NEW YORK — FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino is stepping away from the job he started in February.

“I will be leaving my position with the FBI in January,” he confirmed on social media early Wednesday evening. “I want to thank President Trump, AG Bondi and Director Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose. Most importantly, I want to thank you, my fellow Americans, for the privilege to serve you. God bless America, and all those who defend Her.”

The New York Times earlier on Wednesday reported that the former New York City police officer and podcaster planned to leave his post in Washington, D.C. and resume his career as a media personality.

President Trump appeared to confirm that report on Wednesday afternoon, telling reporters that Bongino “wants to go back to his show.”

Bongino is said to have told multiple people that this week could be his last as FBI Director Kash Patel’s right-hand man. He’s reportedly already begun packing up some of his belongings and sending them to his house in Florida.

The 51-year-old fed groused about the difficulty of his new job in May during a visit with his former colleagues at Fox News.

“People ask me all the time, ‘Do you like it?'” he said. “I say, ‘No, I don’t.’ But the president didn’t ask me to do this to like it.”

Bongino also complained that his work in the nation’s capital was taking its toll on his family and that “part of you dies a little bit when you see all this stuff from behind the scenes.”

Trump celebrated Bongino joining his administration in a Feb. 23 social media post acknowledging the sacrifices his new hire would be making.

“He was a member of the New York Police Department (New York’s Finest!), a highly respected Special Agent with the United States Secret Service, and is now one of the most successful Podcasters in the Country, something he’s willing and prepared to give up to serve,” the president wrote at the time.

Bongino recently told Fox News that he planned at some point to go back to making a living expressing his personal opinions when his time in government was over, but didn’t offer a timeline.

He previously used his media bully pulpit to criticize government organizations life the FBI, which he once called the country’s “single most corrupt law enforcement institution.”

He also insisted to his audience that there might be more to the investigation into convicted sex offender and former Trump associate Jeffrey Epstein than meets the eye. Bongino recently made amends with Attorney General Pam Bondi after taking issue with her handling of the case, according to the Times.

The White House denied reports late last month that Patel would soon be leaving his job as the head of the FBI.

“Do not believe the Fake News!” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X.

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