ve been fired and the shareholders would have revolted. Well America’s got shareholders too: they’re called freaking citizens, and we’re tired of this stuff with these guys. We sold the stock on the deep state a long time ago. It’s time for this guy to move on,” he said. “Every Republican candidate out there running for office, if they tell you this guy is going to stay, then throw their vote right in the garbage because they ain’t worth it.”
Bongino went on to advocate for the FBI’s main headquarters to be moved out of Washington D.C. in order to prevent its involvement in partisan politics. The bureau’s new director, Kash Patel, has also endorsed this idea on many occasions.
