Mark Fisher

Yeah, the FBI has used polygraph tests for decades as just kind of a routine check on basic security questions that everybody has to pass to have access to the kind of secure information that the FBI traffics in.

So obviously, since that's the case for special agents across the country, it's equally the case for the people running the FBI, such as the deputy director, Dan Bongino.

So why was Bongino given this exemption?

That's gone unstated by the FBI.

The assumption among many current and former agents is that he flunked a polygraph or had reason to flunk a polygraph and therefore was allowed to skip it.

This is something that does not sit well with others in the FBI because

They want to be able to trust the people around them, particularly the people above them, but their colleagues as well.

And one thing that gives them that sense of trust is they know everybody's passed the same security hurdles.

And when the number two in the agency gets a buy on that, that causes a lot of unhappiness in the ranks.

Yes, that's exactly right.

Bongino was somebody who was known to the president as somebody who did very well on Fox News, who appeared frequently on Fox News.

And in the president's mind, the people running the FBI ought to be folks who are well known to the public.

and who make the president's case very avidly, very effectively.

And Bongino is seen as a tough guy.

Trump loves tough guys.

He loves guys who seem like stand-up aggressive advocates for the MAGA movement.

And Bongino very much fit that bill.

So looks the part.

That's the number one qualification frequently in Trump's mind.

And Bongino fit that part in a way that perhaps Kash Patel didn't.