Dan Bongino, seen in 2021, has been appointed as the FBI deputy director in the second administration of Trump.
Calla Kessler/for The Washington Post via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Calla Kessler/for The Washington Post via Getty Images
The selection for the FBI deputy director by the Trump administration is Dan Bongino, a former U.S. Secret Service agent and conservative commentator whose fervent backing of President Trump has garnered him a significant following, but has also led to his ban from YouTube for spreading misinformation.
Bongino, 50, hosts The Dan Bongino Show, a syndicated radio program and daily podcast that was noted to be the 7th most popular podcast in the U.S. as of January, as reported by industry analyst PodTrac.
Trump remarked in his announcement that Bongino is “ready and willing” to forgo his show to serve in this new position.
“Fantastic news for Law Enforcement and American Justice!” Trump announced on Sunday evening. “Dan Bongino, a man who possesses tremendous love and zeal for our Country, has just been appointed as the next DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE FBI, by the person who will be the greatest Director ever, Kash Patel.”
The deputy director position, which oversees both domestic and international operations, has typically been held by a career FBI agent. Bongino has not served in the FBI, although he has experience with the New York Police Department.
Last week, Bongino defended Patel on his podcast in an episode titled “The Golden Age of Republican Politics.” He stated that he has known Patel for a long time and “I can assure you that Kash Patel is there for one reason: To restore the FBI to greatness.”
“Folks, without a reliable deterrent to spies in this country, counterintelligence against terrorists who openly plan attacks, and a coordinating body for transnational and interstate crimes, we risk losing our nation,” he emphasized. “Kash is dedicated solely to that mission.”
Kash Patel, known for his sharp criticism of the FBI and his lack of experience as a senior law enforcement official, was narrowly confirmed by the Senate and sworn in as FBI director last week, despite concerns from Democrats regarding his loyalty to Trump and his capability to lead an agency designed to be apolitical and independent from the White House.
Republicans welcomed his confirmation, asserting he may implement necessary changes to the bureau, which some on the right have accused of unfairly targeting conservatives in recent years. During his January confirmation hearing, Patel expressed his commitment to “stay focused on the FBI’s core mission.”
NPR has reached out to Bongino for further insights on his perspectives regarding the traditional independence of the FBI and his involvement in Patel’s selection.
As no Senate confirmation is required, Bongino will soon become Patel’s right-hand associate. Here’s what else you should know about him.
He has a background with the NYPD and Secret Service
Bongino holds an MBA from Penn State University, along with both master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the City University of New York.
A historical campaign website from Bongino’s 2012 Senate run in Maryland mentions he started his career with the New York Police Department in 1995, joining the Cadet program while attending CUNY, and becoming a full-time officer two years later.
He began working for the U.S. Secret Service in 1999, initially investigating federal crimes in the New York Field Office before becoming an instructor at the Secret Service Training Academy in Maryland, per the archived information.
In 2006, he joined the Presidential Protection Division and worked on the security details for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
New Yorker journalist Evan Osnos, who profiled Bongino in 2022, told NPR’s Fresh Air that year that Bongino was regarded as a competent, well-liked agent who “never spoke about politics.”
Osnos noted that shortly after resigning from the Secret Service in 2011, when questioned about working with Obama, Bongino described him as a good man and father. However, in the years following, he consistently criticized Obama and his administration, branding them as “corrupt” and “divisive.”
“There’s been this swift transformation of him over the years since then, and I think it’s caught some of his former Secret Service colleagues quite off guard,” Osnos remarked. “Somebody mentioned in this article that it feels like there are two Dan Bonginos: the agent, and now the political figure.”
Bongino has had political aspirations of his own.
He ran for a U.S. Senate seat in Maryland in 2012, successfully securing the Republican primary but losing in the general election. Subsequently, he also ran unsuccessfully for congressional seats in Maryland and Florida in 2014 and 2016, respectively, after moving to Florida with his family.
He built his own media empire
Dan Bongino at Fox News Channel Studios in June 2019. The former Fox host owns one of the most popular podcasts in the country.
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
After unsuccessful congressional runs, Bongino shifted his focus to media, launching a podcast from his basement. Initially titled The Renegade Republican, it boasted “millions of downloads” by September 2016.
“To make it clear, five or six years ago, he was trying to start a podcast in his basement, even going as far as to drape moving blankets on the walls to soundproof it,” Osnos explained in 2022. “He then experienced this extraordinarily rapid rise through the conservative broadcasting ranks, culminating in a podcast that has even reached the No. 1 spot globally at times.”
Osnos noted that Bongino’s swift ascension can be attributed to various factors, including his law enforcement background, which he argues provided him a credibility that resonated with major conservative broadcasters, alongside his sensationalist style and early backing of Trump.
“During Trump’s presidency, Bongino would often go on in the morning on Fox, praising the president for various accomplishments, leading Trump to notice and subsequently tweet about him,” Osnos elaborated in the 2022 interview.
Bongino’s prominence continued to grow throughout Trump’s first term, as his podcast gained greater traction. He briefly hosted a program on the National Rifle Association’s web TV channel, NRATV, in 2018.
“My entire life right now revolves around defeating the liberals,” he stated in one episode, popularizing a Republican catchphrase.
In 2019, he initiated Bongino Report, a pro-Trump news aggregation site similar to the Drudge Report. That same year, Bongino became an official contributor to Fox News.
After the passing of conservative talk show icon Rush Limbaugh in 2021, podcast network Cumulus Media appointed Bongino to fill his time slot. He also started hosting the Fox program Unfiltered on Saturday nights, a role he maintained until parting ways with the network in 2023 due to what he characterized as unsuccessful contract negotiations.
Bongino has also authored around half a dozen books, some detailing his experiences in the Secret Service and others focused on the first Trump administration, with titles like Exonerated: The Failed Takedown of President Donald Trump by the Swamp and Follow the Money: The Shocking Deep State Connections of the Anti-Trump Cabal.
He faces criticism for disseminating misinformation
Experts on misinformation assert that Bongino has leveraged his platform to spread conspiracy theories and false claims, particularly concerning the Mueller investigation, the COVID-19 pandemic, and Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election.
The Institute for Strategic Dialogue identified Bongino among the primary right-wing figures promoting unfounded claims of voter fraud prior to the 2020 election. He continued to amplify Trump’s statements about the election being rigged, which prompted the human rights organization Avaaz to label him a leading “superspreader of election misinformation” in the aftermath of the election.
NPR reported in 2021 that Ashli Babbitt, who was killed by police while participating in the Capitol riot on January 6, had retweeted Bongino’s posts 50 times since the previous February.
Bongino also faced backlash for his views on COVID-19 measures. In late 2021, he threatened to resign from his radio show over Cumulus Media’s vaccine mandate — despite his own vaccination status.
Bongino revealed in October 2020 that he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He later informed Megyn Kelly in 2024 that he had been in remission for two years.
