Bongino Makes Jaw-Dropping Admission About His Unhinged Conspiracies

[In It to Win It]

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino has publicly distanced himself from his own conspiracy rhetoric, offering a striking walk-back of claims he made before joining the agency’s leadership.

Bongino, who was sworn in earlier this year, was pressed by Fox News host Sean Hannity about his past claim that the FBI was complicit in planting pipe bombs near the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee ahead of the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021. Bongino responded by admitting something shocking.

“I was paid in the past for my opinions, that’s clear, and one day I’ll be back in that space,” Bongino declared. “But that’s not what I’m paid for now. I’m paid to be your deputy director, and we base investigations on facts.”

His transformation comes at a sensitive moment for the bureau. Just hours earlier, federal agents arrested Brian Cole Jr., 30, of Woodbridge, Virginia, who investigators believe planted the two explosive devices. Cole has been charged with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce and malicious destruction by means of explosion.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/bongino-makes-jaw-dropping-admission-101852136.html

[surfered]

1. He's admitting that conspiracy theories are entertainment for his audience.

[RedWhiteBlueIsRacist]

2. Probably paid in rubles!

[Attilatheblond]

4. And that HE is a HO

[newdeal2]

3. I thought he resigned after Epstein?

Gosh, it’s hard to keep up with Trump’s wackos.

[Jacson6]

5. That is why they call conservative radio talk "shows" n/t

No different then a news site that publishes stories to get clicks.

[Midnight Writer]

6. I don't get it. He was paid to lie as a talk show host, now he is paid to lie as Deputy Director of the FBI.

Sounds like a consistent career path.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. MaddowBlog-FBI's Bongino tries to explain his discredited conspiracy theory in pipe-bombs case

Why did the FBI deputy director get the pipe-bombs case wrong? He has an answer, but it isn’t a good one.

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino now admits that when he peddled bogus conspiracy theories about the pipe-bombs case, he didn’t know what he was talking about.

“I was paid in the past for my opinions,” he said.

I’m not sure if he’s fully thought this through. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-12-05T15:22:08.279Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/fbis-bongino-tries-to-explain-his-discredited-conspiracy-theory-in-pipe-bombs-case

Eleven months later, Bongino helped lead a press conference to announce the arrest of a suspect in the case. If the FBI and the Justice Department have the right guy, then clearly this was not “an inside job” and those conspiracy theories were wrong.

How, pray tell, does the FBI deputy director explain peddling conspiratorial nonsense that his own agency appears to have debunked? As it turns out, Bongino was given an opportunity to explain himself during a Thursday night appearance on Fox News

Link to tweet

Host Sean Hannity noted Bongino’s earlier comments about the case, to which the FBI deputy director responded, “You know, listen, I was paid in the past, Sean, for my opinions. That’s clear. And one day, I’ll be back in that space, but that’s not what I’m paid for now.”

So let me see if I have this straight: Bongino was a far-right media personality who used his platform to tell the public, among other things, about his conspiratorial beliefs related to the pipe-bombs case. Two months after peddling these claims, the president tapped him to help lead the FBI.

And now, however, Bongino seems willing to acknowledge that he didn’t know what he was talking about (or that he embraced certain positions because they were more lucrative) — which naturally raises a whole bunch of questions about why he was hired for a key federal law enforcement position and why anyone should find him credible going forward.