Dan Bongino Reveals What Triggered Viral Post About Being "Shocked" to His "Core" at FBI
Bongino can finally speak freely after leaving the FBI.
This article originally appeared on the Daily Caller News Foundation and was republished with permission.
Guest post by Jason Cohen
Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino recounted on “The Vince Show” Monday reading documents that led him to make a viral July 2025 X post about being “shocked” to his “core.”
Bongino wrote in the post, which garnered 20.5 million views, that he would “never be the same” following the revelations in the documents. He told host Vince Coglianese, who is also the Daily Caller’s editorial director and host of “The Vince Coglianese Show,” that he was reading Crossfire Hurricane documents on a Friday night.
“It was basically about Crossfire. I was just reading some stuff about Crossfire,” Bongino said. “And … I was blown away … I lived in this kind of tiny apartment in D.C., … And I’m sitting there and I’m thinking to myself, ‘I couldn’t believe it happened here.’ You know, Vince, like having been a Secret Service agent, a police officer, and I hadn’t been in the FBI role that long, but it had been a few months.”
“I just thought, gosh, these guardrails just broke down because of people. People are guardrails, not robots … And I was just stunned at how many people just let this — just the incredibly poor decision-making,” he added. “It blew my mind … I got up the next day and I just fired that out … I was really shaken by the whole thing, how these guardrails broke down so quickly. It was astonishing. And I was — oh boy. Even now talking about it, I just remember that feeling. Like, oh my gosh, did this really happen? Yeah, that’s what that was about.”
Crossfire Hurricane was the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign regarding allegations of Russian collusion.
Bongino also said he would likely discuss the revelations in more depth on his upcoming show “within reason.”
He announced in a Monday X post that he was slated to launch a “new version of The Dan Bongino Show” on Feb. 2 that will exclusively stream live on Rumble on weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EST. It “will expand on its legacy with a renewed focus on Washington insights, behind-the-scenes details from his time in government, and a message of hope and resilience in the conservative movement.”
Bongino’s show will follow Coglianese’s “The Vince Coglianese Show,” which is set to air at 8:00 a.m. EST on Rumble.
Bongino announced his departure from the FBI in a Dec. 17 X post and officially left the bureau on Jan. 4.
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I think all of us, if we understood the extent that we've been compromised by the very people elected to lead us, would be shocked to our core as well.
Hi,
Good to connect. I’m new to Substack after trading in my PPE and tools, and I now write about markets, risk, and the stories we tell ourselves to stay comfortable.
After the Close is less about prediction and more about process. Discipline over drama. Thinking clearly when the screens go dark. The writing is partly a way for me to slow things down and stay honest, especially in a space that rewards noise.
If you ever have a moment to look through it, I’d genuinely appreciate any feedback on the process. Good or bad is fine. I can handle it.
Cheers,Andrew