WASHINGTON — FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said Wednesday that he will resign from the bureau next month, ending a brief and tumultuous tenure in which he clashed with the Justice Department over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and was forced to reconcile the realities of his law enforcement job with provocative claims he made in his prior role as a popular podcast host.

The departure would be among the highest-profile resignations of the Trump administration, coming as the firing of career agents has contributed to upheaval at the FBI and as Director Kash Patel faces continued criticism over his use of a government plane for personal purposes and social media posts about active investigations.

Bongino announced his departure, which had been expected, in a post on X in which he said he was grateful for the “opportunity to serve with purpose.” He did not say precisely when in January he would leave or reveal his future plans, but President Donald Trump, in response to a question earlier in the day about Bongino’s fate, said: “Dan did a great job. I think he wants to go back to his show.”

In a social media post, Patel called Bongino “the best partner I could’ve asked for in helping restore this FBI.” He said Bongino “had not only completed his mission — he far exceeded it. We will miss him but I’m thankful he accepted the call to serve. Our country is better and safer for it.”

Bongino was always an unconventional pick for the No. 2 job at the FBI.

He was installed in the role in March by Trump after years as a conservative podcast host, where he used his platform to repeatedly rail against FBI leadership and to promote conspiracy theories related to the Epstein sex-trafficking case and pipe bombs discovered in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.

Once in the job, he used social media to communicate directly to Trump supporters restless over a perceived lack of action by the new FBI leadership to address their concerns. He reassured them the FBI under his watch was giving renewed attention to issues like the pipe bomb case, the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion in 2022 and the discovery of cocaine in the White House during the Biden administration.