FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino has pushed back on a report that claimed a key part of his background check for the top job was waived by Director Kash Patel, calling it a “complete fabrication.”
ProPublica reported that Patel granted Bongino a waiver for the polygraph examination, which is required for all new FBI employees. While an FBI spokesperson suggested Bongino wouldn’t be required to take the exam due to him being under the category “Schedule C,” or a political appointee, multiple lawyers told the outlet the designation doesn’t grant an exemption from the polygraph test.
In a statement on Saturday, Bongino, without explicitly mentioning the polygraph exam requirement, insisted he met “all of the background check requirements for my current position.”
“Claiming I was hired ‘with no background check’ is just a lie. It’s a complete fabrication. I held a security clearance, while protecting Democrat and Republican presidents, for over ten years. And all of the background check requirements for my current position as Deputy Director of the FBI have been met. Those are simple facts,” Bongino said.
The report also revealed that Patel granted waivers on the exam to two other senior FBI employees. Those staffers are Marshall Yates, the FBI’s liaison with Congress, and Nicole Rucker, Patel’s personal assistant.
Patel has received some scrutiny for the move before, most recently when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September.
At the time, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) questioned Patel about alleged “disqualifying alerts” on polygraph tests of his “senior executive team,” with Patel declining to comment.
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The FBI director was also asked if he or Attorney General Pam Bondi ever granted a waiver on a polygraph exam, to which Patel replied, “I’ll have to get back to you.”
In an X post on Friday, Durbin reposted the ProPublica report, writing, “FBI Director Patel refused to respond to whistleblower reports that people failed polygraph tests at the FBI. Now we know why.”