Unhinged Trump official in 'panic mode' to save his job

President Donald Trump’s FBI director, Kash Patel, is reportedly in “panic mood” as he scrambles to save his job amidst reports of excessive drinking.

“FBI Director Kash Patel ordered the polygraphing of more than two dozen former and current members of his security detail, as well as other staff, and has been described as being in panic mode to save his job and find leakers among his team, according to two people briefed on the development,” MS NOW’s Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian reported on Thursday. They added that Patel reportedly “walled himself off” from senior leaders at the FBI because of the multiple media reports about his drinking impairing his leadership.

“The director has also avoided meeting this week with some key operational leaders of the bureau, the people said, raising concerns inside the FBI about Patel’s ability to stay abreast of pressing threats and investigations in order to make the best decisions,” Leonnig and Dilanian added.

In addition to being angered at reports of him drinking (which prompted Patel to sue The Atlantic for covering them), Patel is also upset for reportedly ordering SWAT agents to protect his girlfriend, country music performer Alexis Wilkins, in Nashville, as well as for using a government jet to travel for a so-called “date night.”

“MS NOW reported in February that Patel decided to fly to Milan, Italy, on the government jet to watch the U.S. men’s ice hockey team in the final games of the Olympics,” Leonnig and Dilanian wrote. “At the time, a spokesperson for Patel said in an on-the-record statement that the Italy trip was for business, and Patel was attending several security and partner meetings. Videos emerged shortly after Team USA won the gold medal of Patel in the men’s ice hockey team’s locker room, joining a victory celebration by chugging beer, spraying alcohol in the air and jumping up and down and cheering.”

They added, “The images infuriated the president, according to sources who spoke to MS NOW at the time, and he told Patel he didn’t like the optics of a director drinking while claiming to be on a government business trip.”

Speaking to MS NOW on Thursday, former FBI Assistant Special Agent Michael Feinberg told anchor Katy Tur that Patel’s alleged poor behavior has demoralized the bureau he was appointed to lead.

"Most FBI agents feel — I do not know a single agent who, like me, left, nor do I have any friends whatsoever still in the Bureau who have a single positive thing to say about his stewardship," Feinberg told Tur on Thursday. "Nobody agrees with every director's every decision. I was there for [Robert] Mueller, for [James] Comey, for [Christopher] Wray, and for a brief time for Patel. And the difference is, with the first three, you might have disagreed with their decision or their policies, but you had respect for their intellectual credentials. You had respect for their professional achievements. You had respect for their temperament and their character, their integrity. Patel brings no intellectual credentials to the job. He has no relevant experience whatsoever that would have enabled him to do this well. And as near as we can tell, he has no integrity. So it's unclear what anybody would look up to."

Feinberg continued that "I have never seen morale in any organization as low as it is in the FBI right now," from Patel characterizing the FBI as a "diseased temple" to dismissing criticism of him as being motivated by the agency supposedly having a liberal bias.

"I'd humbly suggest that allegation alone has no basis whatsoever," Feinberg explained to Tur. "In reality, people who work in law enforcement and national security are not exactly known for being leftists. These aren't people singing the Internationale and celebrating May Day. I think it's pretty fair to call most of them, at least on the law-and-order side, right-leaning."

Despite these reports, FBI spokesman Ben Williamson argued that the reports about Patel’s performance are political.

“The only people in panic are the ‘panicans’ in the media pushing out false stories because they spend zero time covering the record-breaking success in reduction in crime at this FBI," Williamson told MS NOW.