{"id":18562,"date":"2026-02-02T21:31:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T21:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/the-podfather-is-back-podcaster-turned-fbi-deputy-director-dan-bongino-makes-his-return-to-the-maga-masses\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T21:31:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T21:31:48","slug":"the-podfather-is-back-podcaster-turned-fbi-deputy-director-dan-bongino-makes-his-return-to-the-maga-masses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/the-podfather-is-back-podcaster-turned-fbi-deputy-director-dan-bongino-makes-his-return-to-the-maga-masses\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The podfather is back\u2019: Podcaster-turned-FBI deputy director Dan Bongino makes his return to the MAGA masses"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

After a nine-month stint helping run the FBI, former deputy director Dan Bongino is a podcaster once again.<\/p>\n

On Bongino\u2019s first show back on Monday, President Donald Trump briefly dialed in, offering Bongino \u2014 who resigned from the agency in December<\/a> \u2014 well wishes.<\/p>\n

But otherwise, the episode was more of a two-hour monologue that saw Bongino attempting to skewer old enemies \u2014 namely the mainstream media \u2014 and reconnect with the masses that launched his name, years ago, into the MAGA stratosphere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe podfather is back,\u201d he declared, \u201cand I\u2019m here to take back this movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before joining the FBI last year, Bongino was a prolific right-wing podcaster who peddled in deep-state conspiracy theories<\/a>. As the agency\u2019s No. 2, working alongside the real-world powers he used to rail against, Bongino was often caught between his past digital footprint and his new job helping lead one of the nation\u2019s premier law enforcement agencies.\u202f<\/p>\n

For years, he entertained conspiracies about sex offender Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s<\/a> death, dismissing the authorities\u2019 claims that the late financier killed himself. Bongino built a fanbase by stoking these very fires \u2014 and angered many when, after joining the FBI, he swiftly backtracked his rhetoric<\/a>. Online, some of Bongino\u2019s former supporters have slammed him as a sellout.<\/p>\n

The show was a big moment for Bongino, whose tenure at the FBI was at times chaotic<\/a>. The show\u2019s launch included a Times Square billboard<\/a>, and opened with around 140,000 viewers \u2014 according to conservative video platform Rumble\u2019s view count \u2014 and peaked at around 220,000.<\/p>\n

After a victory lap around the nation\u2019s top law enforcement agency, Bongino is not returning to the friendliest audience. And he had some choice words for any critics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to address the grifters out there who mistakenly thought I wasn\u2019t coming back,\u201d he said during the livestream. \u201cThis movement\u2019s been hijacked by a small group of dipshits and bums and losers, who are nothing but doomers under the frame of accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was the throughline for much of the two-hour segment, which saw Bongino ripping into a number of his critics. \u201cGet your lips and just pucker them up and plant a big wet one on my ass,\u201d he told \u201cthe libs and their media pals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cdipshits\u201d in media, he said, remain \u201ctotally divorced from reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

And to alleged leakers at the FBI: \u201cYou guys destroyed the place, and you tried to destroy us too,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019m back now, and you can go fuck yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bongino, exhaling at the end of his minutes-long diatribe, smiles into the camera: \u201cWe\u2019re so back. Aren\u2019t we?\u201d<\/p>\n

But unlike the first version of his podcast, Bongino largely shied away from conspiracy theories \u2014 except for when, 15 minutes into the show, his livestream abruptly cut off thanks to a technical glitch.\u202f<\/p>\n

\u201cRumble is under attack, this show is under attack, this is what these scumbags do,\u201d he said. \u201cCan\u2019t have a voice like me speaking out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just don\u2019t want me to talk,\u201d he repeated for the rest of the show.<\/p>\n

He also offered \u201cbehind the scenes\u201d insights into his time at the FBI, defending himself against critics who misunderstood, he said, the decisions they made \u2014 including the agency\u2019s handling of the Epstein files.\u202f<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get selected for one of these principal or deputy positions, everything you do is a level 10 decision,\u201d Bongino said. \u201cFind out which one is the shittier decision and avoid it. That\u2019s the best you can do.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s the problem with the Epstein mess,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe FBI doesn\u2019t have the evidence many thought it did. \u2026 There were not tapes with powerful men raping kids. There was not a list. Epstein\u2019s rolodex was already public. The files are largely unreleasable for many reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

The files didn\u2019t contain the smoking gun people were expecting, Bongino said, but \u201cthis administration got you the information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Near the end of the show, Trump \u2014 who hand-picked Bongino for his post last year \u2014 dialed in for a brief interview, where the two discussed the administration\u2019s crime crackdown, Minnesota\u2019s welfare fraud scandal and National Guard deployments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll tell you what, if I were a Democratic governor and I were in charge of Chicago, as an example, I would be begging Donald Trump to come,\u201d Trump told Bongino.<\/p>\n

Trump took another chance to rail at the results of the 2020 election (\u201cI won in a landslide,\u201d he said), urging Republicans to \u201cnationalize the voting\u201d\u00a0and suggesting taking over voting \u201cin\u00a0at least 15\u00a0places,\u201d<\/a> which he didn\u2019t name. And he patted himself on the back for his military actions in Iran and Venezuela, saying the U.S. is \u201crespected again like never before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, you did great in the FBI,\u201d Trump told Bongino. \u201cI\u2019m very torn. I think, maybe, I\u2019d rather have you where you are. \u201cVery few people can do what you do, and your voice is a very important one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bongino, who has generally been a reliable supporter of Trump, intends to host his show every weekday. And for those expecting a Bongino chastened by his time in government \u2014 or those looking to take his space in the MAGA media sphere \u2014 he had a direct closing message.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll my bullshit detractors or whatever,\u201d Bongino said at the end of the episode, \u201cdon\u2019t know shit about anything. Throwing popcorn from the front row. We\u2019re the number one livestream in the world. \u2026 I\u2019m such a target that they came after the whole damn website. That\u2019s how bad they want to keep me off the air.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I have my first \u2014 guys, you ready for this screenshot? \u2014 double barrel to those who tried to stop us,\u201d he continued, silently flipping two middle fingers to the camera.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a nine-month stint helping run the FBI, former deputy director Dan Bongino is a podcaster once again. On Bongino\u2019s first show back on Monday, President Donald Trump briefly dialed in, offering Bongino \u2014 who resigned from the agency in December \u2014 well wishes. But otherwise, the episode was more of a two-hour monologue that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18562\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}