Questions are mounting around FBI Director Kash Patel’s commitment to his role, with a former high-ranking bureau official raising eyebrows over his alleged absence from headquarters and frequent visits at nightclubs.
Frank Figliuzzi, who served as the FBI’s Assistant Director for Counterintelligence under Robert Mueller, spoke out on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Friday. He said right now the atmosphere inside the bureau is pure “chaos.”
“Reportedly, he’s been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of the Hoover building,” Figliuzzi told host Jonathan Lemire. “And there are reports that daily briefings to him have been changed from every day to maybe twice weekly.”
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According to several reports, Patel, Donald Trump’s other blue-eyed boy, has been spending much of his time away from Washington, D.C., splitting weeks between the Hoover Building and his home in Las Vegas.
“So this is both a blessing and a curse,” Figliuzzi said. “Because if he’s really trying to run things without his experience, without any experience level, things could be bad. If he’s not plugged in, things could be bad. But he’s allowing agents to run things so we don’t know where this is going.”
“But the one word that keeps coming back at me from inside is that the building is chaos. People don’t know what’s happening from day to day,” he told MSNBC host.
Notably, recently, Senate Democrats demanded a formal probe into Patel’s use of FBI resources, particularly the agency’s private jets.
CBS News reported that the U.S. Government Accountability Office may soon investigate the nature and costs of Patel’s travel, and whether any personal trips were improperly charged to taxpayers.
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The Washington Post reported that following several outlets’ reports, Patel has reportedly ordered polygraph tests within the bureau in an effort to root out suspected “leaks” to the media.
“The seriousness of the specific leaks in question precipitated the polygraphs, as they involved potential damage to security protocols at the bureau,” an FBI spokesperson told The Washington Post.
