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FBI Director Kash Patel, left, and Dan Bongino, deputy director of the FBI, behavior a recordsdata convention on the Department of Justice, Dec. 4, 2025.

Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Photos

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino on Wednesday acknowledged he’s going to recede that post in January.

Bongino, a susceptible police officer, Secret Service agent, and conservative radio and podcast host who trafficked in conspiracy theories, used to be a controversial opt by President Donald Trump for the No. 2 slot on the FBI.

Bongino, who will recede after not up to a year on the job, is undoubtedly one of the first important figures of Trump’s 2nd term to step down.

“I want to thank President Trump, AG Bondi, and Director [Kash] Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose,” Bongino wrote in a social media post.

“Most importantly, I want to thank you, my fellow Americans, for the privilege to serve you. God bless America, and all those who defend Her,” Bongino acknowledged.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump confirmed Bongino will be leaving.

“Dan did a great job,” Trump suggested journalists. “I think he wants to go back to his show.”

MS Now reported earlier in the day about Bongino’s plans to recede.

The outlet acknowledged he had suggested confidants that he would not be returning to FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., to work this month.

“Print whatever you’d like,” Bongino suggested MS Now when contacted for comment. “No one believes you anyway. Thanks.”

The FBI declined to comment when contacted by CNBC.

Patel, in a post on X, acknowledged “Dan is the best partner I could’ve asked for in helping restore this FBI.”

“He not only completed his mission — he far exceeded it,” Patel wrote. “We will miss him but I’m thankful he accepted the call to serve. Our country is better and safer for it.”

Bongino had no prior FBI when Trump tapped him for the high-profile law enforcement post.

His prior discussion of conspiracy theories on gleaming-flit media resurfaced after he joined the govt.

Whereas a non-public citizen, Bongino reportedly urged that the planting of pipe bombs in Washington on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot used to be an “inside job.”

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to journalists, after disembarking Air Power One on his return from Dover, Delaware, at Joint Putrid Andrews, Maryland, U.S., Dec. 17, 2025.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

But earlier this month, Bongino took a victory lap when federal brokers, after a almost five-year search, arrested and charged Brian Cole Jr. with environment those devices. Cole will not be associated with the FBI or other federal authorities.

When asked by Fox News’ Sean Hannity how his most modern comments squared with his previous claims about the pipe bombs, Bongino acknowledged he used to be “paid in the past” for his opinions, “and one day I will be back in that space.”

“That’s not what I’m paid for now. I’m paid to be your deputy director, and we base investigations on facts,” he acknowledged.

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Bongino also beforehand puzzled legitimate accounts of the instances spherical Jeffrey Epstein’s demise. The properly off financier and notorious intercourse culprit hanged himself while in jail in August 2019, after his arrest on child intercourse trafficking costs.

As an FBI legitimate, Bongino acknowledged there used to be no quiz that Epstein died by suicide.

“I have reviewed the case. Jeffrey Epstein killed himself. There’s no evidence in the case file indicating otherwise,” he wrote on X in Would possibly per chance per chance per chance furthermore.

In July, the FBI launched a memo concluding that Epstein died by suicide and that his rumored “client list” didn’t exist.

That memo sparked a backlash among members of Trump’s MAGA circulate, the build conspiracy theories about Epstein cling proliferated for years.

Soon after, Bongino and Attorney Total Pam Bondi angrily confronted each and each other on the White House, in accordance to a Fresh York Times document.

Friday is the chop-off date for the Trump administration to conform with a bipartisan law ordering the release of the govts files on its Epstein investigations.