Who is Dan Bongino? Trump announces podcaster as FBI deputy director
President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that Dan Bongino, a conservative talk show host, will be the next deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Bongino will join Kash Patel, who was confirmed by the Senate last week as the new director of the FBI. Trump said Patel would appoint Bongino to the role, which does not require Senate confirmation.
In a social media post on Monday, Bongino praised FBI staff members as “dedicated people” who “deserve leadership that will back them up, protect their mission and ensure they can do their jobs.”
Who is Dan Bongino?
Bongino was previously a New York City police officer and a member of the U.S. Secret Service. He was most recently known as a conservative radio host and podcaster, according to Reuters.
A New York Times best-selling author, Bongino has authored several books on politics, according to Good Reads. His books range from topics about his time in the Secret Service to analyzing Trump’s presidency.
Born in New York City, Bongino has a master’s degree in Psychology from Queens College and a master’s in Business Administration from Pennsylvania State University. He started his career as a police officer with the NYPD in 1995.
The former police officer then joined the United States Secret Service in 1999 as a special agent, having worked during former President George W. Bush’s second term and former President Barack Obama’s term until 2012.
On top of his experience in law enforcement, Bongino is also a former Fox News host.
Bongino hosted Fox News’ Saturday night show “Unfiltered” and the “Canceled in the USA” program on Fox Nation, but left the conservative news network in April 2023 after he and Fox could not come to terms on a new contract.
He left the network days after Fox Corp. agreed to settle a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit for broadcasting rumors aimed at undermining the results of the 2020 presidential election.
In 2022, Bongino was banned from YouTube, Google’s video streaming platform, after being suspended for one week for spreading misinformation about COVID-19.
During the suspension, Bongino posted a video on a separate channel, resulting in the life-long ban.
“We terminated Dan Bongino’s channels for circumventing our Terms of Service by posting a video while there was an active strike and suspension associated with the account,” YouTube previously said in a statement to Paste BN. “When a channel receives a strike, it is against our Terms of Service to post content or use another channel to circumvent the suspension.”
What is The Dan Bongino Show?
The Dan Bongino Show, which first aired in 2017, is a popular conservative podcast that “tackles the hottest political issues, debunking both liberal and Republican establishment rhetoric,” according to the show’s description.
Trump said in his post on Sunday that Bongino is “prepared to give up” his program as he steps into the new role. “The Dan Bongino Show” was most recently the 56th-ranked podcast in the United States, according to Spotify.
What does the Deputy Director of the FBI do?
The deputy FBI director is second-in-command and typically responsible for running the bureau’s domestic and international operations and oversees the special agents leading its field offices across the country.
The bureau employs over 38,000 employees with a budget of over $11 billion, according to Reuters.
Reuters contributed to the reporting of this story.Julia is a trending reporter for Paste BN. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram and TikTok: @juliamariegz, or email her at jgomez@gannett.com