Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino on Tuesday continued to lash out against unflattering reports about his time at the Bureau, calling out a New York Post reporter for "gossipy" coverage which said the colleagues viewed him as "a clown."
The initial report was published on Sunday by the Post, an outlet widely considered pro-conservative and often described as President Donald Trump's favorite paper. While focused on concerns about FBI leadership at all levels under the Trump administration, the report singled out Bongino, noting that an FBI source said he was viewed internally as "something of a clown." Elsewhere in the piece, Director Kash Patel was described as "in over his head" and the Bureau overall was described as a "rudderless ship" under their leadership.
In a post to X on Tuesday, Bongino attacked the piece and its author, Miranda Devine, chastising her for writing a "timed hit piece" trying to derail his plans.
"Deep-state Devine strikes again." Bongino wrote. "Miranda loves attacking our reform agenda with gossipy anecdotes from disgruntled former employees because she’s upset that her 'reporting' keeps falling apart under scrutiny. You can always count on Miranda for a timed hit piece when the Director and I make big changes. Miranda prefers tbe [sic] old-guard. I don’t. Full steam ahead."
This came after Bongino previously appeared to respond to the report on Monday, without naming the Post or Devine.
"A LOT of people are very upset at the changes and reforms we’ve made at the FBI," he wrote on X. "They will do anything to revert to the old ways of doing things. So they leak gossipy nonsense to media outlets and journalists' with a clear agenda, and they ignore the historic results and the significant reforms we instituted."
During an appearance on Fox News, Devine dismissed criticisms of her reporting, stressing that her sources were strong and not intent on targeting Trump's FBI agenda.
“I know these people, they’re patriots and they only have the best interests of the FBI in mind,” Devine said. “They asked for a six-month sort of report card on Kash Patel and Dan Bongino’s performance, and they found 80 percent of their responses were negative. What they hope, and what I would have hoped, is that Kash Patel and Dan Bongino would take this criticism on board, as it’s coming from Trump-aligned people. This alliance actually endorsed Trump publicly last October, saying that he had the best options for FBI reform. And so, this criticism is coming in good spirit.”