From Mother Jones · Alex Nguyen · · 1m 30s
The FBI director who wants his critics answered
Released FBI records show Kash Patel pressing his staff to hunt down the people mocking him online.
In brief
Released FBI records show Kash Patel pressing his staff to hunt down the people mocking him online. The head of the FBI put his attention on a troll post with a few hundred comments, and his own press aide had to talk him out of replying. Originally reported by Mother Jones.
A director off task
Mother Jones opens with a flat verdict on Kash Patel's performance as FBI director, and says the latest evidence for it landed on Thursday.
“FBI Director Kash Patel seems to be very bad at his job.”
Documents surface online
National security journalist Seth Hettena found records showing Patel telling his team to search for accounts that criticize him and to respond to them.
One troll post, one text
In February, Patel sent his public affairs chief Ben Williamson a link to an X post mocking him from what looked like a troll account with a slur in its handle.
The aide pushes back
Williamson identified the account as a bot and told Patel that replying would reflect badly on him. Patel fixated on the reaction to the post instead.
“this is an 'Epstein didn't kill himself' bot account if you're wondering where that's coming from”
277k responses, sort of
Patel's number appears to be views, not replies. By Friday the post had about 492 comments, 1,000 reposts and quotes, and 16,000 likes.
“what i asked you and your team to do is find them, and post our record year results back at them all, continuously”
Part of a pattern
An April report in The Atlantic described heavy drinking and long unexplained absences from his post. Patel sued for defamation, and the case is still pending.
The headline
The head of the FBI put his attention on a troll post with a few hundred comments, and his own press aide had to talk him out of replying.
