Bulwark Takes - BREAKING: Dan Bongino to Resign as FBI Deputy Director

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

Sam Stein and Will Sommer give their takes on the news that Dan Bongino is on his way out at the FBI. They discuss Bongino’s bizarre tenure, his struggle to reconcile conspiracy culture with reality, and what comes next.

Hey, everybody. It's me, Sam Stein. I'm managing editor at the Bullwork, and I am here on Wednesday afternoon, giving you a pre-recording to something we already recorded. Will Summer and I spoke this afternoon to do a bulwark take on Dan Bongino. We were talking about reports that Dan was going to be exiting his position as deputy director of the FBI sometime in January. Well, it turns out between when we hit record, when we hit stop. And before we got to the point of publishing that video, Dan broke the news himself. He went on Twitter. it to reveal the following. Quote, I will be leaving my position with the FBI in January. I want to thank President Trump, A.G. Bondi, and Director Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose. Most importantly, I want to thank you, my fellow Americans, for the privilege to serve you. God bless America and all those who defend her, American flag emoji. Well, should you still watch the video with me and Will now that you know the news? I think so. Because in the video, we talk about what went wrong from Dan Bongino while he was at the FBI, whether he can actually successfully segue back to his career as a conspiratorial-minded podcaster

and what the future has for his old buddy, Cash Patel, who may be on Thin Ice himself. Stay tuned, watch the video, subscribe to the feed. Catch you later. Hey, everyone, it's me, Sam Stein, managing editor at the Bullwark. I'm joined by Will Summer, author of the False Flag Newsletter Must Read. We are doing a Bullwark takes for you on Dan Bongino. Sometimes we cover him on the newsletter. Not this time.

We're going to cover him on video. That's because we'll, we now have two articles, one in the New York Times and today, Wednesday, on MS now, saying that Dan Bonjino, deputy director of the FBI is going to resign sometime in the new year. Now, the Times kind of caveat it and said, well, he's unpredictable. Who knows what he does. But I think we can assume based on the reporters on these bylines that it's likely to happen. And it brings to an end, should it happen, how do you? you describe his tenure it's bonjinover um i would describe it god i apologize to the listeners i i had that one ready to go um i could tell maybe you should have worked up that a bit more

um well i would describe it as one of the strangest uh tenures of a of a high high ranking fbi official in met in you know modern memory um surpassed only by cash patels i suppose yes yes is He's surpassed only by his buddy, Cash Patel. I mean, we have a situation here where a guy who, you know, Dan Bongino was a former Secret Service agent, but he had no history as an FBI agent. Unprecedented lack of experience. Previously, we have not had a podcaster leading the most powerful law

and enforcement agency in the world. It is a, it was truly strange and, you know, and now it is coming to an end. So this is, I'll just read what MS now has, and then I'll read what the New York Times says. MS now says, Bonino has told his team, some senior FBI officials that he tentatively planned to announce his departure on December 19th.

That's according to four people. Several people said some of Bonino's personal effects have been cleared out of his office as of last week. Reached by MS Now, Bonino declined to confirm or deny the reports of his plans, adding, quote, print whatever you'd like. No one believes you anyway. Thanks. What a guy.

And in the New York Times, there's a little, like, chestnut in the New York Times thing that, like, perfectly summarizes the Bongino era. They say that Bonino has said he plans to leave his job as soon as this week or as late as mid-January, according to three people with nausea's plans. One sign I might be sooner rather than later. Bonino has been sending office nicknacks and other possessions back to Florida, where he intends to resume his lucrative career as a pro-Trump media broadcaster. They say, broadcaster, not podcaster, in time for the midterm elections.

They also know that this month, Mr. Bongino suggested to associates that he might go out on a high note by sharing his plans to step down at a news conference announcing the capture of a suspect in the planting of pipe bombs near the party headquarters of Democrats and Republicans on the eve of January 6, 2021. He did not make that announcement. Had he made that announcement, I would have been just utterly flabbergasted. Can you imagine? That would have been incredible. We got them, folks. And by the way, I'm out. I'm out. Mission accomplished. See ya. But it does get to this idea that so much of what they do, Bongino and Patel, is just built around sort of like stagecraft and social media influence, really.

Oh, totally. And I mean, you know, that kind of leads into what I think I will most remember Dan Bonino for, which is the constant tweets he said, he kind of stopped doing it later in the administration, but the constant tweets he said saying, I'm working really hard, stop saying I'm not working hard, I'm not here just to be on vacation. And, of course, this culminated in the Fox News appearance where he maybe cried on air. He said it's so hard. And he said, my wife and I are separated.

He kind of like waited a couple beats. I mean, not like legally. You know, I mean, it was a, again, these are the guys who are supposed to be catching the terrorists and the spies. And he's just, you know, out really putting, you know, I mean, emotional vulnerability is great for a man, I think. But maybe not in this one. Yeah. And then we had Cash Patel. And maybe we can insert a little bit of this clip. I know Tim talked a lot about it.

but Cash Patel was doing the Katie Miller podcast with his girlfriend. He's talking about how hard it is to, like, maintain the relationship and how he's only gone to 15% of her concerts. We'll play the clip. It's ironic that they're saying, oh, you're going on vacation or you're going to see your girlfriend perform. And if I was actually abusing it, I would go see every one of her shows. I think I get to, like, 15%.

