FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino are finding their popularity as MAGA figures and some of their past brash statements are colliding head-on with the reality of running a major law enforcement agency.

Patel and Bongino sat for a rare joint interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” seeking to lay out their approach and quell simmering concerns among the MAGA faithful that they have insufficiently rooted out the deep state or found evidence of long-held conspiracy theories.

Patel spoke about how his predecessors “intentionally failed the American public” and pledged that declassifying documents related to the investigation into his 2016 campaign’s potential ties to Russia would help “restore the trust that was lost to the American public when it comes to the FBI.”

But even Bartiromo seemed skeptical.

“With all due respect, we’ve been talking about this for a long time. And I’ve been demanding accountability for many, many years,” Bartiromo said, noting former FBI officials Jim Comey and Peter Strzok have yet to face serious repercussions.

Comey was one of the officials named on Patel’s list of “deep state” figures in his 2022 book, “Government Gangsters.” Patel told Bartiromo her criticism was fair, but noted he and Bongino only recently got into the FBI and faced issues with statutes of limitation.

Both Patel and Bongino were celebrated picks among President Trump’s base and the MAGA faithful. Patel’s nomination sparked backlash among Democrats, particularly over his “enemies list” of government officials in his book. The Senate voted to confirm him, 51-49, as all but two Republicans voted in favor.

Bongino was tapped to serve as Patel’s deputy in February, a position that does not require Senate confirmation.

Trump and his allies liked that both were seen as........

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