'Cry me a river': Trump official ripped for whining Fox News interview

31 May

Dan Bongino at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference on March 6, 2014 (Christopher Halloran/ Shutterstock.com)

When President Donald Trump chose far-right conspiracy theorist and former podcast host Dan Bongino for deputy FBI director, critics of the MAGA movement argued that he was woefully unqualified for the position and was chosen simply because he is a staunch, unwavering Trump loyalist. And Bongino, detractors say, showed that he is in way over his head during a Thursday, May 29 appearance on Fox News' morning show "Fox and Friends."

Bongino complained about how difficult the job is, saying, "I gave up everything for this…. I'm in there at 7:30 in the morning. I stare at these four walls all day in D.C., by myself, divorced from my wife — not divorced, but I mean separated, divorced — and it's hard. I mean, we love each other, and it's hard to be apart…. People ask all the time, 'Do you like it? No. I don't."

One of Bongino's detractors is Frank Figliuzzi, a national security analyst for NBC News and MSNBC and former FBI special agent.

In a scathing opinion column published on May 30, Figliuzzi argues that Bongino had no business accepting the position if he is going to "whine" about having to make some sacrifices.

"Cry me a river," Figliuzzi writes. "Bongino is describing what anyone in a senior FBI leadership role is expected to endure, particularly at headquarters. I've been there, done that. As an inspector and then chief inspector based in Washington, D.C., I had to live apart from family, travel extensively and fly home whenever a free weekend permitted…. Welcome to the real world, Mr. Bongino."

Bongino's comments during that "Fox and Friends" appearance, Figliuzzi laments, is "consistent with Trump World's misunderstanding of sacrifice." Trump, the former FBI special agent notes, "has equated the hard work he says he does with sacrifice and, most disgracefully, said it in response to a Gold Star family who said he'd 'sacrificed nothing.'"

"While the FBI's deputy director bemoans his lot in life, and the president and his family get richer while pretending they've made substantial sacrifices for the country, perhaps they should consider the plight of Americans who work two jobs to make ends meet, the losses suffered by Ukrainians fighting for freedom, the horrors experienced by Israeli hostages and their families, and the agony of children in Gaza begging for a meal," Figliuzzi argues. "Hard work is admirable, but if you're going to complain about it, you'll get little sympathy from me."

Frank Figliuzzi's full MSNBC column is available at this link.

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