To hear Dan Bongino explain it, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is America's “most corrupt law enforcement,” a “full-fledged left-wing political action committee” dedicated to hiding democratic crime and withholding truth from the American people.
“It's an absolute time for house cleaning,” he said in 2023.
Now, Trump's longtime right-wing critic, podcaster and voice ally, Bongino is being tapped to serve as the agency's new assistant director. His podcast and radio show will end production on March 14th.
Work that does not require confirmation from the Senate has traditionally been fulfilled by extensive operational experience and senior agents with a deep understanding of how the various departments of the department work. The last two assistant directors had over 35 years of experience before taking on the role. Bongino served as a police officer and a US Secret Service agent many years ago, but has no experience with the FBI.
While Bongino's exact plans for his agency remain unclear, a recent podcast says he will remove politicization and focus on crimes such as drug trafficking.
To sum up, Bongino's long-standing comments on radio shows and podcasts portray the vision of “dramatic change” at the FBI, as he said last week. These ideas are largely in line with the criticism raised by his friend Kash Patel. But some of their ideas will likely require additional funding.
The FBI declined to comment, but recently rejected accusations of “corruption” that were levelled by the Republican Cabinet Secretary, saying such claims were “not supported by evidence” and “weaks the FBI's men and women.”
“It's my job to generate political opinions,” Bongino responded to a question sent by the New York Times on Wednesday on his radio show. He added: “Your political opinion is clearly not a prerequisite for such a job. My experience with law enforcement was.”
Here's what Bongino said in the past about his vision for the FBI.
Dismissing “everyone”
Bongino has frequently focused on FBI officials who have shown dishonesty to Trump by pursuing investigations into him or his supporters.
“How do you fix this? He said in June 2023 after Trump was indicted in a confidential document case. The charges included intentionally retaining national defense secrets in violation of spying, and committing false statements and conspiracy to interfere with justice.
“We don't just fire people who did this. While the Department of Justice and the FBI were destroyed and destroyed by a corrupt crowd, everyone who stood up and did nothing. Everyone is fired. Everyone.”
Republicans and Trump's allies have sought to downplay the charges against Trump by claiming that the FBI's investigation was merely a “witch hunt” against him.
The indictment on the false documents stores Trump's classification documents in multiple rooms at Mar-a-Lago, including showers. The investigation was launched by the FBI in 2022, but was eventually handed over to an independent special advisor. The accusations were dismissed after Trump's reelection, as the Justice Department policy bans indictment and prosecution of an incumbent president.
Rebuild the FBI
In previous shows, Bongino approved Patel's proposal that the FBI has grown bloated and Washington agents should be spread across the country to fight crime.
“Corruption needs to be paid back immediately,” he said on the June 2023 show. Missions should be split. Money should be divided among other institutions that take the oath seriously to their own country. ”
Patel is already beginning to get better with some of these promises. He announced plans in February that around 1,500 agents and others will be moved from the Washington area to field offices and other facilities nationwide.
Release of FBI's “coverup”
Bongino claims that the FBI knows the truth about the various mysteries that have animated right-wing influencers over the years.
Among them is the mystery surrounding two pipe bombs planted outside the headquarters of both Washington parties on January 6, 2021 the day before Trump's rally. The bomb never exploded.
Bongino says the FBI tried to hide its crime in what they called “the biggest scandal in FBI history.” Citing the evidence, he said FBI officials knew the bomber's identity and kept it secret in order to protect Democrats and government insiders. A former FBI official who worked in the case said it was false.
He said the next FBI leader should “reach the story on the first day and reestablish trust.”
“It's absolutely clear to me that this was an internal job,” he said of the bomb during the November broadcast. “I don't necessarily mean inside the government. It's possible. But there's no doubt in my mind that this wasn't the Maga guy who planted that bomb. This is an anti-Trump madman, and the FBI knows who it is and they won't tell you.”
Ending the “politicized” investigation…
Bongino said Trump supporters were unfairly targeted by the FBI when investigating the crime committed on January 6th.
“We're wasting our time on the FBI, HSI and DOJ, so we're not investigating the bad guys. Magazine and Christian nationalists,” he said in November 2023, referring to the Homeland Security Survey.
What actually happened: The FBI investigated people based on evidence that they had committed crimes such as illegally entering the U.S. Capitol, assaulting police officers, and engaging in inflammatory conspiracies. In the rulings of a handful of defendants, federal prosecutors asked what is known as strengthening terrorism.
Christopher A. Ray, who resigned as FBI director before Trump took office, described the attacks that Trump supporters plundered the Capitol and killed five people and injured police officers as domestic terrorist attacks. Ray was confirmed in Trump's first administration.
At the same time, Bongino suggests that despite the FBI being in charge of investigating federal law violations, the FBI should focus on other violent crimes, such as drug trafficking.
“In fact, I think the intelligence feature should be removed entirely from the FBI,” Bongino said last November. “They should go back to bank robbery investigations, temptations, serious ones.”
The FBI has not abandoned those pursuits. The agency's recent announcements include attacks by the Islamic State, a series of ATM robberies in New York and arrests related to St. Louis' money laundering.
…and potentially launches an investigation into the Democrats.
Bongino has long said progressive leaders, including former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., have committed crimes and should investigate FBI leaders.
“I think when Kash Patel enters there, many of the people involved should be investigated,” he said in January of his belief that he played a role in the Capitol rebellion on January 6, 2021.
In a report last year, the Justice Department discovered “no evidence” that the FBI had “various protest crowds or secret employees of the Capitol on January 6th.”
Bongino argues Republicans are insisting that the FBI and the Justice Department are weaponized against conservatives and that they want to redeem left-wing American agencies. On a show aired in January, Bongino proposed using the government to chase off law violators in a harsh response to what Democrats allegedly did.
“They armed the government to chase Trump for the accusations they made,” he said. “We use the government to chase after people who believe they have legally broken the law.”
Bongino appears to be aware of his concern that he will politicize the FBI, and replies on his podcast that it is the last thing in his mind.
“We're there for the opposite reason,” he said. “To make sure that doesn't happen.”
