A “paranoid” obsessed with the “fear of being fired”, who drinks too much and is often absent without explanation, representing a risk to national security. The behavior of FBI director Kash Patel is creating alarm within the agency at a delicate moment such as the war in Iran, which exposes America to new risks.
«All lies. See you in court. Bring your checkbook,” Patel said, flatly rejecting The Atlantic’s reconstructions of his handling of the FBI. The White House is also putting up a wall: by working together with Donald Trump he has caused crime to fall to the lowest levels in the last 100 years. He is a key figure in the administration,” commented spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
Within the administration, however, fears about Patel and his habit of overindulging are not new. Everyone knows about his drinking at the private club Ned’s in Washington or at the Poodle Room in Las Vegas, where he spends part of his weekends. In the last year, his escort had difficulty waking him up on several occasions because he appeared to be intoxicated, and at least once they were asked for permission to forcefully enter his home because he was unreachable.
In recent days, Patel, as he was preparing to leave the office for the weekend, had difficulty accessing the FBI’s internal system and went into a rage. His first reaction was panic, then he went around the agency saying he had been fired by the White House. In reality it was a simple technological problem that was quickly resolved. The episode – reports The Atlantic – is emblematic of his paranoia of being fired, his distrust of everything and everyone and his reaching hasty conclusions without having sufficient evidence. His name has been circulating for some time as one of the president’s possible next “torpedoes”.
According to rumors, his head should have fallen immediately after the exit of Justice Minister Pam Bondi together with that of intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard. However, Patel is resisting for now despite the controversies and reproaches of the president.
In fact, Trump publicly scolded him in recent months for the viral video that showed him drinking a beer in the locker room of the American hockey team after winning gold at the Winter Olympics. On another occasion he came under fire for announcing, shortly after the shooting at Brown University in December, that the attacker had been captured. His triumphalist message about
Many within the FBI have become accustomed to his eccentric behavior, which also includes his frustration with the agency’s merchandising deemed “not intimidating enough.” But fears are becoming increasingly clear given its leading role in defending national security.
“Part of me is happy that he wastes his time on other things because it’s less dangerous that way, but this means – a source from the agency told The Atlantic – that we don’t have an operations director.”