FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino sat down with Maria Bartiromo on "Sunday Morning Futures" for a lengthy interview that aired Sunday morning. It's wide-ranging and well worth the watch.
In the first part of the interview, they addressed the politicization of the agency under prior administrations and efforts they are making to shed light on those misdeeds and bring accountability where possible.
This morning, exclusively on @SundayFutures, @MariaBartiromo interviewed @FBIDirectorKash & @FBIDDBongino on honoring our heroes, ending politicization in the FBI, and returning the Bureau to its core mission. Watch part 1 here 👇 pic.twitter.com/gPrn4CfFnp
— SundayMorningFutures (@SundayFutures) May 18, 2025
Early in their sit-down, Bartiromo asked directly about the politicization of the FBI and how Patel, as its director, plans to rectify that.
BARTIROMO: Director, you've said many times that the FBI has been politicized, so what are your plans to rebuild trust in this fine institution and depoliticize the FBI?
PATEL: So, we have a multi-part process. First of all, our priorities — simple: Crush violent crime, defend the homeland, rigorous organizational accountability, and the fourth — which leads directly to your question — aggressive constitutional oversight with Congress.
The way we rebuild trust is — we already have the men and women here in the rank and file that signed up to be cops, that signed up to be intel analysts, that signed up to be special support staff, that want to do the work. That's why we're sending them into the field...What we need America to know is that this place was politicized, and Congress has rightfully requested the documents from Crossfire Hurricane to January 6 to the Richmond Catholic memo and so much more, but now, finally, Americans are reading for themselves the documentation where a very select few leaders in the former FBI decided to politicize it. We don't need me and the deputy telling you it's politicized. We want the American people to read it, and now they are.
BARTIROMO: And I know I lived with it for you. I watched it with you and Devon Nunes when you were truth tellers on all of this, and you were as well, Dan, throughout the Russia collusion story and the rest.
PATEL: Look, I can speak to the folks that were in our seats, our predecessors, and they intentionally failed the American public by putting on the biggest DC deception game we've ever seen.
They said the FBI was the most storied institution for law enforcement, and it was, and it will be again very soon, but when the likes of Comey and McCabe and Strzok and company came in here with the James Bakers of the world and intentionally lied to a federal court only to rig a presidential election by lying to the American public and using taxpayer dollars, likely illegally, to fund this entire operation and then withhold exculpatory information from a federal court that I used to appear before to manhunt terrorists — that's what broke the FBI.
And then, when they were caught, they lied about it, and you and a few others, like Dan and others, were brave enough to cover it six, seven, eight years ago, and we're still talking about it today — because as Congress is working rigorously with us, the Crossfire Hurricane documents are coming fast and hard and they're being sent there unredacted so we can have full accountability. And that's how you restore...the trust that was lost to the American public when it comes to the FBI.
RELATED: Bongino Destroys James Comey—the Man Who 'Brought Shame to the FBI Badge'—Over Deranged '86 47' Post
Bartiromo pushed back a bit here, likely echoing the sentiments of many who've been frustrated by the seeming lack of accountability, despite years (and years) of calling for it. (It should be noted that this interview was taped prior to Jim Comey's Shellgate erupting.)
BARTIROMO: Yeah, but come on, Director, with all due respect, we've been talking about this for a long time. And I've been demanding accountability for many, many years... You mentioned Comey, Strzok, and the rest — they've got TV shows, they've got media platforms, they're fine. There's been no accountability.
PATEL: Well, look, it's a fair criticism, but what I will tell people is we weren't here in the FBI in the last five years when we had statutes of limitations that were still in play, where we could have investigated criminal conduct. Most of these statutes of limitations are five years old. And we will investigate criminal conduct where we find a righteous case to do so, and the law and the facts allow us to, but a lot of it we're precluded from. So we'll take the criticism, and it's rightfully so that — could we have done more in the past? Sure, people before us could have, but what we can do now is continue to put out the documents and the information that these people withheld from the American public.
As Patel rightly notes, in many respects, in terms of pursuing criminal prosecutions, their hands may be tied at this point due to the passage of time and the applicable statutes of limitations. However, he hinted at some rather surprising information that has recently come to light — things that even he did not know about before — and will be made known to the American public, sooner rather than later.
PATEL: And I'm just telling you right now, as much as we know about Crossfire Hurricane, he and I just found out more last week. And we're continuing to work with Congress to put those documents out. That's how vindictive and vicious the former leadership structure here was; not only did they bastardize the FISA process and lie to the American public, they withheld and hid documentation and put it in rooms where people weren't supposed to look. And it's a good thing we're here now to clean it up, and you're about to see a wave of transparency.
BARTIROMO: What do you mean?
PATEL: Just give us about a week or two.
Bongino also weighed in and pushed back a bit on some of the expectations and the frustrations expressed when people aren't seeing results yet.
Bartiromo then drilled down a bit more in terms of the implications of Patel's comments regarding additional revelations.
BARTIROMO: But are you saying you found things that...even you didn't know about? I mean, you were at the core of this.
PATEL: Yes, yes. I was a lead Russiagate investigator for the House Intelligence Committee, and I've been on both your shows in a prior life, talking about it, and I'm telling you and the American public that we have now found material and information and people who wanted to hide it from the world since we got in these seats. And we...as the Deputy said, we are trying to do it in a fashion where not only are we informing the American public of what happened, but we can have accountability for it. And that takes a little bit more time. And when you layer on the fact that we are rolling out our priorities on violent crime and defending the homeland — you know, we're running a three-part animal here, and we're going 100 miles an hour on each single one.
I'm not naive enough to think I should hold my breath until these new earth-shattering revelations are shared with the American public. But I do get the sense from Patel's comments and demeanor that there are going to be some additional details brought to light soon that will further underscore just how dirty things had gotten at the FBI and who was behind that — and how welcome these clean-up efforts are.
Parts two and three of the interview contain even more eye-opening tidbits and may be viewed here and here.
Editor's Note: The Deep State is working overtime to subvert President Trump's agenda and the will of the people.
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