FBI chief Kash Patel has come under sharp fire for allegedly misusing bureau resources, including deploying a government jet and assigning a security detail for his girlfriend.
Amid reports that Donald Trump is considering ousting Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel from his post, the US President on Tuesday backed the 45-year-old American lawyer, saying that ‘he is doing a great job.’
‘He’s doing a great job’: Trump
“No, he’s doing a good job. Kash Patel? He’s doing a great job, I think,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked about the report.
The rumours about the Republican President mulling Patel’s ouster gained steam after news outlet MS NOW published a report, citing three unnamed sources, claiming Trump was “considering removing Kash Patel as FBI director in the coming months, as he and his top aides have grown increasingly frustrated by the unflattering headlines Patel has recently generated.”ย
They have confided to allies that Trump is weighing removing Patel and considering Andrew Bailey, the FBI’s co-deputy director, as his replacement, according to MS NOW, formerly MSNBC.ย ย
Story is completely made up: White House
The White House earlier denied that Trump was considering removing Patel. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on X that the story was “completely made up.” She posted a photo of Trump and Patel that she said was taken in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
She further said Trump and Patel were in a meeting when the report was published, and the President reacted to it by laughing and saying, “What? That’s totally false. Come on Kash, let’s take a picture to show them you’re doing a great job!”
FBI directors are appointed to 10-year terms under federal law to help shield the bureau from political influence, and their appointments require Senate confirmation.
Patel, a staunch Trump loyalist who served as an adviser to both the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense during Trumpโs first term, has previously advocated removing the FBIโs intelligence-gathering authority and purging the bureau of employees who do not align with Trumpโs agenda.
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