Where does Dan Bongino hail from? Parents, nationality, and family life explored as radio host named as Deputy FBI Director

Former US Secret Service agent, conservative political commentator, author, and radio host Dan Bongino has been appointed Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

President Donald Trump announced this on the night of February 23 through a post on Truth Social. He referred to Bongino as “a man of incredible love and passion for our Country,” adding that Dan’s appointment is “great news for Law Enforcement and American Justice.”

The newly appointed Bongino quickly took to X to reshare Trump's post and express his gratitude. He also thanked recently sworn-in FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Dan Bongino will serve under Patel as the bureau’s second-in-command, overseeing its day-to-day operations.

While 50-year-old Bongino was born and raised in Queens, New York City, and is an American citizen, he is of Italian descent. Dan has previously served as the presidential details of Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

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Exploring Dan Bongino’s personal life amid his appointment as Deputy Director of the FBI

Dan Bongino was born Daniel John Bongino on December 4, 1974, in Queens. He is an Italian-American whose parents got divorced when he was young, according to Tuko.

While the names of his parents remain unknown, the publication stated that his mother remarried a heavyweight boxer who allegedly physically abused him and his younger brother Joe. As a result, the siblings had a strained relationship with their stepfather and moved out of the house when Dan was just 15.

Later, with help from their biological father, they found an apartment. Bongino attended Archbishop Molloy High School, an all-boys Catholic high school in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, from which he graduated in 1992.

Afterward, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology from Queens College. Dan also holds a postgraduate degree in business administration from Pennsylvania State University.

Bongino met his wife, Paula Andrea Martinez, in 2001 during a blind date arranged by a mutual friend. She is of Colombian descent. The couple has been married for over two decades and has two daughters.

During a book signing in October 2018, he told Premiere Collectibles during a Q&A session that, contrary to online theories, he isn’t Black but rather Italian American, with roots in Sicily and Germany.

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More about Dan Bongino

According to TIME Magazine, Dan Bongino worked as a law enforcement officer for the New York Police Department from 1997 to 1999 before joining the U.S. Secret Service, where he served as a special agent and training instructor until 2011.

In 2012, he entered politics and ran for the US Senate from Maryland. Then, in 2014 and 2016, Dan ran for Congress in Maryland and Florida, respectively, but lost all three races where he ran as a Republican.

He has worked with Fox News for over a decade and hosted the Saturday night talk show, Unfiltered with Dan Bongino, on the network from 2021 to 2023. Currently, Dan hosts the podcast The Dan Bongino Show, which airs on Rumble and is also popular on Spotify.

Donald Trump appeared on his show last year before the presidential election. Bongino urged the real estate mogul to help establish a commission to reform the Secret Service, calling it a “failed” agency. He was referencing the two assassination attempts on the President in 2024.

The newly appointed Deputy Director of the FBI has also been an influential figure in the Make America Great Again movement and is alleged to be a 2020 election denier. He battled a rare form of cancer known as Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2020.