Daily Beast Hit With $15 Million Defamation Lawsuit by Dan Bongino

Dan Bongino speaks onstage during Politicon 2018 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, Calif., on Oct. 21, 2018. Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Politicon

Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino filed a lawsuit against the Daily Beast seeking $15 million, accusing the website of defaming him and not retracting or correcting its story.

“I’ve had enough of fake news defamation,” Bongino, 45, wrote on Twitter.

Bongino filed the federal complaint in the Southern District of Florida, according to his website. The case revolves around an article that the Daily Beast published on Dec. 10, 2018.

Writer Lachlan Markay wrote that Bongino was “dropped” from NRATV, the broadcasting arm of the National Rifle Association. Bongino says he chose not to renew his contract with the station.

Bongino said Markay texted Bongino before publishing the article, writing: “Heard you didn’t renew with NRA TV?”

That was “an indication that he was aware of the circumstances surrounding Dan’s status with his former employer,” Bongino’s website stated.

“Rather than report the truth as told to Markay by his source, the publication deliberately misrepresented that Dan had been fired from NRATV.”

Bongino said the Daily Beast also published other articles disparaging his character.

The Daily Beast website as displayed on a computer screen in a 2010 file photograph. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

“The liberal activists inside of many media outlets have gotten away with character assassination for way too long,” Bongino said in a statement. “The Daily Beast tried to smear me, and I guess they thought I would just take it. They were wrong.”

The article in question cited two anonymous sources. It noted that Bongino disputed he was fired, asserting that it was his decision not to renew his show, but said one of the sources questioned that characterization.

“Trump loves the guy. But the gun rights group is downsizing its media operation and his show appears to be a casualty of those plans,” Markay wrote.

“The story has been updated with Bongino’s Twitter response,” the article stated.

NRATV also took issue with the article, praising Bongino in a statement before saying: “Unfortunately, it’s no surprise that several dishonest members of the media jumped on false rumors fed by those who want to weaken the Second Amendment and hurt the voice of gun owners.”

Asawin Suebsaeng, who at one point was said to have contributed to Markay’s report, took offense at Bongino’s statements last year after the article was published and claimed that NRATV’s statement showed that what the article said “is what happened.”

“Take care, sweetheart,” he added, attaching an emoji of a kissing face.

“@lachlan and I stand by everything that was published in the story. There is only one person online tweeting about this story who sounds like they’re melting down,” he added later.

Neither Daily Beast writer has responded to the lawsuit as of yet.