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WASHINGTON (CN) — Congressional Democrats on Monday bashed the Trump administration’s move to appoint conservative media personality Dan Bongino to the FBI’s No. 2 leadership role, arguing that he will be yet another senior government official whose loyalty lies primarily with the president.
FBI Director Kash Patel on Sunday night selected Bongino, a radio host and former law enforcement officer, as the agency’s deputy chief. Bongino’s appointment came just days after Patel himself was confirmed by the Senate to lead the federal government’s foremost law enforcement organization.
Bongino, however, does not need to be confirmed by Congress — FBI directors are allowed to select their own deputies.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, President Donald Trump lauded Bongino as a “man of incredible love and passion for our Country.”
“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,” the president wrote.
But Democrats, who for months derided Patel as a partisan candidate for a politically impartial agency and warned against his confirmation, said Monday that Bongino’s appointment further cements their argument that the new FBI director and the Trump administration see federal law enforcement as a tool for punishing their political opponents.
California Senator Adam Schiff, calling the FBI’s new deputy director a “right-wing Fox personality and internet troll,” said in a post on X that Bongino is merely another Trump loyalist who will not refuse the president’s requests, even if they are “immoral or unethical.”
“And our law enforcement agencies — and the public safety — are further degraded,” he added.
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy agreed, arguing that Bongino’s career as a media personality has been characterized by stoking fear about Democrats and “selling them junk to prep for war.”
Murphy also contended that installing Bongino as the FBI’s second-in-command was a referendum on congressional Republicans, who have largely backed some of Trump’s more controversial nominees and stood by as the White House takes executive actions which some experts say trample on Congress’ constitutional authority.
“Trump is now just spitting in the face of Senate Republicans [because] he knows he owns them,” the Connecticut Democrat wrote on X.
In a follow-up post, Murphy slammed both Patel and Bongino as “grifters.”
“Kash Patel sells ‘K$SH’ branded merch, vaccine reversal pills,” he said. “Dan Bongino’s entire show is telling listeners the world is ending so they buy the dozens of survivalist products he sells. I know this feels like a bad dream. It isn’t.”
Republicans, on the other hand, appeared pleased with the Patel-Bongino pairing at the FBI.
Tennessee Representative Tim Burchett called the conservative radio host a “red-blooded American” and framed him as another leader who would follow through on the GOP’s longstanding vow to rebuild public trust in an agency which they have framed as politicized.
And Kansas Senator Roger Marshall pointed to Bongino’s law enforcement experience as proof of the wisdom of his appointment.
“I look forward to watching this all-star team return the FBI to its core mission of protecting the American people,” he said.
Bongino has long been a popular figure in the conservative media space as both a host and a political commentator. Since 2021 he has hosted a talk radio show which served as a replacement for the late Rush Limbaugh’s program. He has also appeared repeatedly on Fox News and hosts a daily podcast.
Before starting his media career, Bongino was a Secret Service agent and a New York police officer. In 2011, he ran an unsuccessful campaign to unseat former Maryland Senator Ben Cardin.
Appointing Bongino as his deputy was one of Patel’s first official acts as FBI director, a position he has formally held since Thursday, when the Senate voted 51-49 to confirm him.
Patel proved a similarly controversial figure for Democrats and even some Republicans, who worried about his history of political statements and pointed criticism of the agency he now runs. Democrats have argued that the new FBI director could be little more than a political cudgel for the Trump White House to pursue its political enemies.
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