Donald Trump has named right-wing commentator Dan Bongino as his pick for deputy FBI director.
The former Fox News host, who now runs a successful podcast, will lead the bureau alongside Kash Patel, who was narrowly confirmed as FBI director by the Senate last week.
It’s an unorthodox appointment that breaks the longstanding tradition of having someone with direct FBI experience occupying the role.
But who is Mr Bongino, what has his career looked like so far and what has Donald Trump said about his appointment?
From law enforcement to political pundit
Bongino, 50, worked for the New York Police Department for several years in the 1990s before joining the Secret Service as an agent, serving on the presidential details for then-presidents Barack Obama and George Bush.
He began doing commentary on Fox News more than a decade ago, and had a Saturday night show with the network from 2021 to 2023.
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His appointment, which does not need to be confirmed by the Senate, means he is one of nearly two dozen former Fox News personnel to join the Trump Administration.
He has ventured into politics several times, having run for a US Senate seat in Maryland in 2012 and for congressional seats in 2014 and 2016 in Maryland and Florida. He ultimately lost the three races.
His most recent success has come through his podcast, The Dan Bongino Show, which Spotify says is one of the most popular on the platform.
Bongino has helped pedal pro-Trump narratives
The incoming deputy FBI director became one of the leading personalities in the Make America Great Again political movement which spread false information about the 2020 election, making unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud.
Bongino has also advanced baseless theories about the FBI, including a claim earlier this year that the bureau lied when it announced it still had not identified a suspect in the placement of pipe bombs outside of the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee (DNC) a day before the Jan 6 Capitol riot in 2021.
The FBI released a new video last month of an individual placing one of the bombs near the DNC as part of renewed efforts to track down a suspect.
Mr Bongino reacted in a podcast episode, saying: “If the video has been sitting in the FBI evidence locker for four years now, it’s almost like someone in the FBI knows the identity of this bomber and that Trump is going to find out.”
He called the bureau’s inability to provide a name or other identifying information for the suspect “the biggest scandal of our time”.
He was among the Trump loyalists who perpetuated conspiracies regarding the 2022 FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago property for classified documents, suggesting it was an attempt by then-president Joe Biden’s administration to assassinate Mr Trump.
“EVERYONE involved in this DOJ/FBI abomination, from the management down to the agents, must be immediately terminated when the tyrants are thrown out of office,” Mr Bongino said in a social media post at the time.
During an interview last year, Mr Bongino urged Mr Trump to commit to forming a commission to reform the Secret Service, calling it a “failed” agency and criticising it for the two assassination attempts aimed at him last year.
“That guy should have been nowhere near you,” Mr Bongino said about the man who authorities say camped outside Mr Trump’s golf course in Florida before he was spotted with a rifle.
Trump: Bongino has incredible love and passion for our country
In a social media post confirming Mr Bongino’s appointment, Mr Trump wrote: “Dan Bongino, a man of incredible love and passion for our Country, has just been named the next DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE FBI, by the man who will be the best ever Director, Kash Patel.
“Working with our great new United States Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and Director Patel, Fairness, Justice, Law and Order will be brought back to America, and quickly. Congratulations Dan!”
Responding to the post on X, where Mr Bongino has some 6.6 million followers, the incoming deputy FBI director thanked the president, along with Ms Bondi and Mr Patel.
Bongino announcement sparks concerns
Several in the intelligence community have expressed concern over Mr Bongino’s lack of experience and support for conspiracy theories, according to Sky News’ US partner NBC News.
It says two current FBI officials who spoke to the publication voiced their concerns, noting the deputy FBI director typically runs the bureau’s operations and oversees the special agents that lead its 55 field offices across the country.
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The FBI Agents Association, a non-profit organisation aimed at supporting current and retired agents, has not commented on Mr Bongino’s appointment, but has created a memo seen by NBC News that appeared to suggest he was not qualified for the position.
Without naming anyone specifically, the memo read: “The FBI Deputy Director should continue to be an on-board, active Special Agent – as has been the case for 117 years for many compelling reasons, including operational expertise and experience, as well as the trust of our Special Agent population.”
Bongino appointment comes at time of FBI overhaul
Mr Bongino’s leadership of the FBI, alongside Mr Patel, comes after its former director Christopher Wray stepped down.
Mr Wray, who was seven years into a 10-year term that started under Mr Trump’s first administration, announced he was stepping down in December, admitting it was to get ahead of an imminent sacking which he believed would have further politicised the FBI and dragged it “deeper into the fray”.
At that point, Mr Trump had already criticised Mr Wray and the FBI for “invading” his home, in reference to the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago property as part of a federal investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents – a case that has since been dropped.
The FBI had also carried out the sprawling January 6 probe, which led to more than a thousand Trump supporters involved in the capitol riots being jailed.
Mr Trump frequently referred to those jailed over January 6 as “hostages” and on his first day back in the White House, he issued a sweeping clemency order, granting pardons to more than 1,500 defendants.
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His government has also forced out half a dozen of the FBI’s most senior executives and multiple heads of FBI field offices around the country.
Mr Trump said this month that he plans to “fire some” FBI personnel who worked on the capitol riot cases amid concerns of mass layoffs at the bureau, after his justice department demanded the names of thousands of agents who participated in the investigations.
Mr Patel and and Mr Bongino will succeed the two acting FBI leaders, Brian Driscoll and Robert Kissane, who have led the bureau since the departure of Mr Wray in January.
