US President Donald Trump has appointed podcaster and commentator Dan Bongino as deputy director of the FBI.
On social media, Trump stated that Bongino would
report to newly appointed FBI Director Kash Patel and was "a man of
incredible love and passion for our country." Bongino, a 50-year-old
former Secret Service agent and New York City police officer is a fervent
supporter of Trump and has made numerous false claims about the 2020 election. In
his social media announcement on Sunday, Trump said that Bongino would give up
the podcast, adding he would help restore fairness, justice, law, and order.
Before last year's election, Bongino, who has run
for Congress three times, hosted Trump on his podcast. Episodes of his program
from last week include titles such as "Trump Keeps Delivering and the Libs
Are Seething" and "The Only People Who Love Crime Are
Criminals!!!"
He has repeated Trump's false claim that he won
the 2020 election and advanced another conspiracy that Joe Biden's
administration was behind the FBI search for classified documents at Trump's
Florida home.
On X, he stated, "When the tyrants are
thrown out of office, everyone involved in this DOJ/FBI abomination, from the
management down to the agents, must be immediately terminated." "My
life is all about owning the libs now," Bongino said in 2018 when
discussing his career as a prolific conservative political commentator. He
portrays himself as combative, and on X, he frequently responds to Trump's
critics, including a lengthy argument with horror author Stephen King.
Last week, the Senate narrowly approved Patel's
nomination to lead the agency that he has long criticized. He has stated that
he will "rebuild" the bureau and denied any plans to pursue political
vengeance. With 38,000 employees and a budget of more than $11 billion, the FBI's appointment, which does not require Senate confirmation, means neither of the agency's top two people has FBI experience.
The career agent with years of experience who
serves as the deputy director oversees all domestic and international
operations. He hosts The Dan Bongino Show, a daily podcast whose Facebook posts
frequently draw more attention than those of Fox News and CNN.
In a segment about the FBI on Friday's episode,
he praised Patel and attempted to allay Democratic concerns that the agency
will be used to target Trump's enemies. "Kash Patel is there for one
reason: he is there to make the FBI great again," he said.
He's committed to fighting crime and that only,
he added, calling his new boss the "change agent" the FBI needs.
"How incredible would it be to look back in
four years with a good, high-quality, reformed FBI free of woke culture and DEI
that makes headlines with big arrests of really bad guys who destroy your
community? How excellent would that be?
