President Donald Trump has reportedly zeroed in on FBI deputy director Dan Bongino as the likely fall guy over the Epstein files fiasco.
Bongino, 51, “could be out any day,” according to Rachael Bade’s Inner Circle Substack newsletter, which reports that the former Secret Service agent and Fox News host angered senior staff with his handling of the saga over FBI documents related to the late pedophile.
Bade writes that Bongino “clashed with [Attorney General] Pam Bondi” and “refus[ed] to show up to work for a time,” adding, “The expectation is that he’ll leave eventually.”
Bongino, who was appointed to the post in March, had previously pushed Epstein conspiracy theories and called for full disclosure when he was a MAGA podcaster.
The report comes amid a spate of insider intrigue stories that Bade reports Trump, 79, has privately mocked. “Firing Kristi? I love Kristi!” the president told a top aide when asked about Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, according to the former Politico White House reporter.
In her account, Trump publicly defended his embattled principals this week. Bade adds that, despite noisy speculation about broader firings, Trump is not planning a Cabinet clear-out, and the rumored shake-up may amount to just one ouster—Bongino, who is not even a Cabinet member.
However, Bade said aides have privately stressed there would be “no tolerance for freelancing” in the lead-up to next year’s midterm elections, should Cabinet members be tempted to juice their profiles for a potential 2028 presidential run.
While Bongino may be expendable, Bade suggests his beleaguered boss, FBI Director Kash Patel, 45, is bruised but safe.
Despite a drumbeat of bad headlines about Patel—including tweets jeopardizing probes, SWAT protection for a girlfriend, and use of a government jet to see her—Trump and senior aides are pushing back on ouster talk.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt publicly mocked a replacement rumor, and Trump sat with Patel in the Oval Office, highlighting the director’s proximity and “hyper-loyal” status, with allies touting investigative wins and security justifications.
The Epstein files have repeatedly put Bongino and Patel in the crosshairs of their former MAGA supporters. Podcaster Joe Rogan blasted them for their lack of transparency regarding Trump’s relationship with his former financier friend.
After months of the Trump administration fighting to keep the Epstein files under wraps—including an FBI redaction sprint in March and April—Bongino shifted tone with scant explanation. In May, the former cop argued the government was moving cautiously to protect victims, then went quiet.
Last month, Bloomberg published internal FBI emails showing that on March 18—one day after Bongino started as deputy director—he was forwarded “guidance” on what to black out.
Prodded by questions about his role, Bongino broke his silence, downplaying the message: “I entered on duty on March 17th… The emails… were sent before I began… I wanted to review what had been done before I entered on duty,” he wrote on X, offering no further detail on the redactions or the contents.
The correspondence outlined a frantic, costly push of roughly 1,000 agents trained at the Central Records Complex in Winchester, Virginia, costing $851,344 in overtime between March 17 and March 22 and 4,737 overtime hours through July, most of them in March.
After Attorney General Pam Bondi, 60, primed expectations in February by teasing a “client list,” the Justice Department on July 7 declared it had found none. It halted further releases, enraging Bongino, who, it was reported, threatened to resign.
With survivors demanding a probe into whether materials were tampered with, Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act on Nov. 19—giving a month’s grace before the files must be released.
Trump denies wrongdoing regarding his former friend Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking offenses.
FBI spokesman Ben Williamson said, “This story is false–clearly using outdated and inaccurate information to try and sow division between the president’s team, which is completely united in delivering a safe, secure, and prosperous America.”
A bureau source told the Daily Beast that Bongino did not “refuse to show up to work” but instead “took two days of leave back when all this occurred.”
The Beast has also contacted the White House for comment.
The post Trump’s Fall Guy Over Botched Epstein Files Handling Revealed appeared first on The Daily Beast.
