All posts tagged "kash patel"

'He keeps doing this': Trump ally blasts Kash Patel for 'very alarming' shooting statement

FBI Director Kash Patel came under friendly fire Sunday after he was called out by a top Donald Trump ally for a new statement regarding a mass shooting.

Patel over the weekend chose to weigh in on a mass shooting in Australia, where Jewish citizens were targeted in an apparent terrorist attack.

"I have been in touch with our counterparts in Australia regarding the horrific attack on a Hanukkah festival in Sydney - we are providing the requested assistance and will update with more information as we are able," Patel wrote Sunday. "Please keep the victims and their families in your prayers."

That statement wasn't good enough for fringe Trump ally Laura Loomer, who has been called the "Trump Whisperer" for her ability to convince the president to fire officials with whom she doesn't agree.

Loomer's deep ties to Trump didn't keep her from questioning the president's head of the FBI.

"Why does Qatari consultant Kash Patel refuse to say the phrase 'Islamic terrorism'? He keeps doing this," she wrote. "Very alarming."

Other MAGA users used the moment to voice their frustrations against Patel, as well.

American 4 USA asked, "Why on Earth was the Director of the FBI, sent to Qatar, to present the storied American Classic 1921 Thompson SMG .45 cal to Qatar?"

"I’ve never imagined a Dir. of FBI doing State Dept type trips to Doha," the user added. "Presenting a classic historical piece like the Thompson SMG aka Tommy Gun has lots of bizarre messaging and signaling here and none of it looks good."

MAGA influencer Evan Kilgore also chimed in, asking Loomer, "Did you really expect the guy who completely changed his tune on Epstein once he got the job to be honest with us?"

'Chopping block': Analyst predicts major 'ax fall' on 3 Trump Cabinet members in new year

An analyst Thursday predicted that President Donald Trump could cut three major Cabinet members in 2026.

Salon's Heather Digby Parton indicated that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel are "rumored to be on the chopping block." But it won't be Trump who cuts them, instead, he will likely pass off the duty to someone else, according to the analyst.

Although Trump has not had a large amount of turnover in his second administration, as the one-year mark since his inauguration approaches, "rumblings of impending personnel changes are growing louder."

Most of his cabinet has stayed in their jobs by following the president's demands.

"There is no question in this administration what the requirements are: Tell Trump only what he wants to hear, slather him with praise at every opportunity and never, under any circumstances, disagree with anything he says," Digby Parton wrote.

So far, that approach has worked for them.

"The majority of Trump’s Cabinet officials and White House staff have survived quite well simply by willingly debasing themselves at every opportunity," Digby Parton wrote.

But that could be changing. It appears that Vice President JD Vance has lined up his college friend Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll to replace Hegseth when the time comes.

"Driscoll is now deeply involved in the Ukraine talks, and Hegseth is looking over his shoulder," Digby Parton added.

And although the White House has denied anyone in the administration will be fired, the signs have started to surface.

"But Trump is in trouble, and when he’s in trouble he lashes out and blames anyone but himself, so we can expect to see the ax fall on quite a few heads over the next few months. Trump, though, won’t be the one to wield it. He’s much too cowardly to ever say 'you’re fired!' to anyone’s face," Digby Parton wrote.

These 3 Trump Cabinet officials may be 'on borrowed time': report

President Donald Trump may be preparing to clean house in 2026, starting with three major Cabinet officials.

That's according to a Monday article in the Daily Beast, which reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel are apparently "on borrowed time." The Beast reported that Trump could be waiting until the one-year anniversary of his second inauguration — which would be January 20, 2026 — before making any big changes atop federal agencies. However, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson adamantly denied that any Cabinet secretaries were in danger of being fired.

“President Trump has assembled the most talented and capable Cabinet in American history,” Jackson told the Beast. “These so-called reports are nothing but Fake News.”

Noem is reportedly in the hot seat over her employment of former Trump 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. According to The Bulwark, Lewandowski has taken on an "outsized" role at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with Noem reportedly giving him influential decision-making authority within the agency. Both Noem and Lewandowski have denied the reporting about his work within DHS.

Hegseth could also get a pink slip next year due to the ongoing fallout over his involvement in a deadly September 2, 2025 boat strike in the Caribbean Sea. The Washington Post reported initially that Hegseth ordered commanders of the mission to "kill everybody" after two survivors were seen clinging to wreckage of their destroyed vessel, though Hegseth denied ever making such an order and deferred to Admiral Frank M. Bradley, who was overseeing the operation.

The embattled defense secretary also had one of his earlier scandals resurface, when the Pentagon's Office of the Inspector General found that Hegseth put U.S. troops in danger by sharing sensitive details about Yemeni airstrikes in a group text thread on the Signal app. The scandal came to light when Hegseth accidentally texted war plans to Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.

