As a former New York City police officer, he kept the streets safe from international terror.
As a former Secret Service agent, he guarded President Obama's life with his own.
But now former lawman Dan Bongino is blasting both New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Obama – along with activist Al Sharpton and Attorney General Eric Holder – as race "hustlers" who are partly to blame for the assassination of two NYPD patrol officers on Saturday.
As widely reported, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, opened fire on a patrol car, killing NYPD Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu to avenge the publicized deaths of black Americans Michael Brown and Eric Garner at the hands of police. Brinsley also shot his former girlfriend earlier Saturday morning, and killed himself after shooting the officers.
"I cannot appropriately express either the grief for the families, the rage I have towards the killer or the deep disappointment I harbor for the New York City mayor and the self-absorbed frauds he surrounds himself with, with words powerful enough to soothe my emotions," Bongino said in a Facebook post reacting to the shooting.
Like many current and former police officers, Bongino is critical of de Blasio for expressing sympathy for the waves of protesters charging police with racism after the deaths of Brown and Garner. De Blasio called videotaped protester violence against police an "alleged" assault and told ABC he taught his biracial son, Dante, about the "dangers" he may face from cops.
"As a child who grew up just miles down the same Myrtle Avenue Street where these two NYPD brothers in law enforcement were brutally assassinated on, just five days before Christmas, I understand the concerns of the citizens who live there," Bongino wrote. "The death of any human being, whether at the hands of another citizen or at the hands of law enforcement, is the death of a unique and invaluable collection of experiences we call a life.
"But, instead of a rational, dignified conversation about the very serious issues surrounding policing in modern America, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio chose to be a hustler," Bongino continued. "He chose to be a grotesque caricature of a leader, instead of a genuine leader and, in the process, he ratcheted up emotions by making specious correlations he had no evidence to support about the motives of the members of his own police department."
Bongino has also leveled criticism at national leaders who have fueled the protests.
Asked on "Fox & Friends" if leaders like Sharpton, Holder and even Obama share some of the responsibility for the shooting of Officers Ramos and Liu, Bongino said, "They do."
"The people who have made their careers off of political division and implying racism where it doesn't exist, No. 1., have really destroyed credibility in actual cases of racism that should be investigated, should be pursued to every extent legally possible, and then secondly, they've incited people," Bongino said. "Yes, I do put some of this on them."
He continued, "Mayor de Blasio talking about historical examples of racism in the country, which yes, he's absolutely correct, but in the context of a police-involved incident, the Garner incident … there's zero evidence whatsoever that that incident had any element of racism in it at all.
"Oddly enough, he's implying that all police officers, all, were judging people on the color of their skin, and then he's telling people to go out and judge police officers on the color of their uniform?" Bongino asked. "I mean, this is not leadership, these people have no credibility any more."
Video of Bongino's appearance on "Fox & Friends" can be seen below:
Bongino's Facebook post concluded: "I ask you to join me tonight in asking the Lord to help the families of these heroic officers cope with the horror of their loss just five days before Christmas. I also ask you to join me in asking the Lord for men and women of character on the many sides of this complicated and ongoing debate, to be given the strength and the platform to begin to heal this great nation from the damage imposed upon it by the hustlers among us who have profited handsomely from trafficking in division and hatred.
"God bless America, and all those who defend her."