FBI Director Kash Patel should not expect Donald Trump to come to his rescue as the GOP leadership turns up the heat looking into his expenditures, according to a new analysis.
Patel's life of luxury caught the eye of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and now the controversial Trump appointee is under the gun, Hayes Brown wrote for MS NOW Friday.
“Grassley’s interest in the director living it up doesn’t spell Patel’s immediate downfall," Brown wrote. "It does, however, open the door to the kind of scrutiny he’s managed to avoid from Republicans despite multiple screwups. He’s repeatedly jumped the gun posting about active cases on social media and had to walk back his comments. Patel has also failed to transform the so-called grand conspiracy case — which would tie together multiple strands of anti-Trump Deep State conspiracies — into the arrests and prosecutions Trump craves.”
The spending scrutiny may prove more consequential than operational failures, argued Brown.
As media commentator Philip Bump observed, Patel has become vulnerable to any Republican objecting to what observers characterize as an "influencer-worthy lifestyle."
To that Brown added, "If Patel thinks that anything less than total cooperation with Grassley and other Republicans who have questions for him is a good idea, he’s even more of a fool than he already seemed. Trump has proved time and again that no amount of previous loyalty can make him stick his own neck out to protect his inner circle."
"If Patel tries to test this for himself, he runs the risk of becoming a lightning rod, drawing down the wrath of every frustrated Republican who knows it’s much easier to savage the people around Trump than aiming at the president himself," he concluded.