It was announced late Sunday night by President Donald Trump the recently confirmed FBI director Kash Patel had tapped Dan Bongino to be his second in command at the government agency. Like many new leaders in Donald Trump’s new government, Bongino’s appointment is a radical departure from those who have previously occupied the role.
While the position of FBI deputy director does not require the candidate to undergo a Senate confirmation hearing, the role is usually given to someone who previous experience in the field as it is a role that is typically an active agent with significant operational expertise and experience.
The 50-year-old former Secret Service agent-turned-conservative media commentator is known in the political stratosphere for his outspoken support for Trump as well as his frequent spreading of misinformation, including about the FBI. Here is everything known about Bongino.
Once called the FBI “irredeemably corrupt”
The man who will be serving as the second in command for the U.S. intelligence agency once called the very organization “irredeemably corrupt.” The man once claimed that the organization once played and later covered up the role in the pipe bombs that were placed outside of both the DNC and RNC headquarters in January 2011.
Bongino also claimed the agency’s integrity was in question over the investigation of the 2024 Trump assassination attempts. Back in 2021, he said that members of the FBI and CIA “unquestionably” tried to “rig” the 2016 and 2020 elections.
“A corrupted intelligence community, in conjunction with a corrupt media, will eat this country like a cancer from the inside out,” Bongino said during a podcast taping, according to the New Yorker. “This is why I’m really hoping Donald Trump runs in 2024,” he said. “He’s the best candidate suited to clean house. Because if we don’t clean house the Republic is gone.”
The man once again repeated his “clean house” theory in 2022 during an appearance on Fox News. In the segment, the man claimed that the agency is “irredeemably corrupt” and has been “abusing its power and eroding Americans’ trust for decades now.”
Bongino ran for Congress three times
While three times may be the lucky charm for some, it was not for Bongino who reportedly failed to win a Congress seat three times in 2012, 2014 and 2016. The man’s first run was in the state of Maryland where he won the Republican primary but ultimately lost to the Democratic candidate and incumbent Ben Cardin by a landslide. During his first run, he ran on a platform of cutting taxes, growing jobs, and his “heartfelt desire to shake up an unquestionably broken political system and culture.”
Two years later, the man ran again against Democratic incumbent John Delaney to represent Maryland’s 6th congressional district in the U.S. House and narrowly lost. Moving to Florida in 2015, Bongino decided he wanted to try his hand at Congress one more time but finished third.
Survived Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
Bongino announced in 2020 that a 7-cm. growth had been found in his neck. In October of that year, he announced that he had to undergo an operation to remove the growth, and he later disclosed post-operation that it “looks like lymphoma”—a type of blood cancer.
A few days later, Bongino said he’d been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, though he added that “there’s a treatment plan.” In a 2024 interview with Megyn Kelly, he said that he was “two years clean in remission.”
Was a former Secret Service and a police officer
Bongino started his career in 1995 as a cadet for the New York Police Department where he served until 1999 when he joined the Secret Service as a special agent. Bongino started his career in the New York Field Office and was assigned to investigate federal crimes such as “protective intelligence, computer crimes, bank fraud, credit card fraud and counterfeiting.”
In 2002, he left the field office to become an instructor at the Secret Service Training Academy in Beltsville, Md. In 2006, Bongino joined the Presidential Protective Division, serving during the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Afterward, he transferred to the Baltimore Field Office in 2010, before leaving in May 2011 to run for office.
Began a podcast after his unsuccessful Congress runs
In 2015, Bongino began his media career after his unsuccessful run for Congress in 2015. In his podcast called The Renegade Republican, (since renamed The Dan Bongino Show) the man attacked several Democrats, the media and even Republicans.
In 2018, Bongino’s popularity and brash style earned him NRATV, the National Rifle Association’s short-lived online video channel. “My entire life right now is about owning the libs,” Bongino famously said during a segment in October 2018.
Over the years, Bongino drew the attention of Trump who was often posting to social media about the man’s comments. In 2019, Bongino reportedly launched the Bongino Report, an aggregator of right-wing media headlines intended as a pro-Trump alternative to Drudge Report.
Has been labeled a misinformation “superspreader”
Over the years, Bongino has become known for promoting misinformation and conspiracy theories. During the COVID-19 virus, he was banned from YouTube for allegedly violating its policies against pandemic-related misinformation, and Google subsequently pulled ads from his sites.
In October 2021, His podcast also went on hiatus in October 2021 after he publicly threatened to leave Cumulus Media over its vaccine mandate, despite being vaccinated himself. The podcast reappeared less than two weeks later without the site changing its policy.