Kash Patel may soon be removed as FBI director because President Donald Trump is tiring of the headlines caused by his use of a government jet and his alleged insistence that a SWAT team protect his country singer girlfriend, according to a report.
Trump is reportedly considering replacing Patel, 45, with senior FBI official Andrew Bailey.
The FBI chief has faced a series of embarrassing claims about spending taxpayer dollars on what appeared to be private jaunts across the country.
MS NOW, quoting three sources with knowledge of the situation, claims that Trump and administration aides are losing patience with Patel over the bad publicity he has attracted since taking over the bureau.
He is described as being “on thin ice,” but the report suggests that Trump could still change his mind. The president is said to prefer waiting until the end of the first year of his second term before making any changes to his core team.
Karoline Leavitt published a photo of Patel and Trump taken after she had shown them the MS NOW report.
“This story is completely made up,” she wrote on X. “In fact, when this Fake News published, I was in the Oval Office, where President Trump was meeting with his law enforcement team, including FBI Director Kash Patel.
“I read the headline to the President and he laughed. He said: “What? That’s totally false. Come on Kash, let’s take a picture to show them you’re doing a great job!”
“Do not believe the Fake News!”
That approach was underscored with the White House reaction to MS NOW’s story, with a spokesperson saying: “President Trump has assembled the most talented and impressive Administration in history and they are doing an excellent job carrying out the President’s agenda.
“FBI Director Patel is a critical member of the President’s team and he is working tirelessly to restore integrity to the FBI.”
At the traditional White House ceremony to pardon a Thanksgiving turkey on Tuesday, Trump pointed out Patel and said he was “doing a great job.”
However, Patel’s relationship with Attorney General Pam Bondi has reportedly become frayed.
Bailey, a former Missouri state attorney general, was appointed co-deputy FBI director in September and is seen as a perfect replacement.
Right-wing radio host Dan Bongino, Patel’s other deputy, has no prior experience with the FBI and is considered a long shot.
An MS NOW spokesperson told the Daily Beast: “The organization stands behind its reporting.”
According to the New York Times, Patel became angry when a SWAT team failed to provide security for his girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, 27, when she sang at an NRA event in Atlanta in the spring.
He has also been accused of using the FBI’s government-funded plane to fly to a wrestling match in Pennsylvania, where Wilkins was performing, and on a golf trip with his friends to Scotland.
The Wall Street Journal claimed Patel used the FBI director’s plane to make nine trips to Las Vegas and seven visits to Nashville, according to an analysis of flight records.
The FBI boss was in Las Vegas at the weekend to watch the Formula 1 race and was photographed sitting in a pink toy Cadillac.
He also reportedly caused a security scare in New Zealand in the summer when he gifted “inoperable pistols”—Maverick PG22s, 3D-printed revolvers—to senior security officials.
