Former FBI deputy director testifies in Las Vegas trial over app

Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino provided combative testimony Wednesday and Thursday in a Las Vegas trial over the ouster of social media app Parler’s CEO.

Bongino, a right-wing media personality who served in the current Trump administration, at one point owned 7.5 percent of Parler. The app was founded in Henderson in 2018 as a conservative-friendly alternative to Twitter, now known as X. He is a defendant in the case.

The ongoing trial in District Court stems from a lawsuit filed in 2021 by John Matze, the company’s former CEO. Matze has alleged that he was improperly forced out. His ouster came after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, during which critics and journalists said rioters used the app. The company was thrown into tumult and removed from major technology platforms.

On the witness stand, Bongino frequently claimed he could not recall or did not know the answers to questions from Matze attorney James Pisanelli. At times, he argued with Pisanelli about the way the lawyer phrased his questions.

Parler was removed from the Apple app store on Jan. 9, 2021. Two days later, Amazon pulled Parler from its hosting service.

Pisanelli suggested that Bongino’s objections to content-moderation software made relaunching the app harder.

“Get up quickly, don’t bend the knee to big tech, that’s what you’re telling them, right?” Pisanelli asked.

“Yeah, in essence, let’s keep our brand,” Bongino replied.

“And you say it without an alternative,” the attorney said, adding that Bongino’s position was “impossible.”

“No, it’s not impossible,” Bongino said. “In business school, they teach about BHAGs, right? Big, hairy, audacious goals. Our BHAG was a free speech site. If we were going to get back fast, but sacrifice our corporate vision, I didn’t want anything to do with it. Then, we had no company in my mind.”

Bongino: ‘I’m not a manager’

During opening statements, Todd Bice, another attorney for Matze, said Parler owner Rebekah Mercer and others plotted to remove Matze from leadership, causing him to lose his job and a 40 percent interest in the company.

Bongino resisted being linked to the events surrounding Matze’s termination. He said he was receiving cancer treatment at the time and wanted to leave the company. He repeatedly told the jury: “I’m not a manager.”

Pisanelli pointed him to a text message in which Bongino wrote, “The letter and the described changes to the OA are appropriate given the seriousness of his actions.”

Bongino said “OA” referred to an operating agreement, but said he could not recall the circumstances of the letter, even though another message indicated that a company official had asked him to review a letter to Matze.

“Is it your testimony you have no recollection of approving changes to the operating agreement that would result in John losing his seat as a manager?” Pisanelli asked.

“I had zero ability to approve any of this,” Bongino told him.

“I’m not asking about your authority,” Pisanelli said. The two debated the meaning of the word “approve” and Bongino said he did not know what the changes were or recall how they were described to him.

“I tried to help him and he sued me,” he said of Matze.

Mercer’s attorney, Chad Clement, has argued that Matze was dismissed for good reason.

The CEO, he said, “engaged in improper and intentional conduct to seriously harm Parler, the very company he helped create.”

One sticking point was a disastrous interview with a New York Times podcast, he said, after which Matze’s remarks were used by Apple to remove Parler from the app store.

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., who chaired the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, asked the FBI in 2021 to investigate the app’s connection to the attack and claimed that many of those involved used it.

Bice previously said accusations that Parler played a role in the insurrection were false and that the app was scapegoated by its tech industry competitors.