Dan Bongino has said he will leave his role as FBI Deputy Director in January.
In a post on Bongino did not explain in his post why he was stepping down.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump said the former podcast host “did a great job” in office, and “wants to go back to his show.”
Bongino, who was appointed to the role by Trump in February, has built a large following through his podcasts and other media appearances. He was the first New York City police officer and U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to protect former President Barack Obama.
Bongino, a staunch Trump ally, was considered a surprise selection for the role – previously held by career agents – as he had no prior experience with the agency.
The FBI Agents Association, which represents approximately 14,000 current and former agents, had opposed his appointment to the post.
In a Wednesday social media post announcing his decision to step down, Bongino wrote: “I will be leaving my position at the FBI in January. I want to thank President Trump, AG (Pam) Bondy, and Director (Kash) Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose.
“Most importantly, my fellow Americans, I want to thank you for the privilege of serving you. God bless America and all those who defend her.”
Before joining the agency, Bongino repeated Trump’s false claims that he had won the 2020 election, and disinformation and conspiracy theories regarding the January 6, 2021 pipe bomb investigation.
Bongino had previously called the pipe bomb case an “inside job.” After taking office he emphasized the investigation, which Attorney General Bondi said had been “slow”, as a priority for the FBI.
Earlier this month, nearly six years after pipe bombs were found outside the national headquarters of the Republican and Democratic parties, a man with no known ties to the government was arrested.
FBI Director Patel praised Bongino’s tenure in a social media post on Wednesday, saying he “served as the people’s voice for transparency, and led to major breakthroughs in long-unsolved cases such as the pipe bomb investigation”.
“He not only accomplished his mission but went beyond it,” Patel wrote.
Bongino also changed his mind about the death of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after becoming a leader in the FBI.
As a commentator, he had questioned whether Epstein had taken his own life in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial. Then, in May, Bongino Said, “I have seen the entire file. He killed himself.”
In July, the US Department of Justice and the FBI released a memo stating that Epstein took his own life, and that he did not have a “client list”.
The memo disappointed many of Trump’s supporters, who repeated Epstein conspiracy theories and rejected the Justice Department’s findings.
According to the BBC’s media partner CBS News, the memo led to a contentious meeting between him and Bondy.
Bondi, who oversees the FBI, wrote in a brief post on X on Wednesday that “Americans are safer” because of Bongino’s FBI service.
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