President Donald Trump is reportedly weighing the dismissal of his FBI Director, Kash Patel, following a series of embarrassing news stories concerning Patel's conduct and his relationship with country music singer Alexis Wilkins.
Mounting Frustration in the White House
According to an online report from MS NOW, which cited three anonymous sources, Trump and his senior aides have grown increasingly frustrated with the constant stream of negative press surrounding Patel. The rumours suggest that the President is actively considering removing Patel from his post and is looking at top FBI official Andrew Bailey as a potential replacement.
This potential shake-up comes after months of headlines detailing Patel's behaviour, from reports of excessive partying to more serious allegations of misusing government resources for the benefit of his girlfriend.
Allegations of Misused Security and Resources
The most striking allegations involve Patel's alleged use of elite FBI personnel to protect Wilkins. It was reported that the 45-year-old bureau head assigned an entire SWAT team from the agency's Atlanta field office to shadow his 27-year-old girlfriend during the National Rifle Association's annual conference in April.
Agents on the detail determined that the event at the Georgia World Congress Center was secure and that Wilkins faced no apparent danger, leading them to depart before the event concluded. Upon discovering this, Patel allegedly 'ripped' into the team's commander for leaving his girlfriend unprotected, calling the agents' dismissal a 'failure of the chain of command.'
This was not an isolated incident. Reports indicate that Patel also deployed elite FBI agents from the Nashville office's SWAT team to watch Wilkins in her home city. Furthermore, agents from the tactical division in Salt Lake City, Utah, were reportedly ordered to provide protective detail for Wilkins at a September event, despite having just worked extensive hours following the nearby assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Current and former FBI officials have labelled this level of protection 'highly unusual,' noting that girlfriends and spouses of officials typically do not receive such extensive, taxpayer-funded security details.
Christopher O'Leary, a former FBI agent, argued, 'The assignment of SWAT-qualified agents to guard his girlfriend are indicative of his lack of leadership experience, judgment and humility.' Others have questioned the justification for such measures, suggesting that these agents could have been deployed to respond to more serious potential crimes.
Denials and Defence
The White House has forcefully denied the reports of Patel's impending dismissal. Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt took to X, calling the story 'completely made up' and posting a photo said to be of Trump and Patel in the Oval Office on the Tuesday the report was published.
Leavitt claimed that Trump reacted to the news 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!'
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for MS NOW stated that the news organisation stands by its reporting, which describes Patel as 'on thin ice' with a potential change happening in the next few weeks.
In defence of the security provided to Wilkins, a bureau spokesperson told the Daily Mail that she 'has faced hundreds of credible death threats' since her relationship with Patel became public. Wilkins herself has shared screenshots of abusive and threatening messages she has received online.
Patel has also faced criticism for using a government jet to attend Wilkins's performances. It was further revealed that he used a government plane for a golf outing in Scotland. His spokesperson, Ben Williamson, defended these actions, stating that Patel's travel pales in comparison to that of former FBI directors and that he pays reimbursements in advance.
This defence stands in stark contrast to Patel's own past criticism of former Director Christopher Wray's use of the bureau's jet for personal travel, where Patel suggested in a 2023 interview that they should 'ground that plane' or charge a significant fee for each take-off.
Potential Successor and Timeline
Should Trump decide to make a change, the reported frontrunner is Andrew Bailey. Trump had already raised eyebrows in September by installing Bailey—the former Missouri attorney general—as a co-deputy director alongside Dan Bongino.
For Bailey to be named acting director without undergoing Senate confirmation, he must serve in his current position for 90 days. That crucial date would be December 15.
When contacted by The Daily Mail for comment, a spokesperson for the FBI declined to comment on the matter.
