Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and New York City police officer turned conservative talk show host, told his radio listeners Thursday that he is leaving Fox News, where he has had a weekly TV show since June 2021.

Bongino, 48, said

the are

departure is amicable. It

comes

anus

Bongino and Fox

failed

thing

reach agreement on contract extension. bongino

‘shad a weekly

Fox News Show “Unfiltered”

broadcast

on Saturday evenings

and what

watched by an average of 1.3 million viewers,

according to

Nielsen.

“I want you to

know

it’s not a big conspiracy, I promise you,” Bongino told his audience

not there

no bitterness. This was not some kind of WWE brawl that took place. We just couldn’t agree on an extension. And that’s really it.”

bongino

also host is also host of

a daily radio program syndicated by Westwood One, which has a video simulcast on Fox News Media

‘s

streaming service Fox Nation, an arrangement that is also coming to an end. The radio program is broadcast on more than 300 stations across the country.

Bongino is the first on-air personality to leave Fox News since the network, owned by Rupert Murdoch, settled a libel lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million. Dominion sued Fox News for false statements about the company in its coverage of 2020 election fraud allegations spearheaded by former President Donald Trump.

While Bongino is a staunch supporter of Trump and has questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election, he did not appear in the lawsuit or the evidence gathered for

discovery within

the case. His show started a few months after the

falseproblematic

statements broadcast on the network.

While Fox News is expected to make some personnel changes in the wake of the Dominion lawsuit, a person within the network is familiar with the negotiations and said Bongino’s departure is strictly

about over

money.

Bongino also emphasized on his radio show that the decision

waste

unrelated to larger issues facing the company.

“You’re going to read 1,000 leftist articles about bullshit, and I guarantee you my reputation, it’s all made up,” Bongino said. “It’s a simple contract, and that’s it. It’s not more complicated than that. Unfortunately the timing isn’t great. I understand that.”

Bongino was given the chance to host a final episode to say goodbye to viewers, but passed. Are

said

last broadcast program

this past

Saturday.

and hey

thanked Fox News management for giving him his start as a media personality.

Bongino has become one

big

influential conservative pundit since appearing on Fox News. While the network never had any public issues with him, he was banned from YouTube after violating the platform’s policy regarding misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.

Bongino also threatened to quit its Westwood One radio program when parent company Cumulus Media issued a vaccine mandate for its employees during the pandemic.

Bongino called vaccine mandates “immoral” even though he has been vaccinated himself.

H

e has battled Hodgkin lymphoma.