What you need to know:
- Dan Bongino announces on X that he will leave the FBI in January
- He made this announcement after Trump confirmed Bongino’s departure.
- Bongino was an influential conservative podcaster and conspiracy theorist before being appointed by Trump
- It is one of the highest-profile departures of a Trump appointee
Dan Bongino announced on Wednesday that he will step down from his role as deputy director of America’s domestic intelligence and security services, the FBI.
Bongino posted the news on Twitter just hours after President Donald Trump said he thought Bongino “wants to go back to his show.”
Before joining the FBI, Bongino hosted a prominent right-wing podcast.
“Dan did a great job. I think he wants to get back to his show,” Trump told reporters earlier Wednesday.
In his brief post announcing his departure on Wednesday, Bongino thanked Trump and others “for the opportunity to serve with purpose.”
Bongino’s departure comes after less than 10 months in office. He did not give any reason for the decision or say when he would depart.
FBI Associate Deputy Director Andrew Bailey (who was appointed to a rare post in August) had already led some of the meetings that Bongino was expected to handle over the past few days, CNN reported.
Bongino’s FBI appointment was unusual from the start
Bongino was an unconventional choice for the FBI’s second-highest role when he takes office in March 2025.
Historically, career agents who had worked their way up the ranks filled the position.
Bongino previously worked as a New York City police officer and Secret Service agent. But the MAGA-friendly podcast host had no FBI experience before being appointed by Trump.
A report by active and retired FBI agents leaked in December spoke about Bongino’s lack of experience, calling him “out of his mind”.
He has also clashed with Attorney General Pam Bondi over her handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in prison while awaiting trial on charges of running a network of underage girls for sex.
Bongino promotes conspiracy theories surrounding January 6 riots, Epstein
As a conservative podcast host, Bongino spread several conspiracy theories, including the claim that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from Trump.
He was particularly vocal about two conspiracy theories – one related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking case and the other regarding pipe bombs discovered in the storming of Capitol Hill in Washington on the eve of the January 6, 2021, storming of Capitol Hill in Washington.
In his podcast, Bongino has long pushed for reform of the FBI, which he said is needed to uncover truths that he claimed have been hidden by the federal government.
On the Epstein case, Bongino had previously challenged the official ruling that Epstein had taken his own life in prison shortly after his arrest in 2019. However, earlier this year he backtracked, saying he now believed sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein killed himself.
As for the pipe bombs placed outside the Republican and Democrat headquarters on the eve of the January 6 riots, Bongino recently said in 2024 that he believed it was an “inside job” that involved a “massive cover-up.”
But after the FBI arrested a man with no apparent ties to the federal government earlier this month, Bongino again walked back his previous claims.
“In the past I have been paid for my opinion,” Bongino said in a Fox News interview. “One day I will come back to that place but right now I am not paid for it. I am paid to be your deputy director, and we investigate based on facts.”
Edited by: Kieran Burke