President-Elect Trump, who has been the target of two assassination attempts this year, is considering conservative talk radio and podcast host Dan Bongino to head the Secret Service.
CNN and other media outlets, citing sources “familiar” with Trump’s thinking, say Bongino is among several candidates, including past members of his Secret Service detail, and Sean Curran, the head of Trump’s current security detail.
Bongino, a highly regarded former Secret Service agent of 12 years who in August testified on the first Trump assassination attempt, has been a fierce critic of the agency’s security failures. He said on a podcast last week that he hadn’t had any formal conversations about the job.
If Bongino were to take the job, he’d be interrupting a media career that’s surging. Late last year Bongino extended his contract with Cumulus Media’s Westwood One to host his weekday radio show and podcasts. Near the end of last year, “The Dan Bongino Show” aired middays on nearly 360 radio stations across the U.S., including in nine of the top 10 markets.
Additionally, “The Dan Bongino Show Podcast” on the Cumulus Podcast Network had more than 200 million downloads, along with 350 million on Rumble, a video-sharing platform.
By late last year, Bongino’s podcast was gaining traction along with heightened interest in the U.S. presidential campaign.