Tag: Kash Patel

Lawmakers Warn $30 Billion Welfare Program Is Vulnerable to Abuse
More than $30 billion in taxpayer-funded welfare money intended to help America’s poorest families has instead beeen used as a ‘slush fund’ – diverted into programs ranging from college scholarships to government budget backfills.
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, known as TANF, was created nearly three decades ago to provide direct financial support and services to struggling families.
Today, the program distributes about $16.5 billion annually in federal funds, supplemented by roughly $15 billion in state contributions.
But federal auditors and analysts say the program’s structure, which gives states broad control over spending with limited reporting requirements, has made it difficult to track how billions of dollars are ultimately used.
States often use TANF money to finance programs with only indirect connections to helping poor families, said Hayden Dublois of the Foundation for Government Accountability. He described the system’s lack of oversight as ‘fraud by design.’
‘There are very little, if any, safeguards,’ Dublois told the Wall Street Journal.
He estimates that roughly one in five TANF dollars, or about $6 billion each year, is misspent.

Then President Bill Clinton prepares to sign legislation in the Rose Garden of the White House overhauling America’s welfare system on Aug. 22, 1996. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Despite the program’s size, fewer families now receive direct cash assistance than in previous decades.
Federal data shows that about 849,000 families received monthly TANF payments in fiscal year 2025, down from approximately 1.9 million families in 2010.
Instead, states have increasingly directed funds to contractors, nonprofits and other government programs.
Nick Gwyn, a policy expert with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said the shift reflects a broader transformation in how the program operates.
‘The program has drifted away from the core purpose of supporting families with very little income,’ Gwyn told the WSJ.
Audits conducted in multiple states have uncovered persistent problems with oversight and financial reporting.
In Louisiana, auditors found in 2024 that state officials failed to verify required work participation hours tied to TANF eligibility – the 13th straight year auditors flagged the same issue.
The audit also found gaps in documentation showing how TANF funds were distributed to contractors.

Even though employment numbers are back up, many people are worse off now because the government is no longer providing the cushion it did in 2020 and 2021. Rick Bowmer/AP
Louisiana officials said they agreed with the findings and would improve oversight.
In Connecticut, auditors reported that the state did not adequately review financial reports from more than 130 subcontractors receiving $53.6 million in TANF funds, making it difficult to confirm whether the money was spent on approved purposes.
Connecticut officials said they would strengthen compliance procedures.
Auditors also identified oversight problems in Florida, underscoring how weaknesses in TANF spending controls extended across states regardless of political leadership.
In Oklahoma, state auditor Cindy Byrd said her office has similarly found weak documentation tracking TANF expenditures.
State and federal records show TANF money has been used for a wide range of programs critics say fall outside the program’s intended mission.
These include college scholarship programs benefiting students from middle-income families, payments to antiabortion pregnancy centers, and child welfare programs already supported by other federal funding sources.
In Michigan, more than $750 million in TANF funds were directed into scholarship programs between 2011 and 2024, according to the Michigan League for Public Policy.
In Texas, federal data shows the state spent about $251 million in TANF funds in fiscal year 2023 on foster care and child welfare programs, while just 1.9 percent of TANF spending went directly to basic assistance payments.
Ann Flagg, who oversaw TANF at the federal level during the Biden administration, said the program’s layered structure made it difficult for federal officials to monitor spending.
‘Knowing that there were so many layers between the activity on the ground and the federal perch, there were many, many instances, I am sure, that funds were used in crazy ways,’ Flagg said.
The biggest scandal involving TANF funds took place in Mississippi. The embezzlement scheme saw at least $77 million of taxpayers’ money go toward frivolous things instead of helping those in need in America’s poorest state, according to authorities.
Instead of helping the less fortunate, cash was splurged on a lavish home in Jackson, cars, paying off a non-profit leader’s speeding ticket, and funding a new $5 million volleyball stadium at Mississippi University, among other items, authorities said.
A total of seven people have pleaded guilty to state or federal charges related to the fraud case, but former WWE wrestler Ted DiBiase Jr decided to plead not guilty and stand trial.
Concerns about misuse of public welfare funds have been amplified by a series of major fraud scandals in Minnesota, where federal and state investigators uncovered schemes involving millions of taxpayer dollars intended for child care and food programs.
Trump’s fraud crackdown was ignited by issues in Minnesota, but the state’s cases are unrelated to TANF.
