Dan Bongino Bias Rating

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RIGHT BIAS

Demographics

Political Affiliation: Republican Party. Dan Bongino is strongly aligned with Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. He previously ran unsuccessfully for political office three times as a Republican and later served in the second Trump administration.

Current Position: Bongino hosts The Dan Bongino Show, a daily conservative podcast and video program distributed through the Cumulus Podcast Network and streamed on Rumble. He relaunched the program in February 2026 after leaving the FBI.

Past Position: Bongino served as Deputy Director of the FBI in President Donald Trump’s administration from March 2025 until January 2026. He previously hosted Unfiltered With Dan Bongino on Fox News, unsuccessfully ran for Senate and congressional seats in 2012, 2014, and 2016, served as a Secret Service Agent from 1999 to 2011, and was a New York City Police Officer from 1995 to 1999.

Bias Analysis

• Political Views: Dan Bongino is a strong supporter of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. His media commentary consistently promotes Trump administration policies while portraying Democrats, progressives, and many institutional Republicans as threats to conservative priorities. He has referred to the Russia investigation as “a coup” and “an attempted overthrow of the United States government,” a claim rated Pants on Fire by PolitiFact. Bongino has also promoted claims regarding the Clinton email investigation, opposed a $15 minimum wage, supported limited business regulation, and advocated lower government spending. His political alignment with Trump became institutional in March 2025 when he joined the administration as FBI Deputy Director. After leaving government in January 2026, Bongino returned to partisan media and continued strongly supportive coverage, including episodes titled “Trump Wins Again” and coverage praising what he described as Trump’s historic energy policies.
• Scientific Views: Bongino has frequently downplayed COVID-19, refused to comply with mask requirements, and opposed pandemic-related public health measures. He has promoted misleading claims concerning COVID-19 vaccines and SARS-CoV-2, including a claim that genetic characteristics of the virus indicated laboratory engineering, which scientific reviewers found unsupported. His record on public-health subjects has at times rejected or misrepresented scientific consensus.
• Social Views: Bongino holds strongly conservative social views. He supports stricter immigration enforcement, opposes abortion, favors repealing or substantially reducing the Affordable Care Act, strongly supports gun rights, and has frequently criticized Black Lives Matter and progressive positions concerning race, gender, and LGBTQ+ issues.

Epstein Files Controversy

Before joining the Trump administration, Bongino repeatedly suggested that authorities were withholding significant information regarding Jeffrey Epstein and had promoted claims of a broader cover-up. In February 2025, shortly before joining the FBI, he said he was “not ever gonna let this story go.”

After becoming FBI Deputy Director, however, Bongino and FBI Director Kash Patel backed the Justice Department’s determination that investigators had not found the widely alleged Epstein “client list” and that no additional evidence supported some of the conspiracy theories Bongino had previously promoted. This reversal produced significant criticism from conservative activists and commentators, with some accusing Bongino and the Trump administration of participating in an Epstein cover-up.

However, there is no established evidence that Bongino personally concealed or destroyed Epstein-related evidence. Reporting indicated that Bongino was privately frustrated with the Justice Department’s handling of the issue and believed that additional records could be released with victim information redacted. The dispute became serious enough that Bongino reportedly considered resigning from the FBI during the controversy. His reversal nevertheless damaged his credibility with some supporters because he had spent years suggesting that government officials were hiding explosive information before reaching a substantially different conclusion after gaining access to FBI records.

Failed Fact Checks

• The Russia investigation “was a coup. This was an attempted overthrow of the United States government.” – PANTS ON FIRE
• DOES ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION COST THE US MORE THAN $100 BILLION A YEAR? – UNSUBSTANTIATED
• Bernie Sanders flew on a private jet and served a lavish menu when traveling to Rome in April 2016. – MOSTLY FALSE
• “Violent crime in South Bend doubled during Mayor Pete’s tenure.” – MOSTLY FALSE
• “California has six extra” congressional representatives “because illegals are counted” in the census. – MOSTLY FALSE
• “the CGG CGG coding […] does not appear in nature”, this and the furin cleavage site from the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein gene suggests the virus wasn’t transmitted from animals to humans – INACCURATE
• Twitter fact-checks Biden for first time ever. – FALSE
• Dan Bongino’s Graphic Of Unhealthy U.S. Cities Run By Democrats – FALSE
• Joe Biden plans to discriminate against white men with COVID-19 economic relief. – MISLEADING
• The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $200 million for digital IDs as part of a shift toward a “totalitarian society.” – FALSE
• Newly surfaced IRS training video BREAKS the internet. – FALSE

Bias and Credibility Summary

Overall, we rate Dan Bongino Far-Right Biased based on strongly conservative political and social positions, explicit support for Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, and a history of partisan political advocacy. We also rate him Low for factual reporting due to numerous failed fact checks, the promotion of conspiracy theories, and repeated rejection or misrepresentation of scientific evidence. His reversal on claims surrounding Jeffrey Epstein after joining the FBI also raised credibility concerns, although there is no verified evidence that Bongino personally participated in concealing Epstein-related records. (D. Van Zandt 5/1/2021) Updated (09/09/2026)