FBI's Dan Bongino tries to distance himself from pipe bomb conspiracy theories after calling case 'an inside job'

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Independent

Friday 05 December 2025 10:42 EST


FBI deputy director Dan Bongino is now distancing himself from the conspiracy theories and baseless speculation that fueled his right-wing media career after the Department of Justice announced the arrest of a suspect accused of planting pipe bombs around Washington, D.C., before the ‘stop the steal’ riots on Jan. 6, 2021.

Bongino appeared to walk back his past claim that the FBI was complicit in a plot to place the bombs near the Republican and Democratic headquarters when pressed by Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday.

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

Bongino’s comments mark a rare admission from a member of Donald Trump’s administration to walk back conspiracy theories and false claims about an active law enforcement investigation promoted by allies. Last year, he said on his podcast that there was “a massive cover-up” in the case, which was an “inside job” launched by the federal government.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/dan-bongino-pipe-bomb-conspiracy-theories-brian-cole-b2878940.html

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They are really struggling to come up with some talking points and are probably busy creating a new CT.

[RockRaven]

1. BingoBongoBrain just admitted to his audience he gets paid to spout shit, and will

be doing the same at some future date. Will his audience understand that he makes money knowingly lying to them? Doubtful.

[CincyDem]

2. Ahhh...the old "I'm entitled to my own opinions, even if I state them as facts" defense.

[C_U_L8R]

3. Inside indeed.

Inside the Trump cabal. MAGA never ceases to corrode and corrupt.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. 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.

[IcyPeas]

5. In that clip he praises Director Patel.... then has to thank president trump

I'm sick of them all praising each other. It's so fake. It's just filler because they have nothing else to say. Do the magats fall for this b.s.? does it make them feel warm and fuzzy inside? Idiots.

[BidenRocks]

6. For 100K, Bongino would say

Christ was Korean!

Can anyone in this administration even spell 'integrity'?

Dumb question, I know.