FBI Director Kash Patel was on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, and he did what others in his position have done many times: He asked for more money. In fact, testifying before a House appropriations panel, the highly controversial director of the bureau told lawmakers the FBI needed “more than what has been proposed” in the White House’s budget plan.
The comments raised eyebrows a bit. After all, Patel has been an unflinching Trump loyalist for years — the guy literally wrote a children’s book in which he told the story of a wizard named Kash who tries to save King Donald from Hillary Queenton — which made it surprising that he’d defend the institution he leads over the president’s regressive budget plans.
Perhaps Patel was finally learning the value of showing a degree of independence? If so, the lesson didn’t last. NBC News reported:
FBI Director Kash Patel undercut his own call for additional funding for the bureau after telling the a Senate Appropriations subcommittee [Thursday] that he supports a White House budget proposal that would slash its funding by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Just so we’re all clear, Patel’s comments on Wednesday were not a slip of the tongue. The White House budget, recently submitted to Congress, would cut FBI funding by roughly 5%. Patel told members of the House appropriations panel that his department needed $1 billion more than what the White House requested.
“In order to achieve the mission of the FBI, if we continue on the current trajectory outlined, we will have to not only eliminate 1,100 vacancies currently at the FBI, I’ll have to fire 1,300 more,” he testified.
One day later, Patel told senators he agrees with the White House budget and will “make it work.”
The FBI hasn’t elaborated as to why the director did a 180-degree turn over the course of a day, but it’s worth noting for context that right around the time Patel reversed course, the Trump-appointed FEMA director was fired a day after disagreeing with Donald Trump’s spending plans during a congressional hearing.
If the goal was to tell officials throughout the Trump administration, “Stick to the party line — or else,” it would appear that Patel got the message.
That said, Patel should probably make an effort to balance his sycophantic position toward the White House with the expectations of his FBI colleagues, many of whom appear unimpressed with their new boss. Indeed, a new NBC News report noted that while FBI directors have, for decades, attended a daily 8:30 a.m. “director’s brief,” Patel is receiving these briefings twice a week — in part because he kept failing to show up for work on time. He has also apparently abandoned a Wednesday afternoon teleconference meeting with bureau leaders in field offices. NBC News’ report added, “Patel’s approach to his new job has raised concerns that he is not taking the position seriously enough, a dozen current and former DOJ and FBI officials told NBC News. … At the same time, Patel has drawn attention for regularly appearing with celebrities at professional sporting events around the country, according to flight logs and social media posts.” Given Patel’s ridiculous record, he has a great many reasons to at least try to bolster his credibility. He appears to be doing the opposite, no doubt confident in the knowledge that the incumbent president only ousts FBI directors who fail to honor his political whims.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
Latest Post
Recommended
