Day: February 24, 2025

The FBI had no comment late Monday on the status of Brian Driscoll and Robert C. Kissane, the bureau’s interim leaders over the past several chaotic weeks, following the appointment of Dan Bongino, an incendiary pro-Trump podcaster, to be the agency’s second most powerful official.

The appointment of Bongino, moreover, a former NYPD cop and Secret Service agent with no experience running the sprawling, tradition-bound organization, appeared to violate a January promise to the FBI Agents Association by Kash Patel, then awaiting confirmation to head the bureau, that he would elevate only an experienced and currently serving special agent to be his deputy. The FBI deputy director traditionally has the responsibility for running the FBI’s daily operations, from investigating federal crime to chasing enemy spies to preventing terrorist attacks and much in-between.

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One former senior agent suggested that the decision to hire Bognino may not have been Patel’s, since the bombastic far right media star had the potential to outshine the director, whose own questionable political conduct, business entanglements and lack of high level government executive experience had dogged and delayed his nomination. Trump has shown a proclivity for appointing cabinet secretaries and agency heads who won his favor on TV.

One well informed person told SpyTalk that the leaders of the FBI Association “met with Patel back in January and…brought up two concerns. One was that the FBI deputy director should continue to be an onboard active special agent, as that has been the case for 117 years—for many compelling reasons, including operational expertise and experience, as well as the trust of our special agent population. The second was…that any agent who faces allegations of misconduct should be given due process.” (Early this month Acting Justice Department Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove demanded the bureau turn over the names of thousands of agents who worked on January 6 so their roles could be investigated.)

“In January,” the source continued, Patel “agreed to that,” and the on Sunday the FBIAA sent out a memo to its members about it. “But then an hour later Trump said on social media that it was going to be Bongino.” The organization declined comment Monday on the apparent betrayal.

Bongino is a fiery pro-Trump personality who made his mark on right wing TV and radio shows and his own podcast denying the 2020 election results, contesting Covid-19 prevention guidelines and spreading convoluted and baseless conspiracy theories about “deep state” spying operations on the president. 

“My entire life right now is about owning the libs,” Bongino said in 2018.  At the outset of Trump’s second administration, he said on his video podcast that the president “should ignore” court decisions that he disagrees with. “Who’s gonna arrest him, the Marshals?” he asked. “Trump controls them.” On another podcast, he said that “the only thing that matters is power. Power. That is all that matters. A system of checks and balances? Haha! That’s a good one.” On yet another, he called on Trump to “fabricate executive powers” by setting up a fake courtroom in the White House to override federal judges: “Why can’t the executive be the judge?”

“The irony about this for the scumbag commie libs, is that the cold civil war they’re pushing for will end really badly for them,” he tweeted last May. “….But they’re not ready for what comes next. They never have been. It’s all revolutionary cosplay with them. Not anymore, as it’s all real now. You assholes wanted it. Now you’ve got it. Good luck.”

In early February, then-Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll emailed an internal memo to staff saying he was concerned for the safety of FBI personnel and their families amid the heated hateful rhetoric directed at them from fervid Trump partisans.     

“We also reiterate once again our concerns for the safety of our personnel, and the risks posed to you and your families. Should these lists become public. With any release of identifying information of FBI personnel, I am well aware there is a possibility that we may be targeted for doxxing, SWATing, and other threats.”

Bongino’s critics also wondered about some of his social associations. Robert Scot Horton, a contributing editor to Harper’s Magazine, posted a photo of Bongino “partying up a storm at Mar-a-Lago with Cindy Yang (楊蒞), a Chinese massage parlor owner with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party who frequently hosts parties at President Trump’s resort-home to recruit visitors there.”  Police uploaded the photo from Yang’s iPhone when she was brought in for questioning, Horton wrote. According to local Florida TV station WPBF, “Yang was the former owner of the Jupiter spa under investigation for prostitution and ran a website that allegedly offered Chinese business people access to President Trump’s inner circle.”

As deputy FBI Director, Bongino will have much to say about the breadth, depth, pace and personnel assigned to operations against Chinese intelligence.

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Veteran FBI agents used words like “horrifying” and “madness” with SpyTalk to describe the Bognino appointment, which does not require Senate confirmation. Pro-Trump partisans applauded the appointment.

On X, Trump called Bongino “a man of incredible love and passion for our Country,” adding, “Working with our great new United States Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and Director Patel, Fairness, Justice, Law and Order will be brought back to America, and quickly.”

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