The second-highest-ranking official at the FBI has announced that he will soon be leaving the agency. The departure, suspected for months due to infighting within the Trump administration, ends a brief tenure marked by questions over his qualifications for the role and disagreement concerning the controversial Epstein case.
After struggling with role at FBI, Bongino to step down in January
Dan Bongino, the right-wing commentator appointed by President Trump as Deputy Director of the FBI, announced Wednesday that he would be stepping down from his position in January. The announcement came after months of speculation that Bongino would resign due to unhappiness with his role and clashes with other administration officials, such as U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Bongino’s announcement on Wednesday came after news reports said he had cleared his office, and President Trump seemingly confirmed to reporters that Bongino was preparing to leave the agency. Trump said that Bongino had done “a great job” at the FBI, and Bongino thanked the president as well as Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel in a social media post announcing his resignation, effective January.
Bongino’s pick as the number 2 person in the FBI was unusual and controversial. Like FBI Director Kash Patel, Bongino was a right-wing political commentator with no history of working for the agency, though Bongino did have experience in law enforcement. His politics aligned with the Trump administration’s hostility toward DEI and other “woke” policies. Once in office, however, Bongino appeared to struggle with the duties of the job. Former FBI Washington field office director Steven Jensen, one of several top agents suing the Trump administration for firing them, said in his lawsuit that Bongino spent more time “creating content for his social media pages” than focusing on FBI investigations. Bongino also clashed with Bondi and White House chief of staff Susan Wiles. In a sign that Bongino’s days were numbered, the Trump administration in August appointed Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to share Bongino’s duties, a never-before-done arrangement for the deputy director position.
Leaving as Epstein controversy, FBI turmoil continue
The main issue driving Bongino’s displeasure was the lingering case of convicted sex offender and former Trump friend Jeffrey Epstein. As a political commentator, Bongino previously questioned the official determination that Epstein died by suicide, though he and Patel publicly supported the government’s position while serving in their top FBI roles. Privately, however, Bongino was said to have grown frustrated by the ways in which Bondi and other Republicans attempted to downplay the Epstein case and block the release of more information; Bongino reportedly stopped coming to work for some period of time due to frustration over the handling of the case. The announcement of Bongino’s departure comes as the so-called Epstein files are scheduled to be released Friday after Democrats forced a vote on the issue.
Bongino’s departure comes at a moment of intense scrutiny and turmoil for the FBI. While the agency recently made an arrest in the long-lingering case of a person who planted pipe bombs in Washington, D.C. on the night before the January 6 insurrection. Bongino once claimed that the bombs were an “inside job” by anti-Trump forces, but he later walked back those comments; a Trump-supporting election conspiracy theorist has been taken into custody. The FBI has been criticized for its missteps in the recent mass shooting at Brown University. The FBI has also been rocked by apparent political retribution taken by Trump against the agency. A dozen agents who were fired by the Trump administration for kneeling during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest are suing the government, while charges brought against former FBI Director James Comey were dismissed due to Trump’s handpicked prosecutor being unlawfully appointed.
Overall, Bongino’s brief tenure at the FBI has been marked by ineffective leadership, infighting among Trump administration officials and intra-agency turmoil. Bongino, who previously criticized the FBI before becoming one of its leaders, may leave the agency with new fodder for his online commentary but few accomplishments as the number 2 leader of the United States government’s top law enforcement agency.