Trump's loyalty-first FBI
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President Trump named bombastic MAGA podcast star Dan Bongino as deputy FBI director — a role that doesn't require Senate confirmation, and typically goes to a senior agent.
Why it matters: With loyalist Kash Patel confirmed as FBI director, the bureau can function effectively as Trump's private security force.
- Announcing the appointment on Truth Social last night, Trump said Patel "will be the best ever Director" and said of Bongino: "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."
Catch up quick: Bongino served in the NYPD before joining the Secret Service and working in the Presidential Protective Division during the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
- The FBI Agents Association wanted an active-duty agent as deputy. So the pick could intensify "mistrust among the rank-and-file," the N.Y. Times reports.
- Bongino ran for a U.S. Senate seat in 2012 and in two congressional races after that. He lost all three.
Flashback: Talking in 2018 about the confirmation battle for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Bongino said: "My entire life right now is about owning the libs."
- In 2022, he was banned from YouTube after being suspended for violating the platform's COVID-19 misinformation policy.
- He's also spread conspiracy theories about the FBI's role in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections and questioned the integrity of its investigations into the assassination attempts targeting Trump.
The other side: Some Democrats have sounded the alarm over the pick.
- "Trump has chosen grifters to lead the FBI," Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) wrote Sunday, alleging that "Dan Bongino's entire show is telling listeners the world is ending so they buy the dozens of survivalist products he sells."
- He added, "I know this feels like a bad dream. It isn't."
Go deeper: YouTube permanently bans Fox News host Dan Bongino
Editor's note: This story was updated with additional background and reaction.
