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Both FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy director, Dan Bongino, largely got their top law enforcement positions in the Trump administration because of their willingness to publicly peddle far-right MAGA conspiracy theories.
In an ironic twist, both are now facing the wrath of MAGA media figures for pouring cold water on the conspiratorial claims about millionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the “deep state” that they’d helped stoke in the first place.
“They’re making fools out of themselves,” far-right conspiracist Alex Jones fumed, while fired Fox News star Tucker Carlson wondered: “What was that?!”
For weeks now, Trump supporters and conservative provocateurs have grown increasingly impatient with Patel and his deputy, the former Fox News star Bongino, for failing to keep their promises to expose the “truth” about Epstein and his death behind bars, as well as all the supposed crimes committed by a government they claim was “weaponized” in a bid to “overthrow” Trump.
That frustration boiled over this week after Patel and Bongino sat down for a joint interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, who has long peddled the same type of pro-Trump “deep state” conspiracies as the two heads of the FBI.
However, now that Patel and Bongino are actually in charge of running a massive law enforcement agency, the duo has tempered the breathless accusations they made as MAGA media stars.
For instance, Bartiromo argued that there has been “no accountability” for the FBI agents and DOJ officials involved in the “Russiagate” investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign, which has long been a point of contention in the right-wing media ecosystem. Specifically, she wanted to know why James Comey – the FBI director whom Trump fired in 2017 – and former FBI agent Peter Strzok weren’t behind bars.
Patel, who had written a book listing off a number of political enemies a new Trump administration should target, now seemed to take a more nuanced view. Instead, he noted, he was hamstrung by the “statute of limitations” and that it was likely there would be no criminal charges against these figures.
“What we can do now is continue to put out the documents and the information that these people withheld from the American public,” Patel added, claiming he and Bongino had “found out more” recently and were working with Congress on getting that information released.
Additionally, while pro-Trump influencers have insisted that the government is covering up information on the two Trump assassination attempts, Bongino basically shrugged and said he didn’t really have anything new to share with Bartiromo.
“I’m not going to tell people what they want to hear. I’m going to tell you the truth,” he sighed. “And whether you like it or not is up to you. If there was a big explosive ‘there’ there – we would have told you.”
As for the so-called “fed-surrection” conspiracy that Patel and Bongino have long trumpeted about undercover FBI agents instigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, the pair suggested that their findings would largely be in line with a previous Justice Department inspector general’s report. That report, published in December, found that no FBI employees were at the riot, but there were 26 “confidential human sources” in Washington that day. While none of them were authorized to join the protest, four of them did anyway.
Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, meanwhile, have promised to release more documents related to Epstein and the supposed client list of the deceased sexual predator, especially after Bondi sparked backlash among the MAGA faithful over her previous release of the so-called Epstein Files.
While many conservatives believe that the FBI is in possession of evidence that would not only expose prominent Democrats as pedophiles but also reveal that Epstein did not kill himself in jail, Bongino and Patel concluded that the disgraced financier did indeed commit suicide.
“You said Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide. People don’t believe it,” Bartimo said, prompting Patel to respond: “They have a right to their opinion … you know a suicide when you see one, and that’s what that was.”
Bongino, who agreed with his boss, later took to X to defend their conclusion: “I’m not asking you to believe me, or not. I’m telling you what exists, and what doesn’t. If new evidence surfaces, I’m happy to reevaluate.”
The Fox Business interview landed with a thud within the pro-Trump media universe, with some outright calling Bongino a “Deep State traitor.” The Blaze’s Glenn Beck, whose career has largely been defined by promoting byzantine conspiracy theories, called out Bongino specifically.
“I want to hear from Dan Bongino and say to him, Dan, specifically, what did you see? Because I know you, you didn’t believe this either. So what is it? And show it to me,” Beck exclaimed. “What did you specifically see that changed your mind? Because I want to be there with you. I really do. So show it to me.”
Of course, it was just two years ago when Bongino, then a MAGA media darling, wondered: “What the hell are they hiding with Jeffrey Epstein?”
Far-right extremist Laura Loomer, whose influence within the White House has grown in recent months, took aim directly at Bondi during an appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast this week. “We are months into the Trump administration, past the 100-day mark, and Pam Blondi has failed to bring any real charges against anyone,” she sneered, invoking a derisive nickname for the attorney general.
The backlash against Bongino and Patel continued through Monday’s White House press briefing when Liam Cosgrove, a writer for the far-right libertarian blog ZeroHedge who was occupying the “new media” seat, leaned into the conspiracy theory that the Clintons were directly responsible for Epstein’s death. Claiming Epstein was “the most-famous Clinton-related death,” Cogrove asked press secretary Karoline Leavitt when more Epstein files would be released.
“Overall, I think Kash Patel and Dan Bongino are doing a great job, but on this claim that Epstein’s death is not a cover-up I call bullsh*t,” Jones raged on X, adding: “Do you think they're telling the truth?”
Carlson, speaking to fellow podcaster Shawn Ryan, claimed that this was proof of a “rigged” system and that elections essentially didn’t matter.
“Of course it’s not a democracy, of course the system is rigged and fake because no matter who gets elected, you get the same foreign policy, the same economic policy and the Epstein videos remain secret,” he grumbled.
As Will Sommer of The Bulwark noted last month, Bongino is already on a short leash with MAGA world, primarily because he was a fellow traveler who long trafficked in the same conspiracy theories and right-wing fantasies as the rest of them.
“In Bongino’s case, his audience has been told for years that prominent liberals and deep-state operatives have committed blatant crimes against the Trump family that should be easy to prosecute,” Sommer pointed out.
“Yet no top Democrats have been indicted, leading Trump fans to believe Bongino is falling down on the job.”
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