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 isnt a good one.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino now admits that when he peddled bogus conspiracy theories about the pipe-bombs case, he didnât know what he was talking about.
âI was paid in the past for my opinions,â he said.
Iâm not sure if heâs 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
Host Sean Hannity noted Bonginos 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. Thats clear. And one day, Ill be back in that space, but thats not what Im 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 didnt 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.