OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former Secret Service agent-turned-top conservative pundit Dan Bongino took time out on his nationally syndicated radio program on Friday to announce that he won’t renew his contract with Cumulus Media’s Westwood One when it comes due, effectively ending his show.
Bongino, who also has a weekend show on Fox News as well as a podcast independent of the radio show, explained that the decision to walk away “really sucks because I spent a lot of time building this and I love it and it’s grown on me.”
The former NYPD officer also told listeners that the company approached him after industry giant Rush Limbaugh died following a battle with lung cancer in 2021 and asked him to take over the time slot. At the time, he said he did not feel like he could fill Limbaugh’s shoes.
“I said, ‘No, I don’t want it,’” Bongino recalled, but then added he reconsidered after he thought back to what became Limbaugh’s final broadcast.
“And I changed my mind. I said, ‘You know what? I’ll take it, but for a limited amount of time,'” he explained.
That said, Bongino and Cumulus Media have had a rocky relationship, even combative — most notably over the company’s insistence that staffers and employees be mandated to take a COVID-19 vaccine. Bongino pushed back heavily on the company’s demand, even taking a hiatus from his show for a period of time.
The Washington Post reported Bongino’s statement on the situation in October 2021.
“I’m not really happy with the company I work with right here,” Bongino noted then. “I believe these vaccine mandates are unethical. I believe they’re immoral. I believe they don’t take into account the science of natural immunity due to a prior infection.
“I believe they’re broad-based and don’t take into account an individual’s circumstances of why they may or may not want to take a vaccine. And they’re antithetical to everything I believe in,” he added.
“You can have me or you can have the [vaccine] mandate. But you can’t have both of us,” Bongino said during his show at the time.
.@dbongino to Cumulus Radio: "You can have me or you can have the [vaccine] mandate. But you can't have both of us."
Find your local station to listen LIVE: https://t.co/IK6DZpbTzJ
Or watch here: https://t.co/NaTE4NeVLy pic.twitter.com/tKzemVWEbB
— Bongino Report (@BonginoReport) October 18, 2021
During his program Friday, the host said he still has one-and-a-half years remaining on his Cumulus contract, adding: “I’m going to enjoy and savor every minute of it.”
He also said that his decision was not made over finances.
Bongino offered one of the strongest reactions to the FBI’s unprecedented raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in early August, calling it “third-world bullshit.”
During an interview on network colleague Jesse Watters’ “Primetime” program, Bongino went ballistic on the Biden administration and the Justice Department, which he accused of becoming highly politicized in recent years. According to Fox News, the raid “was in connection with materials that Trump took with him from his time as president.” The outlet quoted other sources who said the “National Archives and Records Administration referred the case to the Justice Department,” and agents “recovered 15 boxes of classified materials from” Trump’s estate, the outlet continued.
Bongino was furious.
“This is some third-world bullshit right here,” Bongino said. “Let me say it again, third-world bullshit. I mean every word of that. I don’t care that it’s cable news.
“I was a federal agent, I raised my right hand. And I swore to protect and defend the constitution of the United States. And I love this country. This is a freaking disgrace. A disgrace. We don’t live in Cuba. We don’t live under Kim Jong Un” of North Korea, he continued.
“We live in a constitutional republic. A representative democracy. You have a bunch of FBI agents raiding the home of a former president because they don’t like his politics? Are you kidding me?” he added.
“This is some third-world garbage that happened tonight,” he continued.
WATCH:
Following the raid, Trump said that it was political in nature and meant to keep him from running again in 2024.
“These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” Trump said. “Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before. After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate.”