Patel's firing could come about as a result of reportedly using FBI resources to accommodate his girlfriend – 27 year-old country singer Alexis Wilkins — and even ordering agents serving as Wilkins' personal security detail to give one of her friends a ride home after a night of drinking. The FBI chief has also been heavily criticized by Democratic members of Congress for using the official FBI jet for personal trips, like date nights with Wilkins.

Click here to read the Beast's report in its entirety (subscription required).

Federal workers secretly make fun of Trump's 'role-playing' Cabinet members

Federal employees are clearly souring on the performative antics of President Donald Trump's Cabinet secretaries, Dispatch Senior Editor Michael Warren says.

“In the 2008 comedy Role Models, Paul Rudd’s character … tries to understand his awkward teenaged mentee’s interest in medieval-themed live-action role-playing (known in the community as ‘LARPing’),” said Warren. “… I’ve been reminded of those LARPing scenes several times recently with the news about some of the Trump administration’s top law enforcement and security officials who have appeared in the field, performing their duties with agency-appropriate clothing and gear — and always with a camera in tow, ready to post on social media.”

Warren said it “may have all started” with U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who got on horseback and patrolled the southern border with Border Patrol agents in February. Later that spring, she began joining Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on their raids across the country, complete with protective gear and sometimes wielding her own firearm. In April, Warren noted that Noem posted a video of herself on X, flanked by two ICE officers, with her rifle barrel threatening the head of one of the officers.

That love of performance appears to be trickling down, said Warren, with The Atlantic reporting that ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan featured herself in several framed photos of ICE raids that hang outside the agency’s executive offices. Sources told The Atlantic that Sheahan had been asking for her own firearm and badge, despite having no experience in immigration enforcement prior to joining the agency months earlier.

“The LARPing, unsurprisingly, doesn’t do much to endear these political appointees to their employees,” said Warren. “According to Ben Terris of New York magazine, some officials at ICE called Sheahan ‘Fish Cop’ because of her previous experience running Louisiana’s department of wildlife and fisheries. According to that Atlantic article, one frustrated ICE official dismissed Noem’s flamboyant rap videos and publicity stunts as ‘cowboy s——.’”

A recent report from an anonymous group of former and current FBI officials shows that the bitterness is getting obvious.

“Written to appear like an intelligence assessment, the 115-page report is labeled a ‘pulse check’ on the FBI over the last six months and cites specific sources currently working at the FBI. The overall conclusion is that the agency is a ‘rudderless ship’ and that [FBI head Kash] Patel is ‘in over his head’ in the job.”

The report, addressed to Republican chairs of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, also includes a number of embarrassing anecdotes about Patel, including one source describing refusing to “disembark from the plane without an FBI raid jacket” in the middle of the Charlie Kirk assassination. Deputy director Dan Bongino later had to call the Salt Lake City field office’s special agent in charge to apologize after one of Patel’s “expletive-laden tirade.”

If the anonymous report about the FBI reflects wider views in the agency, Warren warned, “there is a lot of consternation” about the primping posers Trump has put into command of some important offices.

As one source speaking to anonymous report authors: “stop talking, stop posting, and just be professional.”

Read the Dispatch report at this link.

Eye-popping DC pipe bomber revelations 'awkward and embarrassing' for Trump: analyst

Revelations surrounding the Washington, D.C. pipe bomb suspect have become humiliating for the Trump administration, a security analyst said Friday.

Bradley Moss, a national security analyst, told CNN that the White House now has to manage the fallout after 30-year-old suspect Brian Cole Jr. told law enforcement that he believed that the 2020 election was “stolen." The claim was one that President Donald Trump had made and led to the Capitol mob attack on Jan. 6, just a few hours after the pipe bombs were placed outside the Republican and Democratic party headquarters.

"We're learning some rather awkward and embarrassing things for the White House and for, honestly, some of the senior members of the Justice Department and the FBI, because this defeated all of the theories, all the conspiracies for the last four years about who this particular pipe bomber could have been," Moss said.

It could become a bigger problem for the Justice Department.

"Assuming, of course, this person is actually proven in a court of law to have been that person. All the theories that the Trump team, that Dan Bongino, that Kash Patel, everybody was saying was this was an inside job, this was somebody at the bureau, this was someone from the Capitol police. They had always made it out to be that this was some kind of insider gig," Moss added. "What is it? It's just a regular guy who believed Donald Trump's conspiracies about 2020 and who allegedly took this action."

Moss argued that the claim made by Trump and his followers appeared to be a motive for the suspect.

"How embarrassing that these are the individuals now who have to bring these charges and prove this case in court," Moss said.

Cole did not enter a plea at his first hearing on Friday morning in federal court. He was expected to have another one in a few weeks. The investigation was ongoing.

