FBI Director Kash Patel Surrounded by Multiple Scandals

Last week has been a disaster for the public trust in Trump’s FBI Director Kash Patel who became the subject of multiple scandals ranging from using his office for personal favors to receiving millions in foreign money, and more than one cover-up, notably in the Charlie Kirk assassination case. Conservative commentators and social media influencers did not hold back in grilling Patel over each of these controversies surrounding him.

Of the multiple scandals haunting Director Patel, perhaps the most shocking one came with the New York Times (NYT) story of October 28 titled “Officials’ Access to FBI Files in Charlie Kirk’s Case Drew Pushback.” The story, reposted by The Seattle Times, reported that DNI’s National Counterterrorism Center chief Joe Kent reviewed the information in the FBI files to determine whether Kirk’s alleged assassin had support from a foreign power or entity. This did not sit well with Patel who was alarmed and pushed back against Kent’s inquiry.

British paper Daily Mail and a few other mainstream media sources reported on this story that was largely ignored in popular media. The Dallas Express wrote (November 1) that it reached out to the FBI for a comment but did not receive a response.

Following the NYT story, Patel and Tulsi Gabbard released a joint statement that did not dispute the NYT story in clear terms but conveyed that the FBI and intelligence offices are working together in the investigation of Kirk’s assassination. Fox News on October 29 reported that a high-ranking source in the FBI told them that reports of tension between Patel and Kent were exaggerated.

Still, the NYT story has not been challenged strongly or in clear words by the agencies or officials named in the story and many conservative influencers and commentators were outraged at the report since the FBI under Patel has withheld a lot of important information in the Kirk’s assassination case, including any original high-quality footage of the event. Podcaster Candace Owens, a close friend of Charlie Kirk and vocal critic of the Trump administration’s failures, called Patel “the most embarrassing human in the United States” in a recent episode of her show. Owens was referring to the recent revelation that Patel used the official FBI plane to visit his girlfriend Alexis Wilkins’ performance at a wrestling event.

Patel’s personal visit via the FBI plane was not only called out by Ownes because Patel had earlier expressed his opposition to using taxpayer-funded plane travels for personal visits but also because Patel instantly sacked FBI Assistant Director Steven Palmer, apparently in frustration over the attention his trip on the FBI jet drew from the public. Patel seems to have held Palmer personally responsible for the news of his use of the bureau’s jet for seeing his girlfriend. And if that wasn’t enough, the FBI Director reportedly asked the halting of public tracking of the FBI jet. Conservative account on X “End Wokeness” mentioned these points in a post on November 3.

Also this week, Patel was in the crosshairs of criticism by conservative podcaster Kyle Seraphin who is also a former FBI agent. Seraphin was interviewed by Alex Jones of Infowars and he told Jones that Patel blew it in the investigation of the recent ISIS terror plot foiled in the Dearborn area of Michigan. Seraphin called Patel a man acting like a toddler while in a serious job with the American government.

No less daunting was the reminder by Seraphin in the same interview that earlier this year, Patel received $5 million in stock from Chinese ecommerce giant Shein. The story was originally reported in February this year in Wired magazine around the time of Patel’s confirmation by the Congress. Seraphin questioned what kind of consulting services Patel provided to the Chinese fashion company that steals American products.