Just to clarify, how often has he traveled to see you since January 20th? Oh, gosh. I think like Nashville. I've been in Nashville, like... Yeah, I've been to her house a couple times with her family for the holidays and, you know, birthdays. I've seen her perform

this year, I think, three times. Yeah. Talk a bit about, though, about that tension that Bonjino is getting at, which is, he has this whole career where he's been spreading all these conspiracy theories often about the FBI itself. Then he comes in,

and he has to at least nominally play the adults in the room, or at least try to do the job and it proved way harder than he thought. Yeah, I mean, this is something about Gino ran into over and over was, I mean, I think the most famous example would be the Jeffrey Epstein case, where like Cash Patel, he had been out there before joining the FBI saying, you know, the FBI is covering this up. There's all this stuff that's going to be uncovered. And then he gets in and he says, oh, geez, you know, even before kind of the big Trump administration

reversal on this, he realizes, you know, from his point of view, that Epstein did kill himself. He sees all this evidence so that him and Cash have to go on. Fox and say, you know, basically guys, like cut it out with the conspiracy theories. And needless to say, this was not a hit with the old Bongino talk radio fans and podcast fans. They were furious. And I think, you know, just keeping the Epstein thing going a little longer, I think that is why there was so much tension. When the administration did this reversal on Epstein and refused to release the files, Bonino was sort of the main internal dissenter. He was saying, you know, we're blowing this. We're going to infuriate the MAGA base. And I think that's in part

because he knew he needed to go back to this audience. And so he couldn't really totally abandon the conspiracy theories. All right. Let's play this clip. I want to stay on this point. Let's play this clip when he, again, he seems to do only Fox News. But he did speak with Hannity again. And he sort of talked to, I mean, he just kind of pulled the curtain back.

And he said, yeah, I totally was a different person or spoke differently about this stuff when I was a podcaster and I didn't have to worry about the truth. Let's play the clip. and we can talk about it on the flip side. I don't know if you remember this. This is before you became the deputy FBI director. You put a post on X right after this happened. And you said there's a massive cover up because the person that planted those pipe bombs,

they don't want you to know who it is because it's either a connected anti-Trump insider or an inside job. You said that, you know, long before you even thought of as deputy FBI director. Yeah, that's why I said to you, this investigation's just begun. We are pretty comfortable. We have our guy.

I think, again, legal process starts to surface and information. Facts start to come out. The public's going to be very comfortable with the investigation that was conducted under Director Patel and his leadership. He's been great on this. But I don't want to, you know, listen, I was paid in the past, Sean, for my opinions. That's clear. And one day I'll be back in that space.

But that's not what I'm paid for now. I'm paid to be your deputy director, and we base investigations on facts. And, you know, it was interesting. I was looking out in the crowd today at the presser, and I saw a couple of media figures, who you and I both know, who promoted the other scandal, the collusion hoax. And I thought to myself, you know, the difference between us and them is, you know, we evolve. As information and new inputs come out, we can produce different outputs because that's what we believe in. We believe in facts and investigations guided by facts.

There were people out there in that crowd. I'm sure still believe in this collusion fairy tale hoax. So we'll see. We're going to be guided by the facts as this thing goes forward. And I also, I can't stop the, you know, I leave the truck here without thanking the president. Putting aside Hannity saying good grief at the fact that people believe in. It's sort of a remarkable clip, right? He's like basically just prancing around the idea that he was full of shit for a while.

He's just like, well, I was my opinions. Doesn't apologize for getting it completely wrong. Just was like, you know, I was paid to spout off, more or less. Gosh, was he really checked out in that clip or what? I mean, he is already, he's thinking, okay, I got a box up, you know, the newspaper clipping because I got to box up my old Secret Service member, Delia. You know, I mean, he's saying in that clip, he's like, look, you know, I used to get paid to be talked radio host.

That was so sick. I could say whatever I wanted. And look, soon I'll be back to doing that. I mean, he literally says I will be again someday. so what happens when he goes back um does he i mean has he torched the credibility with his fan based can he get back to a place where he just spouts off conspiracies i mean how does this work you think i think he can slide right back into it um i don't think he really needed the audience that much yeah i mean i think the epstein stuff in a way i think had he just done that one fox news

appearance where he said epstein killed himself you know i think people would have been madder at him But in a way, like, I feel like Pambandi and Trump are taking much more heat for the larger Epstein thing at the moment. And so I think Bongino can just be like, you know, I mean, people know that he tried internally to sort of finagle a more base friendly thing. So I think he'll go back into it. I mean, I don't know. He's kind of a rogue element out there now. I mean, he, I feel like he's so frustrated with his time in government. Who knows what he'll start saying.