In one case dating back to the 2010s, authorities found the operators of several daycare centers billed the government for services that were never provided, with surveillance footage appearing to show parents briefly bringing children to facilities before leaving immediately.
Prosecutors later said the scheme allowed providers to collect reimbursement payments despite not delivering actual care, and several individuals pleaded guilty to felony theft by swindling.

More recently, federal authorities have investigated what they described as a vast fraud network involving federally funded child nutrition programs.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau had ‘surged personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota’ to dismantle fraud schemes exploiting federal assistance programs.
Patel warned that such activity may represent ‘the tip of a very large iceberg,’ adding that ‘fraud that steals from taxpayers and robs vulnerable children will remain a top FBI priority in Minnesota and nationwide.’
Federal watchdog agencies have also repeatedly warned about weaknesses in TANF oversight.
The Government Accountability Office found that audits in 37 states identified 162 deficiencies in financial oversight, including 56 considered severe.
The agency criticized what it described as ‘opaque accounting practices’ among groups receiving TANF funds.
The GAO has recommended since at least 2012 that Congress strengthen reporting requirements and expand federal oversight.
Those recommendations have not been enacted.

The ongoing fraud scandal in Minnesota dates back a decade as a 2015 video shows parents appearing to pretend to drop their children off at a phony daycare center
In testimony to Congress, GAO official Kathy Larin said states often use TANF funds precisely because of their flexibility.
‘States told us they use TANF because it’s more flexible and can cover costs not eligible’ under other federal programs, she said.
TANF was created in 1996 as part of sweeping welfare reform legislation signed by President Bill Clinton, who described the measure as ‘ending welfare as we know it.’
The reforms replaced an open-ended federal entitlement with block grants, giving states significant authority over spending decisions.
Supporters credited the program with reducing welfare dependency, but critics say the system created incentives for states to redirect funds away from direct aid.
Robert Rector, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation who helped draft the legislation, said the program has drifted from its original goals.

TANF Trends and Its Oversight—Welfare Assistance Continues to Shift Away from Cash Assistance
‘Today all states are in de facto violation of the law’ because they aren’t spending all TANF funds on the intended purposes outlined in the original law, Rector said.
He added that both Republicans and Democrats share responsibility for failing to enforce stricter oversight.
The Trump administration has recently moved to freeze billions in federal welfare-related grants to several states over concerns about fraud and misuse, including funds tied to TANF.
Several states challenged the move in court, and a federal judge temporarily blocked the freeze.
Despite growing scrutiny and repeated warnings from auditors and watchdog agencies, Congress has not enacted any comprehensive reforms.
February 8, 2026
Kash Patel Slams FBI Use of Anti-Trump Sedition Hunters as Paid J6 Informants
he Biden-era FBI made more than $100,000 in payments to informants who were members of an anonymous group of tech sleuths known as the “Sedition Hunters” to gather and analyze video evidence in the January 6 Capitol riot — echoing the bureau’s reliance on paid FBI informant and British ex-spy Christopher Steele in 2016.
Just the News reported this week that the FBI made payments to a number of so-called “sedition hunters” as confidential human sources (CHS) as part of the January 6 Capitol riot and Arctic Frost probes despite the online network’s significant anti-Trump pronouncements and known ties to foreigners.
The payments are due to be disclosed by FBI Director Kash Patel to Congress along with acknowledged concerns that the Christopher Wray-run bureau’s approval of certain members of the Sedition Hunters as confidential human sources may have violated bureau policies concerning informant bias, informant secrecy, foreign influence, and contracting transparency, officials said.
Reminiscent of the ill-fated “Crossfire Hurricane” lawfare campaign
The revelations of source payments are certain to revive FBI concerns among Republicans that date back to the now-discredited Crossfire Hurricane probe, where agents used Steele as a CHS to pursue unsubstantiated allegations of Trump colluding with Russia. This was despite Steele’s foreign connections, his clear anti-Trump bias, and his work as a contractor for the campaign law firm of Trump’s main 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton. Wray had promised significant reforms in the wake of the 2016 debacle at the bureau.
Steele was eventually terminated in November 2016 as an FBI informant for violating his confidentiality requirements as a confidential human source, disclosing his role with the bureau, and making unauthorized disclosures to the media.
Government officials said a half decade later, the bureau may have entered into another troubling relationship by treating members of the Sedition Hunters as informants in a new Trump probe when, in fact, they were essentially performing computer analysis contract work identifying January 6 defendants around the Capitol and clearly expressed dislike for Trump.
