By Adriana Gomez Licon and Eric Tucker
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Dan Bongino, a former U.S. Secret Service agent who ran for office and gained fame with TV shows and a popular podcast, has been chosen to serve as FBI deputy director.
President Donald Trump announced the appointment Sunday night in a post on his Truth Social platform, praising Bongino as “a man of incredible love and passion for our Country.” He called the announcement “great news for Law Enforcement and American Justice.”
Bongino would serve under Kash Patel, who was sworn in as FBI director at the White House on Friday and who has signaled his intent to reshape the bureau, including by relocating hundreds of employees from its Washington headquarters and placing greater emphasis on the FBI’s traditional crime-fighting duties.
The deputy director serves as the FBI’s second-in-command and is traditionally a career agent responsible for the bureau’s day-to-day law enforcement operations. The position does not require Senate confirmation. Bongino, like Patel, has never served in the FBI.
Natalie Bara, president of the FBI Agents Association, wrote in an internal newsletter to members sent Sunday before Bongino’s selection was announced that Patel had agreed during a January meeting with her that 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.”
The two are inheriting an FBI gripped by turmoil as the Justice Department over the past month has forced out a group of senior bureau officials and demanded for the names of thousands of agents who participated in investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Bongino served on the presidential details for then-Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, before becoming a popular right-wing figure.
For a few years following Rush Limbaugh’s death in 2021, he was chosen for a radio show on the same time slot of the famous commentator.
Bongino worked for the New York Police Department for several years in the 1990s before joining the Secret Service. 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. He is now a host of The Dan Bongino Show, one of the most popular podcasts, according to Spotify.
Bongino ran for a U.S. Senate seat in Maryland in 2012 and for congressional seats in 2014 and 2016 in Maryland and Florida, after moving in 2015. He lost the three races.
Patel and Bongino will succeed the two acting FBI leaders, Brian Driscoll and Rob Kissane, who have led the bureau since the departure in January of former Director Christopher Wray, who was appointed by Trump in 2017 and held the job for the next seven years before resigning at the end of the Biden administration to make way for his chosen successor.
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Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.