I mean, there is something to that. Like, he could become appointment viewing because he just starts spilling the beans on Bondi, right? Like, you don't know. And I suppose if you're Trump, you better have them in-house than out-of-house. But he also strikes me as kind of a loyal soldier or thinks of himself that way. So I'd be a little bit surprised. The people I talk to who cover this stuff, I don't cover it, say that he was way more invested in the actual work of the Bureau than Patel. Oh, no.

Yeah, I know. Like, at least he was putting in the IRS where Patel was on his jet. So I just want to make that clear. I'm not like trying to say he was the ideal deputy. But it does leave Patel sort of there, out there all alone, right? Well, I wonder if what we may be looking at here is that Dan is trying to, he's sort of jumping before he gets pushed. And so perhaps there is a larger house cleaning that would have been aimed at both Bongino and Patel.

And frankly, I mean, there's been a lot of reporting that Patel's on thin ice. I don't think his appearance on the Katie Miller podcast did him any favors. Look, it's certainly, you know, I know he told the media to stop rushing him to get engaged. I don't think we weren't doing that. But, you know, that's a pretty funny thing. I'd love to pop the question, but I can't let the MSM win. That's a good excuse for guys to use. But, you know, I think possibly there was a larger push.

I mean, there is this co-de deputy director who is sort of level, the same level as Bonchino, who was brought in, who might ultimately be the FBI director. You know, as long as we're on Bon Gino memories, though, I just wanted to bring back the time that the New York Times reported on him doing jujitsu moves on FBI agents when he would visit them in training. And I guess it didn't work out so well for him. And he kind of got a little beat up on the mat. And then after the Times reported this, Bon Gino was like, you know, this reported this pipsqueak, this pencil neck could never understand what it takes to go on the map. Is this like the end of the idea of influencers and podcasters getting high ranking government positions, you think? Or will we just be in another, or are they just going to find, like, you know, name some other

podcaster who could become the next deputy? I mean, Julie Kelly, the great Jane 6th reporter, reporter, Sleuth, John Solomon. Yeah, no, Kelly gets it because she threw some shade at that original story about the pipe bomber. She was like, this is not right. So maybe she's already got some good instincts. She could be next. Hannity hit this quote here where early, you know, when the heat was really on Bongino,

know, he said, you know, what I have discovered about the way the previous administration ran things in the government, it shook me to my core. It, like, sickened me, you know. Oh, I've seen these abominations. And now he's just like, all right, well, see ya. You know, none of those people have been prosecuted, you know, for, like, QAnon people thought that was, like, the cabal. And he's just like, all right. Well, it's okay. So, let me push back on you. So, like, you think he can seamlessly go back. But, like, I don't know. If you look at his tenure, isn't it just sort of a disappointment to the people he conditioned that there's going to be arrests, that Epstein was actually the center of this big cabal and all the files will be released.

I mean, how do you just, you know, oversee this, which is a discipline on a variety of fronts? I mean, you're saying the pipe bomber was a plant. And then you go back and you're suddenly, like, have to live in that community again. And especially, he probably will continue to say, oh, the treacherous deep state, you know, all the things they did to Trump. And you might say, well, gee, Dan, if only someone could have done something about that. Yeah, exactly. Like, that becomes complicated. I mean, I'm sure I'll do it, but it just seems weird to me.

I think it's really weird. And, you know, in terms of the kind of the Bongino senioritis, laziness situation, I do want to note the MS Now stories that Bongino has said he will not be returning to the office, basically, until he resigns. You know, there's still a couple weeks left in the year. I guess that's okay. Just go right ahead, man. Nothing.

There's no, there's no sheer. We shouldn't just allied that. It's just unbelievable. He is the depth. He's still. acting deputy director of the FBI get to work dude you know we we kind of need you in the office buddy can't just be in florida for three weeks the threats don't stop but that's the other thing patel's on these podcasts and talking about his marriage and there's like the brown killer is still out there buddy

i guess the podcast was taped beforehand but you get that point yeah i mean you see the footage of the the FBI agents kicking the snow outside of brown and obviously i understand that's how the grid search works but it looks like they're just kind of doing a half-hearted effort and then of course you have Dan Bongino who's already taking, I don't know, potentially a month off before quitting. Jesus. All right. Well, we'll see if he actually follows through in this.

It wouldn't be beyond him to say, you know, fuck MS now and fuck the New York Times. I'm going to stay and then we'll see what happens. But we'll monitor that too if he decides to do that. Well, thanks so much, man. I think we're going to have to do another one of these. And we'll maybe like do a ranking of our favorite Bondino moments when he actually steps down. We'll do some of the homework now before then so that will be more professional.

podcast. Okay. Absolutely. A five-hour stream, you know, all the classics. Oh, great. Don't put me in luck for that. Well, Summer, ladies and gentlemen, I'm Sam Stein. Thanks for watching. Subscribe to our feeds where you get great content like this. Talk to you soon.