Bongino Called Out Schiff Before Trump Appointed Him Deputy FBI Director

Dan Bongino took aim at Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) during a recent episode of his highly popular podcast, just days before President Donald Trump tapped Bongino to serve as deputy director of the FBI.

“Why is Adam Schiff so worried? I strongly encourage you to go back and take another look today at the Russia collusion hoax,” Bongino opened, urging listeners to revisit the controversial case.

Although the Russia collusion narrative first surfaced years ago, Bongino made it clear he has no plans to let it fade. “I’m gonna be straight with you. I don’t wanna move on,” he said.

“We had the FBI in conjunction with the Department of Justice, officials in Congress, foreign governments and intel people fabricate a story, invent a story that could have caused and done serious long-term harm to international relations with a nuclear-powered foe,” Bongino continued, emphasizing, “It’s kind of a big freakin’ deal.”

He also issued what could be considered a warning, saying, “Listen to me — this is gonna be very important in the coming days,” possibly alluding to his own upcoming appointment at the FBI.

“I’m not letting this go. I wanna find out what happened because it can never happen again. Not to a Democrat. Not a Republican. Not to a Libertarian. Not to any United States citizen,” Bongino declared.

“You do not get to alter or try to change the course of electoral politics by fabricating a story hijacking the justice system then to give the patina of truth to a fake story,” he added. “You don’t get to do that.”

As to why he was raising the issue again now, Bongino explained: “Why do I bring that up now? Because who was the ringmaster of that circus? Yes, Adam Schiff, and no, I’m not letting it go.”

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Meanwhile, it’s worth mentioning that former President Joe Biden gave Schiff a pre-emptive pardon for his actions while serving on the Democrat-led Jan. 6 Committee — though Schiff himself characterized the pardon as both “unnecessary” and “unwise.”

“I continue to believe that the grant of pardons to a committee that undertook such important work to uphold the law was unnecessary, and because of the precedent it establishes, unwise,” Schiff said in a public statement. “But I certainly understand why President Biden believed he needed to take this step in light of the persistent and baseless threats issued by Donald Trump and individuals who are now some of his law enforcement nominees.”

Notably, despite expressing concerns, Schiff didn’t formally decline the pardon.

Those “full and unconditional” pardons apply broadly to any offenses tied to the “activities or subject matter” of the committee’s work, without being limited to a specific time period, according to reporting from The Hill. However, it remains unclear whether the pardon extends to any potential legal violations Schiff might have committed while repeatedly pushing unproven allegations that Trump was working as a Russian agent or was under the control of Vladimir Putin.

The Jan. 6 Committee was chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), with former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) serving as vice chair. Other committee members included former Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Elaine Luria (D-Va.), and Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), along with current Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).

On Monday, Thompson and Cheney released a joint statement defending the pardons, insisting they were not granted “for breaking the law but for upholding it.”

“These are indeed ‘extraordinary circumstances’ when public servants are pardoned to prevent false prosecution by the government for having worked faithfully as Members of Congress to expose the facts of a months-long criminal effort to override the will of the voters after the 2020 elections, including by inciting a violent insurrection to thwart the peaceful transfer of power,” the two said in their statement, which was posted to the social platform X.