FBI burned by decision to deploy the Steele Dossier against Trump
DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz uncovered huge flaws with the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation in a December 2019 report, finding at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to the FISA warrants targeting former Trump campaign associate Carter Page. Horowitz also criticized the “central and essential” role of Steele’s debunked dossier in the FBI’s politicized FISA surveillance. Steele, a years-long FBI CHS, had been hired by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was being paid by Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias. Elias was later fined for “misleading” filings to the court in his advocacy for Democratic Party candidates.
The DOJ watchdog also said Steele’s alleged main source — Russian national Igor Danchenko — “contradicted the allegations of a ‘well-developed conspiracy’ in” Steele’s dossier. Danchenko was made an FBI CHS for years after 2016, up until his indictment by now-former special counsel John Durham.
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Horowitz’s report noted that Steele’s FBI interview “highlighted discrepancies between Steele’s presentation of information in the election reporting and the views of his Primary Sub-source” — Danchenko — and “revealed bias against Trump.”
Stefan Halper was a Pentagon consultant and academic, and he, along with Steele, was used as a CHS by bureau agents to build the politicized Crossfire Hurricane case against Trump and his advisers during the end of the 2016 election and the beginning of Trump’s first term in office.
Wray repeatedly promised serious CHS reform inside the bureau
Horowitz wrote in a November 2019 report that “the FBI’s vetting process for CHSs, known as validation, did not comply with the Attorney General Guidelines.”
“We also found deficiencies in the FBl’s long-term CHS validation reports which are relied upon by FBI and Department of Justice officials in determining the continued use of a CHS,” the DOJ watchdog said. “Further, the FBI inadequately staffed and trained personnel conducting long-term validations and lacked an automated process to monitor its long-term CHSs.”
Wray quickly spoke with the press after the release of the December 2019 report, with the Associated Press writing that “Wray said the FBI would make changes to how it handles confidential informants.”
He also sent a letter to Horowitz that month where he assured the DOJ inspector general that the FBI was fixing its CHS process.
“We are making significant changes to how the FBI manages its Confidential Human Source Program. Many FBI investigations rely on human sources, but the investigative value derived from CHS-provided information rests in part on the CHS’s credibility, which demands rigorous assessment of the source,” the now-former FBI chief wrote. “The modifications we are making to how the FBI collects, documents, and shares information about CHSs will strengthen our assessment of the information these sources are providing.”
Wray also sent a letter to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in January 2020, where he laid out further plans to reform the bureau’s handling of informants.
The now-former FBI director said that one “FISA-related Corrective Action I have directed will require that all information known at the time of a FISA request and bearing on the reliability of a CHS whose information is used to support the FISA application is captured as part of the FISA Request Form and verified by the CHS handler.”
Wray said that “in coordination with the FBI’s Directorate of Intelligence, the working group is developing a new CHS Questionnaire, which will be used as an addendum to the FISA Request Form, identifying the categories of source information (e.g., payment information, criminal history) that [the Office of Intelligence] should be informed of when preparing FISA applications that rely on CHS reporting. Completion of this Corrective Action will require consultation with external partners, finalization of the CHS Questionnaire, and the training of FBI personnel.”
Wray also insisted to the Senate in March 2021 that the FBI was fixing its CHS process.
“We accepted all of the findings and recommendations in the Inspector General’s report. I ordered, at the time, over 40 corrective actions to go above and beyond the recommendations of the inspector general’s report, and those have been implemented,” he said. “Those include everything from strengthening our procedures to ensure accuracy and completeness, to make sure the court gets all the information it’s supposed to, changes in our protocols for CHS, confidential human sources, training changes.”
Steele and Danchenko exemplified the politicized nature of FBI’s lawfare
The FBI used Steele’s discredited dossier to obtain four Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants and renewals targeting Trump campaign associate Carter Page, and fired FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe pushed to include the dossier’s baseless collusion allegations in the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment on Russian election meddling in the 2016 election.
During all this, the FBI concealed the extent of Steele’s anti-Trump biases from the FISA Court. Just the News revealed last year that a declassified House Intelligence report showed the Steele Dossier was directly cited in the highly classified version of the ICA on Russian meddling.
Horowitz wrote in 2019 that “the FBI was aware of the potential for political bias in the Steele election reporting from the outset of obtaining it.”

