Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino’s return to corporate media was met with mixed reactions following his departure from the Justice Department.
After joining the bureau in March 2025, the former New York City Police Department officer and U.S. Secret Service agent had announced his planned exit for the beginning of 2026. Having already returned to his podcast, word of his similar return to Fox News was confirmed Monday during an appearance on “Hannity.”
“By the way, we welcome him to our Fox family once again,” host Sean Hannity said as he brought Bongino on for a segment to talk about the search for Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy. “The newest Fox News contributor, he’s back, the one and only Dan Bongino.”
Earlier Monday, the New York Times’ Michael Grynbaum reported, “Dan Bongino, the right-wing pundit who became President Trump’s No. 2 official at the F.B.I. before stepping down in December after a rocky tenure, is set to return to Fox News as a paid contributor, the network said on Monday.”
Grynbaum reminded that Bongino hosted his own Fox News program until April 2023 and added, “Bongino expressed regret at times for taking the F.B.I. job. A few weeks after he started, he complained on ‘Fox & Friends’ about missing the trappings of his former life as a media personality. ‘I gave up everything for this,’ Bongino said at the time.”
Dan Bongino is headed back to Fox News –– he starts as a contributor tonight on Hannity.
Last year he complained to Fox & Friends about the rigors of his FBI job: “I gave up everything for this.”
— Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) February 9, 2026
Since departing the DOJ, the host of “The Dan Bongino Show” has remained in the good graces of President Donald Trump, including having the chief executive on his premiere return to broadcasting.
During that same installment, the host addressed arguably the most hot-button issue from his tenure as he defended the Trump administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
“I know a lot of you are concerned also about Epstein … leadership involves frequently being misunderstood and having to make decisions that’s going to piss someone off. That’s just the way it is,” contended Bongino. “This case had been handled poorly for a long time … look at the search warrants and how they were scoped. The case that had issues for a really long time. So it obviously was a mess. And this is one of those level 10 decisions where I told you, you’re not going to make everyone happy. There’s a sh*tty answer and a sh*ttier answer.”
After slamming the lack of action under the Biden administration on the files of the late convicted sex offender, the host went on, “The file was not — what was in there was not what we thought would be in there.”
He also asserted that much of the division being sown regarding the files was part of “foreign operations designed to make us divorce ourselves from the inside, current thing, everything. It is a deadly serious case. There is zero doubt about it. Everyone in the administration treated it as such.”
While some were prepared to welcome Bongino’s input on the news of the day, like embracing the Prodigal Son, others treated the return to Fox News as par for the course, where it concerned laughable lateral moves from the government to corporate media.
Congrats Dan! Loved seeing you on Fox tonight. Always appreciate your insights 😊
— Linda R (@LindaR245) February 10, 2026
TBF, anyone still willing to listen to him probably also still watches Fox News, so it’s a natural fit for him.
— Rusty Shackleford (@RShackleford01) February 9, 2026
Fantastic news!!!❤️🇺🇸
— 45TrumpsAll ❤️🤍💙🇺🇸 (@funsizedspud) February 9, 2026
i give him up to a year, before he quits, like he is used to doing.
— A. Johnson (@BigRichard1987) February 10, 2026
Nooooo don’t go back to Fox
— 🇺🇸RSStar (@RSkystar) February 10, 2026
One of the most predictable headlines I’ve read this year lmao
— Freer Mind (@FreerThoughts) February 9, 2026
Makes me sick. Just a revolving door. @dbongino @FoxNews Bondi and Patel are assured employment by Fox. They’ve been auditioning since day 1. I wont tune in.
— SusaninMA🇺🇸 (@SusaninMa) February 9, 2026
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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