FBI agents express shock and dismay over naming of right-wing podcaster to No. 2 post
Current and former FBI officials expressed shock and dismay over the news that President Trump has selected Dan Bongino to be the bureau’s deputy director.
Current and former FBI officials expressed shock and dismay Monday over the news that President Donald Trump had selected a right-wing podcaster and ardent FBI critic to be the bureau’s deputy director, even as the man picked for the job said he was ready to put partisanship aside.
On his podcast, former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino — who once called the FBI “irredeemably corrupt”— thanked the president for the appointment and suggested that he was prepared to step out of his role as a MAGA warrior. But even as he did so, he repeated the baseless charge that the Justice Department had been “weaponized,” a claim he has frequently brandished to criticize the agency he will now help lead.
“I get it if you are a political opponent of mine that has been involved with proudly celebrating a weaponized justice system, how you don’t understand how a guy like me who discusses partisan content in an opinion show and go and do (an) unquestionably nonpartisan job,” Bongino, also a former Fox News host, said. “I’m going to ask you a simple question: Have you seen what I did before I came here?”
He continued: “I’m committed to service. People play different roles in their lives. People are dads, people are soccer coaches. People are cops and military officers and military enlisted people. People are carpenters, people are plumbers. We play different roles in our life, and each one requires a different skill set.”
Dan Bongino, a conservative commentator, in Stuart, Fla., in 2021.Calla Kessle / The Washington Post / Getty Images fileBongino’s conciliatory words did little to reassure skeptics within the FBI, who noted that, in the bureau’s 117-year history, the deputy director has always been a career FBI agent with deep knowledge of how the bureau functions — and not a political appointee selected by the president.
Rating: 5