\n<\/p>\n
It was Bongino\u2019s first order of business, though, to address his critics. \u201cListen, that Jeffrey Epstein story is a big deal,\u201d he said in 2023. \u201cPlease do not let that story go.\u201d He took a less conspiratorial tone after joining the FBI, somberly acknowledging in a Fox News interview that the official account, no matter how unspectacular, was the one he now believed. Epstein really had killed himself, leaving no sprawling Democrat-orchestrated cover-up to speak of\u2014and, along with Patel, disappointing a sprawling set of fellow right-wing media personalities.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sat in the front row with your popcorn, ankle biting,\u201d Bongino said on Monday, \u201cthrowing this popcorn at the ring at two guys in there sparring away, fighting for this country while you did shit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Epstein case, the other things we had to deal with,\u201d he said, without going into much more detail. \u201cThere is no decision you\u2019re going to make that is going to make everybody happy, and you have to deal with it.\u201d Just look at the release of the Epstein files, he argued: \u201calmost all of it\u2019s public now, thanks to President Trump and the team getting it all out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The call from Trump, when it came, functioned as a kind of anointment of the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very unhappy when you left the FBI,\u201d the president said when his voice piped in after an hour and a half of Bongino\u2019s monologue. \u201cBut I was very happy that you have your show \u2026 So I\u2019m okay with this. Isn\u2019t that neutral? I call it a net neutral.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Trump\u2019s own, uninterrupted train of thought\u2014about the unfairness of his press coverage, about the 2020 election that he won \u201cby so much\u201d\u2014there was a clarifying unity between the two men, each ready and equipped to speak at such discursive length.<\/p>\n
In the live chat of viewers following along, the commentary ranged from appreciative to vitriolic. One audience member, writing alongside a $20 tip they left for Bongino, wrote, \u201cWelcome back Dan and team! Bongino Army always understands law enforcement takes time!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMuch harder to drain the swamp,\u201d said another, leaving a tip in the same amount, \u201cfrom a podcast studio you big fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bongino seemed at ease with both sides of the dynamic; he was, once again, at home. Most of all, he was in possession of what he described, ominously but convincingly, as \u201cthe greatest superpower in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the power to command attention,\u201d Bongino said, \u201cand I own yours.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n