Kash Patel is asking two questions that should concern everyone
Source: MSNBC
Kash Patel is asking two questions that should concern everyone
Whatever his reasons, Patel’s queries are important indicators of how he may conduct himself as director.
March 11, 2025, 4:16 PM EDT
By Frank Figliuzzi, MSNBC Columnist
Two FBI officials familiar with the matter told NBC News on Monday that FBI Director Kash Patel has inquired about setting up a direct phone line to the White House and about retaining a private security detail for himself. Those questions, and importantly, the possible motivation behind them, could be significant and disturbing clues as to how Patel views his job and his agents.
As first reported by The Wall Street Journal on March 7, “according to people familiar with his inquiry” Patel queried officials as to how he might have secure lines installed in his office and home that would go directly to the Oval Office (Ben Williamson, the bureau’s assistant director for public affairs, denied the Journal’s report). If true, this seemingly simple request from Patel points to either an ignorance of how the relationship between an FBI director and the president is supposed to work — and has worked for decades. There’s a reason why a direct line to the president isn’t already sitting on Patel’s desk — let alone in his home or car. It’s not supposed to.
Here’s what I know based on my 25 years in the FBI, including service as assistant director. Historically, the FBI director’s contact with a president is deliberately supposed to go through the U.S. attorney general. In fact, while the director certainly briefs the president on high-profile matters, the attorney general, deputy attorney general and/or the director of national intelligence are almost always present. The point of this healthy distance between the Oval Office and the FBI director is to mitigate the chance that a president might pressure the director for political purposes. This holds true in the other direction as well: We don’t want a director prematurely tipping off a president that a political ally or adversary is under investigation.
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Read more: https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/kash-patel-fbi-trump-phone-line-rcna195617
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