FBI's Bongino to Resign       12/18 06:26

   FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said Wednesday that he will resign from the 
bureau next month, ending a brief and tumultuous tenure in which he clashed 
with the Justice Department over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and 
was forced to reconcile the realities of his law enforcement job with 
provocative claims he made in his prior role as a popular podcast host.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said Wednesday that he 
will resign from the bureau next month, ending a brief and tumultuous tenure in 
which he clashed with the Justice Department over the handling of the Jeffrey 
Epstein files and was forced to reconcile the realities of his law enforcement 
job with provocative claims he made in his prior role as a popular podcast host.

   The departure would be among the highest-profile resignations of the Trump 
administration, coming as the firing of career agents has contributed to 
upheaval at the FBI and as Director Kash Patel faces continued criticism over 
his use of a government plane for personal purposes and social media posts 
about active investigations.

   Bongino announced his departure, which had been expected, in a post on X in 
which he said he was grateful for the "opportunity to serve with purpose." He 
did not say precisely when in January he would leave or reveal his future 
plans, but President Donald Trump, in response to a question earlier in the day 
about Bongino's fate, said: "Dan did a great job. I think he wants to go back 
to his show."

   In a social media post, Patel called Bongino "the best partner I could've 
asked for in helping restore this FBI." He said Bongino "had not only completed 
his mission -- he far exceeded it. We will miss him but I'm thankful he 
accepted the call to serve. Our country is better and safer for it."

   Bongino was always an unconventional pick for the No. 2 job at the FBI, a 
position that historically has entailed oversight of the bureau's day-to-day 
operations and has been typically held by a career agent. Though he had 
previously worked as a New York City police officer and Secret Service agent, 
neither he nor Patel had any experience at the FBI before being picked for 
their jobs. But both came in pledging overhauls to an FBI they insisted had 
been weaponized against Trump.

   Bongino was installed in the role in March by Trump after years as a 
conservative podcast host, where he used his platform to repeatedly rail 
against FBI leadership and to promote conspiracy theories related to the 
Epstein sex-trafficking case and pipe bombs discovered in Washington on Jan. 6, 
2021.

   Once in the job, he used social media to communicate directly to Trump 
supporters restless over a perceived lack of action by the new FBI leadership 
to address their concerns. He reassured them the FBI under his watch was giving 
renewed attention to issues like the pipe bomb case, the leak of a draft 
Supreme Court opinion in 2022 and the discovery of cocaine in the White House 
during the Biden administration.

   Yet he struggled to placate elements of Trump's base who expected him to 
quickly deliver the FBI reforms he had long said were needed and to uncover the 
truths he claimed had been hidden by the federal government.

   On the Epstein case, for instance, he had previously challenged the official 
ruling that the wealthy financier had taken his own life in a New York jail 
soon after his 2019 arrest. But after his arrival in the bureau, he said in a 
Fox News interview: "I've seen the whole file. He killed himself."

   Bongino had separately speculated as recently as last year that the pipe 
bombs placed on the eve of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot were either an "inside job" 
or the work of a "connected anti-Trump insider" and said the truth was shielded 
by a "massive cover-up." He was confronted with those same comments when the 
FBI earlier this month arrested a 30-year-old Virginia man with no evident 
connection to the federal government, prompting skepticism from some that 
investigators had actually arrested the right person.

   "I was paid in the past, Sean, for my opinions, that's clear," Bongino said 
in a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity. "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."

   Questions about Bongino's future had lingered for months, particular after a 
tense exchange at the White House last July with Attorney General Pam Bondi 
following the abrupt announcement by the FBI and Justice Department that they 
would not be releasing any additional records from the Epstein investigation.

   After that encounter, Bongino, normally active on social media, went silent 
from his FBI account for several days. Far-right activist Laura Loomer, who is 
close to Trump, posted on X at the time that she was told that Bongino was 
"seriously thinking about resigning" and had taken the day off to contemplate 
his future.

   In August, the Trump administration took the unusual step of adding a 
co-deputy director, former Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey.

   Bondi on Wednesday joined in the tributes, posting on X that Americans were 
safer because of Bongino's service. "Thank you, Dan," she wrote.