Kash Patel caught ordering FBI agents to drive girlfriend's 'inebriated' pal home: report

Kash Patel’s girlfriend issues are not going away with MS NOW reporting that the embattled FBI director has ordered agents to act as Uber drivers and deliver one his girlfriend’s “inebriated” pals home.

According to the report from Ken Dilanian and Carol Leonning, on more than one occasion the friend needed a ride home but could not drive and the FBI SWAT team assigned to Patel’s girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, objected, only to be overruled.

The report notes Wilkins asked “FBI agents on her security team at least two times, including once this spring, to drive her friend home, and agents objected to diverting from their assignment, said the sources, who were granted anonymity to discuss nonpublic matters. But Patel insisted they do as Wilkins requested and in one case called the leader of Wilkins’ security detail and yelled at him to do so.”

The FBI director has already found himself on the bad side of the White House over reports about his flying around the country on the taxpayers' dime while seeing his paramour and attending high-profile sporting events.

According to Friday's report, “News of the effort to deploy agents to provide security for a private citizen has spread through the bureau and beyond, as agents have grown increasingly concerned by Patel’s use of the bureau’s strapped resources, the people said.“

You can read the full report here.

'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."

'What a clown': FBI's own dossier breaks down Kash Patel team as 'in over their heads'

An FBI dossier assessing the leadership of Kash Patel and his team has deemed them "in over their heads".

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. 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.

Sources have described Patel as "in over his head" and lacking "the breadth of experience" necessary to be a successful FBI director, The Daily Beast reported.

Donald Trump has previously denied having any intent to fire Patel, but the dossier criticizing Patel and his team has painted a ridiculous picture inside of the FBI. The report was written by a group of active duty and retired agents and analysts, who collectively wrote Patel's leadership is "dismal".

The report further alleged the FBI had become a "rudderless ship" with him at the top, observing that Patel had not made "a positive impression". Both he and Bongino were told to "stop talking, stop posing, and just be professional."

Once incident recalled Patel refusing to exit a plane until he was given an FBI raid 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."

Both men were accused of "spending too much time on social media and public relations" and for being "too often concerned with building their own personal résumés."

It was not just problems with Bongino and Patel as individuals, with the report noting there had been mission briefings that were "incomplete and confusing at best, chaotic at worst". It left some agents in what was described as "tactically unsafe positions."

Though Patel is yet to respond to the dossier, it appears Bongino referred to it in a post to X, saying that the dossier is a leak of "gossipy nonsense".

'Bizarre situation': Reporter says Trump plans to replace Patel despite White House claims

The White House has denied its plans to replace FBI Director Kash Patel, despite insiders who maintain that President Donald Trump says Patel's days are numbered.

Journalist Ken Dilanian told MS NOW's Ana Cabrera that he and his colleagues Carol Leonnig and Laura Barrón-López are hearing that "President Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with the bad press that Kash Patel has been getting about his use of taxpayer resources, including the FBI jet to fly around his girlfriend and provision of a security detail for his girlfriend, the country singer Alexis Wilkins, and also for some of his premature tweeting on some key investigations."

The "unflattering headlines" about Patel have reportedly prompted Trump to confide in his allies about his concerns over the embarrassing stories.

"But we're in this bizarre situation where the White House and White House spokespeople in the DOJ and the FBI are all denouncing the story and saying that it's absolutely false where behind the scenes we're being told that it's accurate and that despite what Donald Trump is saying, there still are plans eventually to replace Kash Patel with Andrew Bailey, who is serving as right now deputy FBI director," Dilanian said.

Bailey is the former Missouri attorney general. It's unclear when Patel could potentially get booted from his post.

"Now, when that will happen and whether the reporting of these concerns has changed the dynamic at all, that remains to be seen. But the concerns are real. And Kash Patel really has drawn the ire of a lot of people inside the Trump administration for the way he has been conducting himself and running the FBI," Dilanian added.

GOP lawmaker calls out FBI Director Kash Patel for 'troubling deflection' on Epstein files

FBI Director Kash Patel came under fire early Wednesday morning for what one GOP lawmaker called a "troubling deflection" on the controversial Epstein files release.

Patel was asked in an interview if the FBI will release the Epstein files by the 30 day deadline that's required under the newly passed Epstein transparency law, and he responded with, "Well, we are working with our partners at the Department of Justice... to release what we can lawfully, legally produce." He then adds that there are numerous barriers keeping certain files from being publicly disclosed by the federal agency.

Massie flagged that view just after midnight on Wednesday, calling out Patel's refusal to answer the direction question.

"Troubling deflection by [Patel] when asked if he will follow Epstein Files Transparency LAW passed by Congress and signed by the President," the lawmaker wrote. "Example of documents in his possession that must be released: FD-302 forms summarizing interviews (w/ only victim names redacted)."