President Donald Trump’s inner circle was thrown into turmoil this week after a bombshell report claimed he was ready to fire FBI Director Kash Patel — a move that resulted in celebrations from a surprising corner.
Within hours, the White House tried to put out the fire with a staged Oval Office photo and that only made the speculation worse.
MS NOW reported that Trump and his senior advisers had grown furious over Patel’s recent string of humiliating headlines — including using a government jet for a personal trip and deploying a SWAT team as security for his girlfriend — prompting “serious conversations” about replacing him.
According to the outlet, Trump had privately complained that Patel’s blunders were becoming a liability.
He’s also been involved in tense situations with other Trump administration officials, according to reports.
Senior FBI official Andrew Bailey, who was installed by Trump in September, is being eyed as a possible replacement for Patel. Although even that is subject to change because Trump is known for making sudden personnel changes with relatively unknown and unqualified individuals.
But the White House insists the report is not true, and Trump is still publicly backing him, at least for now.
“This story is completely made up,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X above of a photo of Trump and Patel in the Oval Office giving a thumbs up.
“In fact, when this Fake News published, I was in the Oval Office, where President Trump was meeting with his law enforcement team, including FBI Director Kash Patel,” she wrote.
“I read the headline to the President and he laughed. He said: ‘What? That’s totally false. Come on Kash, let’s take a picture to show them you’re doing a great job!’” Leavitt continued before proclaiming, “Do not believe the Fake News!”
But in an unexpected twist, MAGA supporters were on board with a possible Patel ouster.
“That’s too bad, Kash seems to be compromised and I wish he would be replaced with someone who wasn’t a foreigner, and would actually do something good,” fumed Amy.
“Thing is, we really, really, REALLY wish it were true. Kash sucks,” added another. While another wrote, “Kash is doing an awful job. The stuff with his GF is disqualifying. I am a Trump supporter but NOT a Kash supporter anymore.”
Buckley Carlson was more peeved that their excitement for Patel’s removal is being ignored. “Ok. But maybe you and the President should examine why millions of his voters were eager to celebrate this move.”
Others even zoomed in to dissect the photo to determine that Trump isn’t really onboard with keeping Patel.
“Just read the body language,” declared Brandon with a photo highlighting key signals from Trump.
“Kash is thrilled: huge smile, happiness eye wrinkles, feet facing the camera, wrist solid and straight ahead, thumb high in the air,” he added. “Now read Trump’s body language.”
He continued, “Center of his forehead reads angry. Smile looks forced, like he’s cursing under his breath. He’s trying to give a thumbs-up, but his wrist is saying thumbs-down and his thumb is pointed almost straight ahead. Both his hips and feet are pointed away from Kash, signifying an agitated desire to not be near him. Good try though.”
Another Trump aide also denied the rumors. White House Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told MS NOW her boss is not firing Patel.
“President Trump has assembled the most talented and impressive Administration in history, and they are doing an excellent job carrying out the President’s agenda. FBI Director Patel is a critical member of the President’s team, and he is working tirelessly to restore integrity to the FBI.”
And Patel continues to brag about his success heading up the federal law enforcement agency.
He touted his achievements to reporter Catherine Herridge on Nov. 24.
“In the nine months that I’ve been in this job, we’ve arrested 30,000 people, 25,000 of which have been violent felons. That is a double increase from year to date from the same time period last year. We have taken on our priorities and counterespionage work to an increase of 35 percent more arrests year to date alone,” Newsweek reported.
He went on to recount his successes in tackling the fentanyl crisis, but Patel’s latest round of high-profile missteps isn’t his first.
In September, shortly after the assassination of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk at an event in Utah, Patel took to social media claiming that a suspect was in custody before reversing himself a few hours later.
Considered a major stumble in a federal investigation of that magnitude, Patel again used social media to admit they did not have a suspect after all and that the person initially questioned was released.
