The FBI has fired a senior official, Steven Palmer, after Director Kash Patel became enraged over press coverage revealing that he used a government jet to fly to a wrestling event where his girlfriend, singer Alexis Wilkins, performed.
Palmer, a 27-year veteran who oversaw the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group and managed the Bureau’s jet fleet, was dismissed soon afterward — making him the third head of that unit to be fired under Patel’s short and chaotic tenure. According to Bloomberg, the decision came directly after Patel’s outrage over media reports about his misuse of taxpayer-funded aircraft for personal trips.
When the story broke, Patel spent the weekend on social media defending his girlfriend and attacking “fake news” and “internet anarchists.” But instead of addressing the facts, he tried to change the subject — announcing that the FBI had just thwarted a “Halloween terror plot.”
That claim, too, is unraveling. A Michigan defense attorney told the Associated Press that Patel’s allegations were “hysteria and fearmongering.” His client and four others — all young gamers between 16 and 20 — were chatting online; no evidence of any planned attack exists, and no charges are expected.
This is not law enforcement. It is propaganda — using fear to distract from misconduct, and firing career officials for political convenience. A director who misuses public aircraft for private leisure, retaliates against subordinates, and manufactures headlines to hide his corruption cannot be trusted with the nation’s premier investigative agency.
I urge Congress to immediately open oversight hearings into Director Patel’s conduct, including his personal use of government aircraft, his retaliatory dismissals of career FBI officials, and his unsubstantiated public claims about “terror plots.”
The FBI must serve the law, not the ego of its director. The American people deserve accountability — and honesty — from those who claim to protect us.
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