WASHINGTON (Gray DC) – The White House defends two major personnel moves.
Over the weekend, President Trump announced 2 major personnel moves – a firing and a hiring.
Starting with the hiring, Gray Media’s White House correspondent Jon Decker asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt about the President’s decision to name Dan Bongino as the new FBI Deputy Director.
Jon Decker: On the FBI, the president also announced a new deputy director of the FBI, Dan Bongino, up from what has been reported. And maybe this is not accurate reporting. You can tell me the FBI director, Kash Patel, informed Republican senators that it would be an individual, named as the deputy who was a special agent currently at the FBI. And, of course, Mr. Bongino is not. What was the reason for naming Mr. Bongino to this position? And was Mr. Patel not correct in making that assurance to those senators?
Karoline Leavitt: I’m not sure if anybody in this room has listened to Mr. Bongino when he talks about the past corruption at the FBI, when he talks about his experience serving for the United States Secret Service. This is a man who loves his country and who has honorably served our country in ways that many people have not. He understands the depth of the corruption at these institutions, which the American people reelected President Trump to shake up. And I think it’s quite despicable to see many networks in this room who have had chyrons on their television screens, labeling Mr. Bongino as a “far-right podcaster.” He is not. He is a former law enforcement agent. He is a former Secret Service agent who put his life on the line to protect this country. And that is why the president of the United States has entrusted him for this important role. He’s also an outsider to this Washington swamp, and we often see that when outsiders are appointed to such coveted positions, a lot of people in this city get very, very nervous. And they should be, because Dan Bongino and Kash Patel and Attorney General Bondi are focused on rooting out the corruption at these agencies and ending the weaponization of government once and for all.
White House correspondent Jon Decker also asked Leavitt to explain President Trump’s decision to fire General CQ Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Jon Decker: What was the reason for the president naming a replacement for General Brown?
Karoline Leavitt: He thinks he’s doing a bad job, and it’s time for a shakeup at the Pentagon. They failed seven audits in a row. The trust in our United States military amongst the war fighters is low. The president is shaking up the Pentagon and the Department of Defense. Of course, with Secretary Hegseth leading, and he has the right to do that. It’s actually quite common from administration to administration to do such a thing.
Jon Decker: The president, when he swore him in as the chief of staff for the Air Force, called him a great man and a great gentleman. Does he distance himself from the remarks that he made back in August of 2020?
Karoline Leavitt: I think replacing him speaks for itself.
President Trump said he’s replacing Brown with retired Air Force Lt. Gen. John Dan Caine. Caine’s nomination requires Senate confirmation.
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