In response to Donald Trump tapping Dan Bongino as Deputy FBI Director, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“Donald Trump is stacking his administration with yet another unqualified Fox News host who’s made excuses for violent criminals and pushed dangerous conspiracy theories attacking our men and women in uniform. Let’s be clear: Our law enforcement deserves better than an unfit and incompetent media personality like Dan Bongino who will put loyalty to Trump over keeping Americans safe.” 

Donald Trump tapped unqualified TV commentator Dan Bongino to be Deputy FBI Director.

Shelby Talcott: “NEW: Trump taps Dan Bongino as deputy FBI director

“Follows some quiet rumors over the weekend that Kash Patel wanted him for the job…”

New York Times: “The combination of Mr. Patel and Mr. Bongino will represent the least experienced leadership pair in the bureau’s history. It is also all but certain to prompt concerns about how the men, who have freely peddled misinformation and embraced partisan politics, will run an agency typically insulated from White House interference.”

Washington Post: “Bongino had been helpful to the White House as an early adopter of pro-Trump story lines, including pecking relentlessly at questions related to the origins of the federal investigation of Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russian election interference.”

The New Republic: “Trump Mulls Putting His Life in the Hands of a Right-Wing Hothead”

Bongino has a history of pushing and profiting off baseless conspiracy theories about election denialism, while also defending violent January 6 insurrectionists. 

The New Republic: “After failing to launch a political career, he went into punditry, becoming a commentator on right-wing talk radio and social media. He quickly became known as a leading election denialist, January 6 insurrectionist defender, and Covid-19 conspiracist.”

The New Yorker: “For years, he has claimed that ‘deep state’ plotters and foreign entities sought to sabotage Trump in 2016, infiltrating his campaign and leaking allegations about his dealings with Russia. …

“‘The F.B.I. and the C.I.A., members of it, unquestionably tried to rig both the 2016 and 2020 election,’ Bongino told his audience. In the latter, he explained, ‘they didn’t put out bad information on someone—they hid information about Joe Biden and his corrupt son.’ …

“On November 11th, he wrote that conservatives were being ‘put on targeting lists’ and that his opponents were ‘tyrants, nothing more.’”

Washington Post: “Since the election, he’s become one of the more energetic promoters of dubious assertions about the 2020 presidential contest. Despite rulings by more than 80 judges, including Trump appointees, rejecting cases alleging fraud and election-law manipulation, he says that ‘the fact that the Supreme Court doesn’t want to hear a lot of these cases and provide clarity and give a definitive answer, I think is a controversy in and of itself.’”

Washington Post: “‘It’s political piracy,’ he said, adding: ‘You still have people being detained but not being charged. You better look into it. A lot of people that are being detained, they’re just being held.’ [Richard Baum, 61, an independent voter from Odessa, Texas] said video showed those who fought with police were ‘FBI plants’ and ‘agitators that were being paid by Soros or his group.’ Baum said his sources of information were One America News, podcaster Dan Bongino, and Glenn Beck and his website the Blaze.” 

REMINDER: Trump has repeatedly threatened violence against his political opponents, vowed to go after the “enemy from within,” and pledged to be a dictator on “day one” of his new administration.

Trump: “I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within … totally destroying our country … [I]n terms of Election Day, I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they’re the big – and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by [the] National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.” 

Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN: “Many people have lost American presidential elections over the last 230 years – Trump is the only one to say about violence if he loses ‘it depends.’”

The Atlantic: “Trump Says He’ll Be a Dictator on ‘Day One’”

Associated Press: “Trump declines to rule out abusing power to seek retribution if he returns to the White House”

The Guardian: “Donald Trump says he will lock up his political enemies if he is president again.”

Trump: “Somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that.”

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