Sean Hannity's Thursday night interview with his former Fox News colleague — and now FBI deputy director — Dan Bongino was remarkable, but not for any details Bongino relayed about the arrest of a suspect in the long-simmering January 6 pipe bomb investigation. Instead, the interview hinged on a stunning admission from Bongino that laid bare the core grift at the heart of the right-wing media complex: that people like Bongino — and by extension, Hannity — make their money by tossing off reckless speculations that confirm their right-wing audience’s biases, and face no perceptible consequences if their claims turn out to be false. 

Earlier in the day, the Justice Department announced the arrest of the man who allegedly placed pipe bombs outside the offices of the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee on the night of January 5, 2021; the explosive devices were found during the Trumpist revolt at the U.S. Capitol the following day. While the government has publicly revealed little information about the suspect or his alleged motive, it’s clear that he is not, as some right-wing media figures had suggested over the years, part of an inside job perpetrated by the FBI to malign President Donald Trump’s supporters.

Hannity, during his interview with his former colleague, gave Bongino an opportunity to criticize prior iterations of the Justice Department and FBI for failing to arrest anyone in the case, and praise his own colleagues for getting the job done. But then he asked Bongino about the FBI deputy director’s own role in promoting conspiracy theories about the bomber during Bongino’s past career as a right-wing commentator.

“You know, I don't know if you remember this — this is before you became the deputy FBI director,” Hannity said. “You put a post on X right after this happened and you said there's a massive cover-up because the person that planted those pipe bombs, they don't want you to know who it is because it's either a connected anti-Trump insider or an inside job. You said that, you know, long before you were even thought of as deputy FBI director.”

Bongino’s response was astounding. He looked down, as if embarrassed, and replied: “Yeah, that's why I said to you this investigation's just begun.” But after hemming and hawing about the confidence he and FBI Director Kash Patel have that they arrested the right person, he got real.

“Listen, I was paid in the past, Sean, for my opinions,” he explained. “That's clear. And one day, I'll be back in that space. But that's not what I'm paid for now. I'm paid to be your deputy director, and we base investigations on facts.”

Bongino then quickly pivoted to attacking reporters at the day’s press conference, suggesting that he and others on the right are willing to “evolve” when they learn contradictory facts, while mainstream journalists probably “still believe in this collusion fairy tale hoax.” He offered some obsequious praise for Trump, and Hannity moved on. 

Bongino is offering the most charitable gloss on his past actions possible. Another way to put it is that his job, as a commentator at Fox and elsewhere in the right-wing media, was to provide chum for the viewers. They wanted conspiracy theories, so he gave them conspiracy theories. Now, he claims, he’s at the FBI, and his job is to provide facts instead.

But there’s an entire ecosystem Bongino left behind (but to which he expects to return in the future) that is still filled with conspiracy-mongers who concoct and disseminate lies to keep their audiences content and coming back for more. 

And as Bongino suggested, and as we saw in internal documents and testimony that election technology companies filed in lawsuits against Fox, those right-wing media figures don’t necessarily believe what they’re saying. Hannity, for example, said in a deposition that he had not believed “for one second” that the 2020 election had been rigged against Trump, even though he spent weeks publicly promoting that lie to his viewers following the vote. 

These lies have consequences. While right-wing commentators may not believe what they're saying, some fraction of viewers believe what they’re told. And sometimes, the people inculcated with conspiracy theories end up taking action — even if that means storming the U.S. Capitol in an effort to overturn the election they’ve been assured was rigged.

Indeed, on Friday morning, CNN reported that during FBI interviews, the alleged pipe bomber “told investigators that he believed the 2020 election was stolen.” Perhaps he listened to too many people who were paid for their “opinions”