Ex-DOJ official Bruce Ohr, who served as a conduit between Steele and the FBI even after the former MI6 agent was cut off as a confidential human source, told the bureau by late November 2016 that Steele was “desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being the U.S. president.” The DOJ watchdog noted that during a 2017 interview with the FBI, Steele described Trump as his “main opponent” and that an FBI analyst said this was “clear bias.”
FBI analyst Brian Auten, who interviewed Steele’s alleged main source, Russian lawyer Igor Danchenko, in early 2017 and was there when the Justice Department set up a partial immunity agreement with Danchenko, was among the FBI employees who interviewed Steele in Rome in early October 2016 as the FBI sought more details on the dossier. Auten revealed in court that the FBI had offered Steele an incentive of up to $1 million if he could prove the allegations of collusion in his dossier and if the evidence led to prosecutions, but Auten said the former MI6 agent was unable to corroborate any of his dossier claims.
FBI notes of a January 2017 interview with Danchenko showed he told the bureau he “did not know the origins” of some Steele claims and “did not recall” other dossier information. Nevertheless, Danchenko was put on the FBI’s payroll as a confidential human source from March 2017 to October 2020 before he was charged in November 2021 with five counts of making false statements to the bureau. The FBI agent assigned to be the handler for Danchenko testified that he sought to have the bureau pay Danchenko more than $500,000.
Danchenko was found not guilty at trial.
FBI failed to scrutinize Steele until after dossier deployed
Just the News also revealed in 2025 that declassified records released last year also included a “Human Source Validation Report” (HSVR) by the FBI’s Validation Management Unit (VMU) related to Steele.
The VMU assessed in 2017 that the bureau had only “medium confidence” that Steele had contributed to the FBI’s criminal program, in part because “Steele’s reporting has been minimally corroborated.” The unit said that, despite Steele working for the bureau for years, including on the high-profile Trump-Russia collusion investigation, “this is the first HSVR completed on Steele.”
The FBI unit said that, in addition to baseless collusion claims, Steele had provided the bureau with information on a bribery scandal related to FIFA and Russia, a cyberattack from China, and “Weapons of Mass Destruction issues.”
The VMU also claimed that “during Steele’s operation, VMU found no issues regarding his or her reliability” and that “VMU did not locate any information to suggest Steele fabricated information during the operation.”
Yet declassified footnotes from Horowitz’s report showed that “a 2015 report concerning oligarchs written by the FBI’s Transnational Organized Crime Intelligence Unit (TOCIU) noted that from January through May 2015, ten Eurasian oligarchs sought meetings with the FBI, and five of these had their intermediaries contact Steele.” The TOCIU report “noted that Steele’s contact with five Russian oligarchs in a short period of time was unusual and recommended that a validation review be completed on Steele because of this activity,” Horowitz said.
According to Horowitz, the FBI’s Validation Management Unit “did not perform such an assessment on Steele until early 2017” — well after the bureau had deployed the dossier in the FISA court and in the 2017 intelligence community assessment on alleged Russian meddling in the election.

The Horowitz report’s declassified footnotes also said that some of the Steele dossier’s claims about now-former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen were “part of a Russian disinformation campaign to denigrate U.S. foreign relations.” The footnote also added that a U.S. intelligence community report concluded that the Steele dossier’s baseless and salacious claims about Trump at the Ritz-Carlton Moscow were the result of Russian intelligence who “infiltrate[d] a source into the network” managed by Steele.
Steele and his company, Orbis Business Intelligence, worked for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in 2016, allegedly helping recover millions of dollars the Russian oligarch claimed Paul Manafort had stolen from him. Steele sought help in this anti-Trump research effort from Fusion GPS, the founders of the company wrote, and Fusion GPS hired Steele soon after.
The Senate Intelligence Committee’s 2020 report assessed that “the Russian government coordinates with and directs Deripaska on many of his influence operations.” The report found “multiple links between Steele and Deripaska” and “indications that Deripaska had early knowledge of Steele’s work” and said Steele’s relationship with Deripaska “provid[ed] a potential direct channel for Russian influence on the dossier.”
Being an FBI informant was lucrative for Russiagate figure Stefan Halper
Just the News also reported last year that declassified documents show that Stefan Halper, a key FBI informant in the widely-debunked Russia collusion case, was paid nearly $1.2 million over three decades and was motivated in part by “monetary compensation” — and that he continued snitching for the bureau even after agents concluded he told them an inaccurate story about future Trump National Security Advisor Mike Flynn.
