Trump names conservative podcaster Dan Bongino as FBI deputy director | FBI

Dan Bongino, a former US Secret Service agent who has written bestselling books, run unsuccessfully for workplace and gained fame as a conservative pundit with TV reveals and a well-liked podcast, has been chosen to function the FBI’s deputy director.

President Donald Trump introduced the appointment on Sunday night time in a submit on his Reality Social platform, praising Bongino as “a person of unbelievable love and fervour for our nation”. He known as the announcement “nice information for legislation enforcement and American justice”.

The choice locations two staunch Trump allies atop the nation’s principal federal legislation enforcement company at a time when Democrats are involved that the president may search to focus on his adversaries. Bongino would serve underneath Kash Patel, who was sworn in as FBI director on the White Home on Friday and who has signalled his intent to reshape the bureau, together with by relocating a whole bunch of staff from its Washington headquarters and putting higher emphasis on the FBI’s conventional crime-fighting duties.

Patel has declined to explicitly say whether or not he would use his place to pursue Trump’s political opponents.

The deputy director serves because the FBI’s second-in-command and is historically a profession agent answerable for the bureau’s day-to-day legislation enforcement operations.

Bongino, 49, served on the presidential particulars for then-presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush, earlier than turning into a well-liked rightwing determine. He grew to become one of many main personalities within the Maga political motion to unfold false details about the 2020 election.

For just a few years following Rush Limbaugh’s dying in 2021, he was chosen for a radio present on the identical time slot of the well-known commentator.

Bongino labored for the New York police division from 1997 by way of 1999, earlier than becoming a member of the Secret Service. He started doing commentary on Fox Information greater than a decade in the past, and had a Saturday night time present with the community from 2021 to 2023. He’s now a number of the Dan Bongino Present, probably the most well-liked podcasts, in accordance with Spotify.

Bongino ran for a US Senate seat in Maryland in 2012 and for congressional seats in 2014 and 2016 in Maryland and Florida, after shifting in 2015. He misplaced all three races.

Throughout an interview final yr, Bongino requested Trump to decide to forming a fee to reform the Secret Service, calling it a “failed” company and criticizing it for the 2 assassination makes an attempt final yr.

“That man ought to have been nowhere close to you,” Bongino mentioned concerning the man who authorities say camped outdoors Trump’s golf course in West Palm Seashore, Florida, earlier than he was noticed with a rifle.