FBI's No. 2 Says He Will Leave Job Next Month

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 AP reports. FBI leadership has been buffeted by criticism over Director Kash Patel's use of a government plane for personal purposes and social media posts about active investigations.

• 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 typically has been held by a career agent, the AP reports. 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.
• Bongino was installed in the role in March by President Trump after years as a far-right podcast host, where he used his platform to repeatedly rail against the FBI and to encourage conspiracy theories related to the Epstein sex-trafficking case and pipe bombs discovered in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.

• Asked about his pipe bomb theories after a suspect was arrested earlier this month, Bongino said he had been "paid in the past" for his opinions. "And one day I will be back in that space, but that's not what I'm paid for now," he told Sean Hannity. "I'm paid to be your deputy director, and we base investigations on facts."
• Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday that "Dan did a great job" and that he thinks Bongino "wants to go back to his show," the Guardian reports.
• MS Now reported earlier Wednesday that Bongino cleared some of his personal effects out of his office last week and told people close to him that he would not be returning to work at FBI headquarters. When asked for confirmation, Bongino told the outlet: "Print whatever you'd like. No one believes you anyway."