FBI agents ultimately deemed Halper’s accounts to be “not plausible” and “not accurate”, but the bureau proceeded to investigate Flynn, kept paying Halper and continued to vouch for his veracity as a confidential human source codenamed “Mitch,” the memos show. A March 2017 memo showed the FBI’s Validation Management Unit (VMU) wrote that it “assesses it is likely HALPER is suitable for continued operation, based on his or her authenticity, reliability, and control.”
The VMU’s review from May 2013 to March 2017 recommended that the FBI continue using Halper as a source despite FBI agents working the Flynn case determining that he had provided them incorrect information. Nonetheless, the bureau unit also contended that “during the period of review, VMU found no derogatory issues regarding MITCH’s reliability” despite later admitting that “VMU notes there is no corroboration concerning MITCH’s reporting. Due to the singular nature of his or her access, VMU was unable to locate corroboration concerning MITCH’s reporting.”
That memo made no mention in its unredacted portions of the concerns about the account Halper gave about Flynn and Lokhova, which were confirmed in a memo from William Barnett, the FBI agent who handled the retired Flynn’s case in 2016 and 2017.
Patel: “A stunning abuse of bureau authorities”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has continued to push for more answers related to the presence of FBI confidential informants during the Capitol riot.
It is likely that the revelations by Just the News related to the FBI’s use of paid “Sedition Hunter” informants to provide assistance in identifying January 6-related suspects will lead to further scrutiny of the bureau’s CHS program.
“The American people deserve the truth about how the FBI was weaponized against them. Paying openly anti-Trump activists to identify Americans using questionable technology is a stunning abuse of bureau authorities and a clear violation of longstanding informant rules,” Patel said in a statement to Just the News on Tuesday.
“Under my leadership, the FBI will fully disclose these actions to Congress and ensure the bureau never again serves partisan or political ends instead of the Constitution,” the FBI chief added.
January 24, 2026
Kash Patel Caught Again Using $60 Million FBI Jet for Personal Trips
In a stunning display of entitlement that reeks of the Trump administration’s disregard for taxpayer dollars, FBI Director Kash Patel has been exposed for yet another joyride on a $60 million government jet—this time, allegedly to rendezvous with his country-singer girlfriend at a pro-wrestling spectacle in Pennsylvania, all while federal workers teeter on the brink of unpaid furloughs amid a looming government shutdown. The 45-year-old Patel, Trump’s loyalist pick to “drain the swamp” at the FBI, fired a top agency official last week to cover his tracks, only to lash out at critics on X in a rant that backfired spectacularly, earning a humiliating community note for misrepresenting the backlash. As Democrats demand accountability and even some MAGA voices squirm in silence, Patel’s scandals compound, painting a picture of a director more interested in personal perks than public safety.
This isn’t isolated—it’s emblematic of the cronyism festering in Trump’s second term. Just days ago, Patel boasted on X about thwarting a “violent terror plot” in Michigan tied to Halloween, only for defense attorneys to dismantle his claims as “hysteria and fearmongering” over a group of online gamers with no credible plan. With federal employees facing delayed paychecks and essential services at risk, Patel’s cavalier attitude toward ethics and exaggeration underscores why trust in institutions has plummeted under MAGA rule. “This is what happens when you put a podcaster in charge of the FBI,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), calling for congressional hearings. “Jet-setting on the public’s dime while hyping phantom threats—it’s a betrayal of the American people.”
Jet-Setting Shenanigans: From Mar-a-Lago to the Wrestling Ring
The latest allegations surfaced over the weekend, courtesy of former FBI agent Kyle Seraphin, who tracked the bureau’s Gulfstream G550—tail number N708JH—from public flight logs despite Patel’s reported efforts to block access. On October 25, the jet ferried Patel from Washington Dulles to State College, Pennsylvania, landing at 5:40 p.m. EST, just in time for a Real American Freestyle (RAF) wrestling event at the Bryce Jordan Center. There, his girlfriend, 26-year-old Alexis Wilkins—touted by Patel as a “country music sensation” with a modest 6,000 monthly Spotify listeners—performed the national anthem.
Kyle Seraphin posted Kash Patel’s flight path. © X
Wilkins, a conservative darling with ties to Trumpworld events, posted an Instagram photo the next morning of the couple cuddling ringside, Patel decked out in an FBI-branded hoodie. The jet departed Penn State at 8:03 p.m., touching down in Nashville at 8:28 p.m. CDT—Wilkins’ home turf—before jetting off to San Angelo, Texas, the following morning for reasons undisclosed. Seraphin, on his podcast, quipped: “We’re in the middle of a government shutdown where they’re not even gonna pay all of the employees… And this guy is jetting off to hang out with his girlfriend in Nashville on our dime?”
