FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, once known for promoting conspiracy theories, now lead the nation’s foremost law enforcement agency.

After nearly a year in their roles, both are reconsidering some of their past assertions. They have begun to shift their stance after gaining insights from within the organization.

During a press conference detailing the arrest of the Washington, DC pipe bomber, Bongino emphasized his renewed commitment to being ‘guided by the facts.’

Patel, speaking at the same event, stated, “An attack on American citizens, our legislative institutions, or our Capitol is an attack on our way of life.”

Social media users were quick to highlight what they perceived as hypocrisy from the FBI’s top figures.

One commenter found the remarks ‘ironic,’ labeling them as ‘unserious people,’ especially in light of Donald Trump pardoning 1,500 January 6 protesters on his first day in office. Another criticized Bongino, calling him a ‘clown’ for admitting his previous role involved spreading conspiracies.

‘It’s really great they finally know the right guy to pardon,’ an X user sarcastially quipped.

Patel and Bongino was a prominent pro-MAGA voices defending those who rioted at the US Capitol following Trump’s 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden.

And Bongino alleged on his podcast before earning his government job that Joe Biden’s FBI actually knew the identity of the bomber and was keeping it from getting out. 

Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino walked back on conspiracies he previously pushed about the DC pipe bomber

Bongino told Fox News he would ‘be guided by the facts’ after his team identifyied, arrested and charged Brian Cole, 30, with planting pipe bombs at RNC and DNC headquarters on the even of the Capitol riot

Once leadership was installed at Trump’s second-term FBI, Bongino was tasked with heading the effort to find and charge the person who placed pipe bombs outside the Washington, DC headquarters for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Republican National Committee (RNC) on January 5, 2021.

Speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity, Bongino walked-back on some of his previous conspiracy rhetoric claiming the FBI was complicit in the bomb planting. 

‘I was paid in the past for my opinions, that’s clear, and one day I’ll be back in that space,’ the deputy director claimed. ‘But that’s not what I’m paid for now.’

‘I’m paid to be your deputy director, and we base investigations on facts,’ Bongino insisted, claiming the FBI would ‘be guided by the facts as this thing goes forward.’

Just months before taking office, Bongino claimed on his far-right podcast that the pipe bomb ase was ‘the biggest scandal in FBI history.’ 

He alleged that the agency knew the identity of the bomber and said the bombs were planted ‘to create a narrative that crazy MAGA people are trying to assassinate Kamala Harris.’

One X user gawked at Bongino’s comments to Hannity, admitting ‘he used to get paid to push conspiracy theories on the internet.’

‘Most people already knew, but I still can’t believe he actually said it—what a clown,’ the user wrote. 

Another wrote on X: ‘Are you going to mention that the guy is a Trump supporter who thought the 2020 election was rigged?’

Bongino led the team investigating the pipe bombing

Bongino said there was no new information, tips or evidence that led to identifying the suspect. He stood alongside FBI Director Kash Patel, who also appeared to walk-back on some of his previous remarks

Brian Cole, 30, was the man arrested in Woodbridge, Virginia on Thursday morning for planting bombs on the eve of the certification of the 2021 presidential election. 

The pipe bombs did not detonate and nobody was harmed, but the FBI says if authorities had not disarmed them in time they could have been deadly.

For four years the case lay cold at the FBI.

That is until Patel said that he and Bongino immediately went to work assigning a team to scour the evidence.

At a press conference with Attorney General Pam Bondi and US Attorney for the District of Washington, DC Jeanine Pirro on Thursday, the team confirmed there was no new information, evidence or tip that led to the identification and arrest of Cole.

Speaking to Hannity on Tuesday, Bongino said: ‘My first meeting, I swore in, and I kid you not, 15 minutes later I said, when I get in there I want a full brief on this pipe bomber case on Day 1.’

‘And I looked at the case agent after getting a full brief on what they had done, and they had done a pretty extensive amount of work,’ he admitted. ‘They had chased down thousands of leads, six thousand-plus interviews had been conducted, hundreds of tips, and it still was relatively stale, the case.’ 

Bongino said that only bolstered his desire to get to the bottom of the case and ‘track this guy down.’ 

After a nine-month operation, the deputy FBI director says the agency has succeeded in that mission.