Dan Bongino, who left his role in the FBI as its deputy director on Sunday, returned to social media Monday to “declare war” on MAGA ‘grifters,” but critics weren’t buying his newfound “tough guy” attitude in the wake of his botched handling of his agency’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
“Dan Bongino quit the FBI because they made him spend all his time redacting the Epstein files,” wrote X user “Quadcarl,” a political commentator with nearly 38,000 followers.
“Dan Bongino’s legacy is running cover for pedophiles,” wrote another, Frankie Stockes, a journalist with the Stew Peters Network with more than 21,000 followers on X. “A real tough guy!”
Before his 11-month stint with the FBI, Bongino was a popular podcaster who frequently hyped up theories around Epstein, pledging as recently as February that regarding theories around Epstein – which included accusations that the FBI had covered for Epstein – that he would never “let this story go.”
Fast forward to last July, however, and Bongino sang a different tune. He signed off on a memo that concluded Epstein had died by suicide, and that no evidence existed to prosecute any potential co-conspirators of Epstein’s — in spite of recent revelations that the FBI had “anticipated” filing charges against at least 10 potential co-conspirators.
On Monday, Bongino proudly boasted that onlookers were “damn right” that he had declared war on MAGA grifters, but unfortunately for Bongino, onlookers weren’t impressed with his “tough guy” rhetoric.
“Now you’re back to pretending to being a tough guy after running away from the Trump admin with your tail between your legs,” wrote X user “Blakeley,” a songwriter and frequent political commentator who’s amassed more than 70,000 followers.
Even the Libertarian Party hit out at Bongino's newfound courage, labeling him as a "coward" and a "grifter" for his failure to hold potential Epstein associates accountable.
"Dan Bongino protects pedos," reads an online post from the official Libertarian Party X account. "That’s how he will be remembered."
And Will Sommer, a senior reporter for The Bulwark, argued that Bongino’s failures at the FBI would make him poorly positioned to wage any type of war on supposed MAGA “grifters.”
“Now out of the FBI, Dan Bongino vows to take on ‘grifters and bums’ in the MAGA civil war,” Sommer wrote. “But between the Epstein files and his short FBI tenure, Bongino has plenty of vulnerabilities for said grifters and bums to feast on.”
Dan Bongino shows the right-wing grift. He made millions telling you what’s wrong and how to fix it. When he got a real government role, nothing changed. Then he went back to podcasting to cash in. You got hype. He got rich. https://t.co/vKJ4X46MOL
— TapForNerd (@tapfornerd) January 6, 2026