Alexis Wilkins’ Instagram post with Kash Patel at the Real American Freestyle wrestling event at Penn State. © Alexis Wilkins / Instagram
Patel’s response? Fire the whistleblower. Steven Palmer, a 27-year FBI veteran and deputy assistant director of the Critical Incident Response Group overseeing the agency’s aircraft, was abruptly dismissed last Friday—the same day stories broke. Sources close to the matter told The Daily Beast that Palmer’s ouster was retaliation for not quashing the tracking data Patel allegedly requested be halted. Federal regulations do permit FBI directors personal use of agency planes, requiring only reimbursement for an economy ticket equivalent—Comey and Wray faced similar scrutiny under past administrations. But Patel’s hypocrisy stings: In a 2023 Truth Social tirade, he branded Wray a “#GovernmentGangster” for “jetting off on taxpayer dollars while dodging accountability.” Now, facing the same heat, Patel’s DOJ claims “no rules broken,” but critics argue the optics during a shutdown are toxic.
Patel’s Sunday X meltdown, viewed over 6.8 million times, shifted blame from his actions to imagined assaults on Wilkins: “The disgustingly baseless attacks against Alexis—a true patriot… are beyond pathetic. She is a rock-solid conservative and a country music sensation who has done more for this nation than most will in ten lifetimes.” He swiped at “supposed allies staying silent,” implying MAGA silence amid the scandal. But X’s community notes struck back Tuesday: “People are largely not attacking Kash Patel’s significant other, but rather reacting to his firing of people who point out his usage of government funds.” Rated “helpful,” the note linked to Patel’s own past condemnations of Wray, underscoring the double standard.
Even within Trump circles, unease brews. A Michigan lawyer representing one of the “thwarted” plot suspects blasted Patel’s post as premature fearmongering, while MSNBC reported frustration from AG Pam Bondi and deputy Todd Blanche over Patel’s X boasts before complaints were filed. “Senior FBI officials were unhappy,” justice correspondent Ken Dilanian tweeted, noting the probe’s vagueness around “young people radicalized online.”
Patel’s troubles peaked October 31, when he crowed on X about the FBI “thwart[ing] a potential terrorist attack” in Michigan, arresting “multiple subjects” in an ISIS-inspired Halloween plot. Follow-ups detailed a “violent plot tied to international terrorism,” but reality tells a different tale. Defense attorney Amir Makled, representing a 20-year-old detainee, told the AP: “I don’t know where this hysteria and this fearmongering came from… There’s no credible evidence that any so-called mass casualty event was ever planned.”
The suspects—five males aged 16-20, mostly gamers in Dearborn chat rooms—discussed a vague “pumpkin day” attack but lacked weapons, logistics, or intent, per attorneys Hussein Bazzi and Makled. No charges have stuck beyond detentions; two were released. This echoes September’s fiasco, when Patel hyped a Charlie Kirk shooting suspect arrest—later admitting no connection. Critics, including Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), accuse Patel of manufacturing threats to distract from scandals: “Fear sells in MAGA land, but it erodes real security.”
NBC News confirmed two men face federal charges for an alleged Ferndale attack, but details remain thin, with sources emphasizing online radicalization over imminent danger. The Free Press reported FBI raids on Dearborn homes, but Bazzi insisted: “No such plot existed.” As CNN noted, skepticism swirls around the scale—far from the Paris 2015 echo Patel implied.
Hypocrisy in High Places: A Pattern of MAGA Excess
Patel’s jet jaunts aren’t new; Seraphin tracked a prior Mar-a-Lago detour, captioning it “Reporting for Duty?” before the Nashville “Booty” flight. Amid shutdown brinkmanship—where furloughs loom for 2 million feds—this cavalier waste hits hard. Democrats like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer demand Patel’s reimbursement and resignation: “The FBI isn’t Trump’s dating app.”
From a progressive view, Patel embodies Trump’s weaponized bureaucracy: A Fox News fixture turned director, prioritizing loyalty over law. His silence on real threats—like rising domestic extremism—while inflating gamer chats exposes the rot. As one X user noted amid the community note frenzy: “Kash Patel: From truth-teller to taxpayer-funded Romeo.” With Bondi’s DOJ mum and MAGA allies mumbling, the calls for oversight grow louder. America deserves better than a director who jets for love but stays grounded in facts.
