Dan Bongino began this year as a podcaster, was sworn in as deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on March 17, and recently announced he will be leaving his position in January.
I could be snarky, and say that Bongino’s less-than-one-year tenure is marked by the FBI concluding that its “exhaustive review” of all available information relating to Jeffrey Epstein found “no incriminating ‘client list,’” “no credible evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions,” and no “evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties,” as well as Bongino’s declaration that Epstein killed himself, and an investigation determining that the January 6 pipe bomber was a weird loner who looked like Steve Urkel, not a vast conspiracy leading all the way up to Vice President Kamala Harris, as Bongino had asserted on his podcast.
But it’s close to Christmas, so let’s look at Bongino’s actions in a more generous light. He went into the bureau as a loud and outspoken believer in certain conspiracy theories, helped direct investigations that followed the facts, and ended up making statements and indictments that publicly dispelled those conspiracy theories. This is a public service and a good deed, even if it may not have been what Bongino expected or planned. Following the facts, and dropping belief in unproven assertions when an investigation does not find evidence to support those assertions or theories, is how the FBI is supposed to work.