Bongino Bids Farewell

by Sharon Rondeau

(Mar. 16, 2025) — On Friday, former Secret Service agent, NYPD officer and broadcaster Dan Bongino in a final show recognized and thanked dozens of individuals who assisted him over the last decade, culminating in millions of daily listeners and a formidable internet presence and afternoon radio broadcast on Westwood One.

On Monday Bongino, 50, will assume the position of FBI deputy director under Director Kash Patel, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in February.

The show is captioned, “See You on the Other Side.”

In what was an emotional recounting of his years on the air building his brand after a close congressional election loss in Maryland in 2014, Bongino lauded his many staffers, producers and colleagues, sponsors, country singers Nate Smith and John Rich, and even President Donald Trump for when he called Bongino just prior to his 2020 surgery for Hodgkins Lymphoma.

Appearing on the show in person following Smith, Rich told Bongino he is making a “massive, massive sacrifice to take this job.”

Bongino said Trump asked at the time, “Do you need anything?” to which Bongino recalled responding, “Yeah, I need you to save the country. That’s about it.”

“It was during COVID…There was no one on the street,” Bongino recalled of the day following his surgery, when he and his wife, his producer at the time, decided to host the show.

During the 2024 presidential election campaign, Bongino urged his listeners to vote early for Trump and celebrated when he and his vice-presidential choice, J.D. Vance, were declared the winners over Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

In a 2022 show Bongino criticized the Bureau as rife with “corruption” and lacking “purpose.” He reported extensively on reports of a “pipe bomb” having been found outside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021 while Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris was in the building and for which the FBI has never accounted.

Following the election amid rumors Bongino was under consideration for Secret Service director, he told his audience he had engaged in “zero conversations” with the Trump transition team about it. Trump eventually appointed Sean Curran, a long-term Trump assignee who led his protective detail during the July 13, 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, PA, as director of the agency.

Bongino’s February 24 announcement of his acceptance of the offer from Trump and newly-confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel stated “his decision to step into this role is driven solely by a commitment to service and a belief that law enforcement and national security institutions must be strengthened.”

“My career has always been about service. I’m here to work. I’m here to lead. And I’m here to ensure that America’s law enforcement institutions uphold the values and integrity they were built upon,” the statement additionally reads.

On February 26, Bongino announced his wife would lead a new media company, Silverloch, which has hired Vince Coglianese to take his place at the microphone.

Bongino’s final Westwood show is here.