November 3, 2025
Patel: FBI Collected Multiple Devices in Search of Alleged Kirk Assassin’s Home
A police mugshot shows Tyler Robinson, the suspect in the fatal shooting of U.S. conservative commentator Charlie Kirk during an event at Utah Valley University, in Orem, Utah, U.S., in this photo released by the Utah Department of Public Safety on September 12, 2025. © Utah Department of Public Safety/Handout/REUTERS
FBI Director Kash Patel said “multiple” electronic devices were seized from the Utah home of Tyler Robinson, the man accused of fatally shooting Charlie Kirk last week, as part of the ongoing investigation.
“We are going to be interviewing scores of people, not just these chats on Discord, but any communications this individual have,” Patel said Monday evening during an appearance on Fox News’s “Hannity.”
“We’ve seized multiple electronic devices from the home of the suspect and his romantic partner,” he continued. “We’ve got computers, we’ve got laptops, gaming systems, cell phones.”
Law enforcement identified 22-year-old Robinson as the shooter who allegedly shot and killed Kirk, a conservative activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA, on Wednesday during an event at Utah Valley University.
“The evidence and information will come out. I won’t stylize the evidence, but I will say what was found in terms of information was a text message exchange where he, the suspect, specifically stated that he had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and he was going to do that,” the FBI director told host Sean Hannity.
On Monday, Patel, who is facing growing scrutiny over his handling of the case, said the bureau reconstructed a note from Robinson, stating the alleged suspect planned to take Kirk out.
FBI Director Kash Patel drew scrutiny when, hours after the killing, he posted on social media that “the subject” was in custody even though the actual suspected shooter remained on the loose. © AP
“The suspect wrote a note saying, ‘I have the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I’m going to take it.’ That note was written before the shooting. Evidence of its existence — we now have learned existed before the shooting — was in the location in the suspect and partner’s home,” Patel said Monday on “Fox and Friends.”
He said that the note was destroyed, but “we have found forensic evidence of the note, and we have confirmed what that note says, because of our aggressive interview posture at the FBI.”
The agency also collected DNA evidence from a screwdriver located at the scene and a towel used to wrap the rifle allegedly used in Kirk’s killing, according to Patel.
Over the weekend, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) said Robinson was in a romantic relationship with his roommate, who is cooperating with law enforcement.
Robinson is set for his first court appearance on Tuesday. He has been arrested on suspicion of aggravated murder.
September 16, 2025
Secret Service Faces Backlash Over Agent Cheering Kirk’s Murder
Sen. Marsha Blackburn sent a letter to Secret Service Director Sean Curran Thursday, demanding the immediate firing of a special agent who argued in a social media post that Charlie Kirk deserved to die.
Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, wrote the letter after RealClearPolitics reported that the agent, Anthony Pough, blamed “karma” for the killing of the founder of the conservative organization Turning Point USA, who was fatally shot at Utah Valley University Wednesday.
The assassin remains at large, and the FBI is engaged in a desperate manhunt to apprehend the killer. Kirk, 31, was a prominent conservative influencer close to President Trump, who credits Kirk and his organization for helping him make substantial inroads with young voters leading to his electoral victory last fall.
Pough posted on Facebook: “if you are Mourning this guy .. [sic] delete me. He spewed hatred and racism on his show.”
“Especially when we should be mourning the innocent children killed in Colorado,” Pough continued. “At the end of the day, you answer to GOD and speak things into existence. You can only circumvent karma, she doesn’t leave.”
Earlier this year, Pough, who is black, also posted several Facebook posts criticizing Trump for attempting to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and initiatives through the federal government.
“DEI stops NEPOTISM,” Pough argued in one Facebook post. “That’s the problem they have, [sic] That’s the root issue.”
In another post, Pough took issue with Trump’s firing of Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Biden and refused to resign after Trump was inaugurated for his second term. It’s customary for presidents to choose new military advisers, especially when the president representing a different party is elected.
Pough took issue with the firing on his Facebook account, using angry and cursing emojis.
“So you fired him because you don’t know if he was a “DEI” hire,” Pough wrote. “You assumed because he is BLACK he had to be. He is the chairman of the JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF [sic] and obviously you can only attain such a high class position based on MERIT.”
“This is RACISM,” he added.
