Bongino Goes Hard Against the Prior FBI Leadership in Wake of J6 Pipe Bomber Arrest [WATCH]

Dan Bongino outlined what he described as deep failures within the FBI’s previous leadership and detailed the internal steps that led to the arrest of the suspect in the 2021 pipe bomber case.

During a Fox News segment, Bongino said the prior team had misused the agency’s authority and harmed its standing with the public, while the agents doing the substantive investigative work were left carrying the consequences.

Bongino said the issues began long before he took office.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what the hell this prior leadership team was doing outside of, you know, targeting political opponents, weaponizing the FBI, destroying its reputation, embarrassing agents that are doing really good work out there, catching terrorists, CCP, spies and everyone else. It’s almost like they were intentionally trying to decimate faith in institutions. It is horrifying. I don’t know what they were doing.”

Bongino described his first day in office as a decisive turning point for the stalled case.

“I can tell you what happened, though, when we got there, the director and I my first meeting, my first meeting, I swore in, and I kid you not, probably 15 minutes later, and the people who are in the meeting know I said, when I get in there, I want a full brief on this pipe bomber case on day one.”

After the briefing, Bongino said the investigative team had already done substantial work but had not been able to reach a resolution.

“And I looked at the case agent after getting a full brief of what they’d done, and they had done some pretty extensive amount of work. They had chased down, I think, 1000s of leads, 6000 plus interviews had been conducted, hundreds of tips, and it still was relatively stale the case, and I grabbed the case agent on the on the way out, and I said, you’re going to get me this guy, you’re going to track this guy down, you’re going to find him, you’re going to get me this guy. I want him.”

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Bongino said that directive initiated a sustained push to conclude the investigation.

“And that started what was, what’s been almost a nine month operation right now, to make sure that we could get full accountability and transparency of the American public, and find this guy. And today, today, we did.”

He emphasized that the eventual success was not the work of a single office.

“But Sean, I have to add this, because this is really important. I you’ve heard all the cliches, team effort here at all times sports. I said it today at the presser, but I want to emphasize this. This was a team judge, Jeanine, Deputy Attorney General, Blanche, people, you and I know very well, ag Bondi, they you cannot do anything in the FBI without DOJ process, subpoenas, draw on paper, search warrants, complaints, arrest warrants. Who do you think does that? It’s not just us. We’re the investigators. They’re the lawyers.”

Bongino said the cooperation between agencies tightened quickly after he took office.

“So that team from day one, I told Pam and Todd, I said, Hey, cash and I and cash could not have been more supportive. He’s like, Dan, go for it. They said, Whatever you need. And their attorneys over there were amazing on this case. So it that don’t just throw the team effort thing out, like it just a standard cliche, I mean it. They really did a great job.”

Bongino concluded that the arrest was the product of sustained coordination and renewed leadership focus following years of limited progress under the prior structure.

WATCH:

🚨 BREAKING: Dan Bongino doesn’t know “WHAT THE HELL” Biden’s FBI was doing – they had Jan. 6 pipe bomber info for YEARS…

…but Kash Patel and Bongino found the suspect in MONTHS!

“I don’t know what they were doing outside of targeting political opponents, weaponizing the… pic.twitter.com/iQVXpaISf7

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 5, 2025