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Dan Bongino Puts Thomas Massie on Blast, Drops Receipts of Calls on X

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FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino pushed back Thursday against accusations from Rep. Thomas Massie that the bureau was attempting to retaliate against a whistleblower connected to the investigation of the January 6 pipe bomb incident.

Bongino’s response followed Massie’s publication of a letter from an attorney representing an FBI whistleblower who alleged efforts within the bureau to identify the individual who made disclosures to Congress.

Bongino released a detailed statement outlining steps he said the FBI has taken to advance the long-running investigation.

He wrote that he and FBI Director Kash Patel “had our hands full” upon joining the administration, but “despite the multitude of challenges we faced, one of our first initiatives was to aggressively pursue a new strategy to investigate the January 6 pipe bomb, terror attack.”

According to Bongino, the FBI added new personnel to re-examine the case and brought in police officers and detectives serving as task force officers to review the bureau’s previous work.

He said the FBI carried out multiple internal reviews, held numerous in-person and secure video teleconference meetings with the investigative team, significantly increased investigative resources, and raised the public reward for information to draw crowd-sourced tips.

“This is only a small sample of the work the FBI personnel and leadership team have put into this critical investigation,” he wrote.

Bongino stated that he spoke with Massie on Wednesday morning “a little after 8am ET” and offered to provide an in-person briefing.

He said the two spoke for ten minutes.

He wrote that he called again “a bit after 7:30pm ET” to repeat the offer but did not receive an answer.

“Despite this, you continue to imply that the Director and I are targeting investigators in the case,” Bongino wrote.

“This is disgusting, even by the low standards many have for politicians. You know my number, and you’re free to call me anytime. But it’s easier to tweet and throw BS bombs.”

Bongino said the FBI’s leadership team would meet Thursday with FBI personnel and provide whistleblower resources to report any “evidence of malfeasance in the prior administration.”

He added that the FBI would ask about investigative leads that may not have been pursued previously.

“A week of near 24-hour work on RECENT open source leads in the case has yet to produce a break through,” he wrote, adding that “some of the media reporting regarding prior persons of interest is grossly inaccurate and serves only to mislead the public.”

Bongino closed by saying he was committed to the bureau’s mission.

“I proudly serve in this administration, and I proudly work with Director Patel to reform and advance the crime fighting and national security missions of the FBI. We would love to have you as a partner in this mission, rather than a dog barking behind a fence.”

Massie had raised concerns Wednesday evening when he posted a letter from an attorney representing an FBI whistleblower tied to the pipe bomb investigation.

The letter asserted that FBI leadership at the Washington Field Office planned to hold a meeting Thursday morning and alleged that the purpose of the meeting was to identify the whistleblower.

According to the letter, “it is obvious from the information provided by senior leadership in the Washington Field Office that this meeting is an attempt to identify the FBI whistleblower who made the protected disclosure to the US Congress.”

It stated that efforts to identify the individual “is a reprisal and violation of 28 CFR part 27.”

The letter cited previous decisions by the Department of Justice’s Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management affirming the right of FBI employees to make anonymous protected disclosures.

“Identifying the whistleblower serves only one purpose, which is to allow FBI management to retaliate,” the attorney wrote.

Massie posted the letter with his own comments, writing, “I received this troubling letter today from the attorney representing the most recent FBI whistleblower regarding the J6 pipe bomb investigation. Just a reminder to FBI Director Kash Patel, in case this letter is warranted, federal law prevents retaliation against whistleblowers.”