'Cosplaying as someone in charge': Democrat rep mocks FBI head Kash Patel over dossier

An FBI dossier that criticised director Kash Patel and his team has led to mockery from Democrat representative Eric Swalwell.

Swalwell, who confirmed he was running for Governor of California next year, took aim at FBI Director Patel in a statement made to X. The post poked fun at Patel, who was said to have refused to leave a plane until a jacket emblazoned with the FBI logo was found for him. The report, which was written by a collection of active and retired agents and analysts.

Part of the report recalled Patel refusing to leave until he was handed an FBI jacket. The report reads, "Patel apparently did not have his own FBI raid jacket with him and refused to step from the plane without wearing one."

Swalwell took to X and mocked Patel for this, while also criticising the department's apparent lack of focus on real issues like domestic terrorism. The Dem rep wrote, "I don’t mind that FBI Director Kash Patel had to wear a women’s (size medium) jacket to cosplay as someone in charge. I just wish he’d focus on stopping the rampant domestic terrorism happening on his watch."

FBI Director Patel, along with deputy director Dan Bongino, appear to have had a negative effect on employee's with "an 80/20" skew to negativity through anecdotal reporting.

Sources have described Patel as "in over his head" and lacking "the breadth of experience" necessary to be a successful FBI director. The "pulse check" on the FBI's mood comes as the FBI dossier described Bongino as a "clown" and also detailed a tantrum from Patel, who refused to leave a plane until he was handed an FBI jacket.

Patel is yet to respond to the comments made in the dossier, though deputy head Bongino took to X with a thinly veiled knock at those who were unhappy with the changes the Trump administration had made to the FBI.

He wrote, "A LOT of people are very upset at the changes and reforms we've made at the FBI. They will do anything to revert to the old ways of doing things. So they leak gossipy nonsense to media outlets and 'journalists' with a clear agenda, and they ignore the historic results and the significant reforms we instituted."