Tag Archives: Kash Patel

The Washington Post reports: A computer scientist at the Defense Intelligence Agency who monitored insider threats became one himself, prosecutors alleged, attempting to trade classified information for citizenship in a friendly country because of disagreements with the Trump administration. Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 28, was arrested Thursday and charged with gathering defense information to aid a foreign government, an Espionage Act …

MARIA BARTIROMO: “You said Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide. People don’t believe it.” KASH PATEL: “Well, I mean, listen, they have a right to their opinion, but as someone who has worked as a public defender, as a prosecutor, who’s been in that prison system, who has been in the Metropolitan Detention Center. Who’s been in segregated housing. You know a …

CBS News reports: Former FBI Director James Comey has provoked an outcry from the Trump administration after he briefly posted a photo to Instagram that federal officials alleged was a call for violence against President Trump — a claim Comey pushed back on. The image shared by Comey — a longtime Trump foe — showed seashells in sand arranged to form …

NBC News reports: The FBI’s Washington Field Office is folding its federal public corruption squad, the same unit that aided Jack Smith’s special counsel investigation into President Donald Trump, three people familiar with the matter tell NBC News. The field office has three units that work on public corruption issues, but this one — known internally as “CR15” — was …

Reuters reports: The FBI ordered agents on Monday to devote more time to immigration enforcement and scale back investigating white-collar crime, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters, as the Justice Department issued new guidance on what white-collar cases will be prioritized. In a series of meetings, FBI agents were told by their field offices they would need to …

SEN. MADELEINE DEAN: “During your Senate confirmation hearings, you repeatedly denied having any involvement as a private citizen in the firing of FBI officials who engaged in the prosecution against January 6th insurrectionists, the violent rioters who beat and killed Capitol police officers and whom you referred to as political prisoners. Since then, multiple whistleblowers have come forward, and we …

The Daily Beast reports: A former FBI boss has claimed that the bureau’s director Kash Patel has been spotted in nightclubs more regularly than he has been seen at work. Former counter-intelligence official Frank Figliuzzi said on Morning Joe Friday that President Donald Trump’s man is a bit of an anomaly in the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C. …

The Washington Post reports: The FBI has reassigned several agents who were photographed kneeling with protesters in Washington during the 2020 racial justice protests after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, according to three people familiar with the matter. Conservatives have pointed to the photo, taken during President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House, as proof that …

The Washington Post reports: National security agencies across the Trump administration are ramping up investigations into alleged leaks to the news media, in some cases using polygraph tests that current and former officials say are creating a climate of fear and intimidation. At FBI Director Kash Patel’s direction, the bureau in recent weeks has begun administering polygraph tests to identify …

Ars Technica reports: The FBI is offering $10 million for information about the China-state hacking group tracked as Salt Typhoon and its intrusion last year into sensitive networks belonging to multiple US telecommunications companies. Salt Typhoon is one of a half-dozen or more hacking groups that work on behalf of the People’s Republic of China. Intelligence agencies and private security …

Axios reports: FBI Director Kash Patel said Friday in a since-deleted post that his agency had arrested a Milwaukee judge who allegedly tried to help an undocumented defendant avoid arrest. Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge, was arrested on charges of obstruction of an immigration arrest operation, Patel’s post said. “We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents …

The New York Times reports: The F.B.I. has suspended an analyst on Kash Patel’s so-called enemies list after Mr. Patel told lawmakers that the bureau under his leadership would stay out of the political fray and not punish employees for partisan reasons. Last week, the bureau placed the analyst, Brian Auten, on administrative leave, according to people familiar with the …

The Daily Beast reports: FBI Director Kash Patel has been quietly removed as the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives after he stopped showing up to work there, according to a report. Patel, who remains in his FBI role, had not been “seen inside an ATF facility for weeks” and has been replaced by the …

Gothamist reports: Mayor Eric Adams celebrated a federal judge’s permanent dismissal of his corruption case on Wednesday by endorsing a book written by a far-right loyalist of President Donald Trump now serving as FBI director. “God bless you, New York City. And God bless what we have accomplished,” Adams said in a public address. “When all that came at me, …

CBS News reports: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe will return to Capitol Hill to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday as they face blistering criticism over a group chat in which top Trump officials discussed sensitive plans to strike targets in Yemen. Gabbard and Ratcliffe are set to appear alongside FBI Director …

CNBC reports: The FBI said Monday it has launched a task force with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to investigate attacks targeting Tesla, the electric vehicle company headed by Trump administration DOGE chief Elon Musk. The announcement came hours after a bomb squad found multiple incendiary devices at a Tesla showroom in Austin, Texas, the same city …

Reuters reports: The FBI has cut staffing in an office focused on domestic terrorism and has scrapped a tool used to track such investigations, in a shift that could undermine law enforcement’s ability to counter white supremacists and anti-government extremists. The moves, sources said, are an indication that domestic terrorism investigations, which in recent years have largely involved violence fueled …

The New Republic reports: The FBI is moving to criminalize groups like Habitat for Humanity for receiving grants from the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration. Citibank revealed in a court filing Wednesday that it was told to freeze the groups’ bank accounts at the FBI’s request. The reason? The FBI alleges that the groups are involved in “possible …

CNN reports: FBI Director Kash Patel walked into his new office on the seventh floor of the bureau’s headquarters last week and made an immediate order – he wanted new carpeting and window coverings, calling the office “dingy.” Patel’s plans to remake the FBI go well beyond redecorating. He wants to overhaul the bureau in fundamental ways that could drastically …

ABC News reports: FBI Director Kash Patel, whose proclaimed plans to overhaul the nation’s premier law enforcement agency have rattled many within the bureau, has proposed enhancing the FBI’s ranks with help from the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the martial-arts entertainment giant whose wealthy CEO, Dana White, helped boost Trump’s reelection. On a teleconference Wednesday with the heads of the FBI’s …