I am – amazed!
John
FBI Director Kash Patel throws temper tantrum after news reports of his private jet use
09:26
Kash Patel’s MI5 letdown adds to beleaguered FBI chief’s list of embarrassments
After months of missteps and failures, the last thing Patel needed was another embarrassing report that casts him in an unflattering light. Alas.
Nov. 11, 2025, 8:25 AM PST
By Steve Benen
After months of controversies, missteps and failures, FBI Director Kash Patel didn’t need another embarrassing report that casts him in an unflattering light. Anyway, let’s check the headlines. The New York Times has reported:
At a secret gathering in May, south of London, the head of Britain’s domestic security service asked Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, for help. British security officials rely on the bureau for high-tech surveillance tools — the kind they might need to monitor a new embassy that China wants to build near the Tower of London. The head of MI5, Ken McCallum, asked Mr. Patel to protect the job of an F.B.I. agent based in London who dealt with that technology, according to several current and former U.S. officials with knowledge of the episode.
According to the Times’ report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC, Patel committed to MI5 that the posting would remain intact. The bureau’s director did not, however, keep his word, and the agent in question left London as part of a White House-directed cost-saving measure.
It was, the article added, “a jarring introduction to Mr. Patel’s leadership style for British officials.”
By any sensible measure, it’s a style that’s failing. Indeed, it’s become challenging to keep up with the FBI director’s many embarrassments. Just in recent weeks, he’s been accused of misusing a bureau jet, prematurely sharing sensitive details about an ongoing case (twice) and overseeing a brazenly political personnel purge.
These developments came on the heels of a brutal federal lawsuit, filed by three former senior FBI officials in September, which characterized Patel’s bureau as fixated on “politically motivated retribution” and consumed by the whims of the Trump White House.
A few months earlier, NBC News reported, “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.”
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The Times’ latest report added, “Mr. Patel’s inexperience, his dismissals of top F.B.I. officials and his shift of bureau resources from thwarting spies and terrorism have heightened concerns among the other Five Eyes nations that the bureau is adrift.”
It’s almost as if putting an amateurish conspiracy theorist and podcast personality in charge of FBI wasn’t a good idea.
Nine months ago, Patel was confirmed with the support of 51 of the chamber’s 53 Republican members. To date, none of them have acknowledged the mistake.
Keystone Kash Threw Bizarre Tantrum at Key Foreign Ally
DIVA DEMANDS
The FBI director fought against MI5 security advice, demanded to use an alternative airport and then went back on his word.
Updated Nov. 10 2025 11:38AM EST Published Nov. 10 2025 10:06AM EST
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FBI Director Kash Patel enraged a key intelligence ally by throwing a tantrum on a blunder-filled visit to meet foreign security service leaders, raising further concerns about his suitability for the role.
During a May trip to London, Patel—nicknamed Keystone Kash for his haphazard approach to law enforcement—reportedly requested at the last minute to divert his flight to a different airport nearer the summit hotel, according to The New York Times.
British officials refused, citing security protocol, according to a former official and another person briefed on the exchange.
Patel’s personal detail was also barred from carrying guns in the country following a risk assessment, with U.K. officials holding firm despite FBI pushback, the Times reported.
Patel, 45, was also said by the outlet to have jarred attendees by arriving to high-level meetings in a trucker cap and green hoodie, the paper said.
Later, before departing the U.K., Patel and his girlfriend joined security and intelligence chiefs for a dinner at Windsor Castle with King Charles III, two former officials said—ending with a group photo in which Patel stood beside the king.
And, following the trip, Patel further enraged senior U.K. security service officials at MI5 by breaking a vital security assurance he had made to them.
At a closed-door summit of security chiefs in the Sussex countryside, MI5 Director-General Ken McCallum, 49, had pressed Patel to keep funding for a London-based FBI specialist who supports sensitive surveillance tech.
Veteran liaison posts—especially in London—are seen as crucial for daily joint work against spies and terrorists.
Patel agreed with the request, according to multiple U.S. officials cited by the Times—but the position had already been cut, and the agent was shipped back to the U.S., stunning British counterparts and deepening doubts about Patel’s word.
The U.S. and U.K. are two members of Five Eyes, a long-standing intelligence-sharing alliance that also includes Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, where trust is vital.
Rosamond Press 
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