Dan Bongino, appointed by President Donald Trump as the FBI’s deputy director, is a former police officer and Secret Service agent-turned-conservative talk show host who entertained baseless claims about 2020 election fraud and once called the FBI “irredeemably corrupt.”
Bongino, a former Secret Service agent, has been criticized for spreading several conspiracy ... [+]
Trump announced on Truth Social late Sunday that Bongino, 50, would serve under FBI Director Kash Patel while citing Bongino’s career with the New York City Police Department and Secret Service.
Trump praised Bongino—a Queens, New York, native—for becoming “one of the most successful podcasters in the country,” which Trump said Bongino is “willing and prepared to give up in order to serve.”
Bongino’s selection as the FBI’s deputy director appears unusual compared to previous nominations to the post, which has often been held by a career FBI employee: The last three deputy directors—Paul Abbate, David Bowdich and Andrew McCabe—previously worked for the agency and served in management positions.
Bongino is known as a staunch Trump backer and an outspoken political commentator, stating on his National Rifle Association-backed talk show in 2018: “My entire life right now is about owning the libs. That’s it.”
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Bongino worked as an officer for the New York City Police Department from 1995 to 1999, when he joined the Secret Service as a special agent in the agency’s New York field office while investigating crimes related to “protective intelligence, computer crimes, bank fraud, credit card fraud and counterfeiting,” according to his since-deleted campaign website. He left the field office in 2002 to become an instructor at the Secret Service’s academy in Beltsville, Maryland, before joining the agency’s Presidential Protective Division in 2006. Bongino worked on security details for former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama before exiting the Secret Service in May 2011 to launch his first congressional campaign.
Bongino, a Republican, ran against incumbent Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., in 2012. Bongino won the GOP primary while vowing to cut taxes, create jobs and push his “heartfelt desire to shake up an unquestionably broken political system and culture. Cardin received 56% of the vote, beating out Bongino—who received the second-most votes—at 26%. In 2014, Bongino lost a narrow election to unseat former Rep. John Delaney for Maryland’s 6th congressional district before moving to Florida in 2015, citing a “non-emergency family situation.” Bongino ran in the GOP primary for Florida’s 19th district in 2016, finishing third.
As he ran his third congressional campaign in 2015, Bongino started his podcast “The Renegade Republican,” which he later renamed “The Dan Bongino Show.” In 2018, Bongino signed a contract to host “We Stand,” a political commentary show on the NRA’’s online video channel NRATV. The NRA reportedly declined to renew Bongino’s show, though Bongino disputed reports his show was dropped and claimed he “declined a generous renewal offer.” He launched the news website “Bongino Report” in 2019, and its articles were known for frequently being among the most-shared on Facebook. In 2021, Bongino was tapped by Cumulus Media to host the three-hour radio show, taking a midday slot once held by conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh. Bongino, who appeared as a commentator for several years, also hosted “Unfiltered With Dan Bongino” on Fox News from 2021 to 2023.
Bongino disputed President Joe Biden’s election win on Nov. 9, 2020, two days after major news outlets projected Biden as the winner, and suggested “there’s nothing to concede because this race isn’t over.” Bongino also publicly claimed the election was “rigged,” suggesting the FBI and CIA “hid information about Joe Biden and his corrupt son,” according to the New Yorker. Bongino appeared to promote—or offer sympathetic coverage to—claims of widespread voter fraud on his show after the 2020 election, including questioning whether fraudulent ballots were accepted at a higher rate than average and pro-Trump ballots were “being thrown out without cause” (there is no evidence the 2020 election was impacted by fraud at anywhere near the scale required to change the outcome). He later told Politico he wasn’t “saying it’s fraud” and instead was raising questions about the election, and in some cases on his show, he said he’s open to the possibility that the fraud claims were false. Bongino also disputed court rulings that shut down false claims of widespread voter fraud, questioning why the Supreme Court “doesn’t want to hear a lot of these cases and provide clarity and give a definitive answer,” according to the Washington Post. In the weeks leading up to the 2024 presidential election, Bongino reportedly suggested Democrats may try to “fleece this thing again,” adding, “Your concerns about them stealing an election are valid.”
In October 2021, Bongino threatened to leave Cumulus Media because of the company’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate. Bongino—who said he was vaccinated on the advice of doctors as he battled cancer—said he was “resisting” the company’s mandate for employees who “don’t have a platform to fight back” as they “risk unemployment if they don’t comply.” In January 2022, YouTube permanently banned Bongino after he claimed face masks were useless in combatting the spread of Covid-19.
Bongino claimed in August 2022 the FBI was “irredeemably corrupt” and has been “abusing its power and eroding Americans’ trust for decades now.” Last year, Bongino claimed without clear evidence “somebody’s hiding something” related to pipe bombs found outside the DNC and RNC headquarters ahead of the Jan. 6 riot, suggesting the FBI manipulated footage of the suspect who placed the bomb at the DNC. He has also questioned the agency’s role in investigating the assassination attempts on Trump.
Boningo has spread other baseless or questionable claims over the last decade. Amid claims the Obama administration tasked an FBI agent to spy on Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016, Bongino said—citing unspecified “reporting”—he believed there was more than one spy. While some of Trump’s aides were investigated by the agency, there is no evidence suggesting the FBI surveilled his campaign. In 2022, Bongino appeared to suggest the Biden administration may have blown up the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany, claiming Biden’s motivations to do so are “far greater than the motivations of Russia.” The White House disputed claims Biden was involved in the pipeline explosions as “utterly false and complete fiction,” and U.S. officials believe a pro-Ukrainian group was responsible.
Bongino said he underwent an operation in October 2020 to remove a growth about 7 centimeters large in his neck. Bongino later said he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of blood cancer, after the operation revealed the growth “looks like lymphoma.” He announced in 2024 he was “two years clean in remission.”
The Senate confirmed Patel as FBI director last week, despite opposition from some Republicans for his “high profile and aggressive political activity.” Patel is a staunch Trump loyalist, known for his vows to go after the “deep state.” Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee said they requested documents from federal agencies over “alleged misconduct” by Patel during the first Trump administration. The request followed an anonymous FBI whistleblower who claimed to CBS that Patel violated protocol by confirming a hostage exchange to the press before it was completed. A source denied the allegations.