In the letter to Curran, Blackburn blasted the agency, which she argued is in dire need of reform, and called for immediate action for what she called “inexcusable” conduct.
“Put simply, your employee celebrated and attempted to justify a political assassination,” she wrote. “This conduct is inexcusable, and I urge you in the strongest possible terms to immediately terminate his employment.”
By the time Blackburn had sent the letter, Curran had already placed Pough on administrative leave, a knowledgeable Secret Service source told RCP. Two sources also said the agency has plans to fire Pough but did not provide a timeline for when that would happen.
Kirk’s murder has been denounced across the political spectrum with almost every prominent elected Democrat speaking out against the political violence. Within conservative circles – and especially within the Trump administration – these concerns have been heightened by a sense of personal tragedy for a young husband and father whom many called a close friend. Vice President JD Vance solemnly carried Kirk’s casket, along with other pallbearers, after Air Force 2, Vance’s official plane, transported Kirk’s body from Utah to Phoenix, Arizona, on Thursday.
The outspoken MAGA influencer, who was famous for debating college students, encouraged political debate with political adversaries and this year appeared on California Gov. Newsom’s podcast, has plenty of detractors, many of whom have not reacted with solemnity, and in some cases have even celebrated his death on social media.
After conservative influencers pointed out that several military personnel and Department of War civilians had posted derogatory remarks on social media about Kirk after his death, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, a friend of Kirk’s, on Wednesday called such public comments “completely unacceptable.”
“We are tracking all these very closely — and will address, immediately.” Hegseth posted on X.com.
Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican, on Thursday said he would use his congressional authority to pressure social media organizations to enforce their own rules about advocating or condoning violence.
“I’m going to use Congressional authority and every influence with big tech platforms to mandate [an] immediate ban for life of every post or commenter that belittled the assassination of Charlie Kirk,” Higgins wrote.
Many conservative commentators, including investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger, have pushed back against the notion pushed by some leftists that Kirk created the environment that killed him.
“It’s a grotesque lie,” Shellenberger said in an X.post Thursday. “For 20+ years, Democrats dehumanized conservatives to the point that half the Left says Trump’s murder can be justified. Little wonder their condolences are falling on deaf ears.”
Even before Blackburn issued her letter to Curran, which RCP first reported, the Secret Service said it wouldn’t tolerate one of its agents, whose job description is to protect political figures from assassination, endorsing Kirk’s killing.
“The U.S. Secret Service will not tolerate any behavior which violates our code of conduct,” a Secret Service spokesperson told RCP in a statement. “We are aware of the employee’s social media post from today, and the individual has been placed on administrative leave as we investigate the matter.”
Before the Secret Service took action against the agent, his Facebook post about Kirk was circulating within the federal law enforcement community with some sources expressing concern that an agent, entrusted with protecting political figures and the U.S. continuity of government, would effectively celebrate an assassination of someone so close to Trump after the two assassination attempts last year against the now-president.
“If that’s all it takes to set you off, that’s dangerous to have around,” one source in the Secret Service community told RCP.
“I’m mostly concerned about the morals of a person sworn to protect the rights of others to engage in politics and exercise free speech, celebrating the death of someone exercising those same rights,” the source added.
Pough, a relatively new agent, having graduated from training in 2022, is part of the agency’s Presidential Protective Division but is not on a detail regularly charged with protecting Trump. Yet, all agents, at times, could be called off their official duties to contribute to presidential coverage.
Blackburn, who was highly critical of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle after the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, asserted in her letter that the Secret Service has been an agency “full of political actors and in desperate need of reform.”
She was one of several Republican senators who chastised Cheatle during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last year, after the former director refused to answer their questions about the agency’s failures in Butler.
The Tennessee senator, who is running for governor, in her letter to Curran said those failures would “forever be a stain on the Secret Service.” The agent’s postings about Kirk, she argued, “makes clear that one year later bad actors must be rooted out of your agency.”
“President Trump and all Secret Service protectees deserve nothing less,” she said.
“You noted in a statement earlier this year that you recognize ‘the importance of accountability’ at the Secret Service,” she added. “I implore you to abide by that statement and ensure that this employee never steps foot in Secret Service headquarters ever again.”
For many in the agency, Pough’s posts were like déjà vu all over again.
Just before Trump’s first election, in October 2016, Kerry O’Grady, a now-retired senior Secret Service agent suggested in a Facebook post just weeks before the 2016 election that she wouldn’t take a bullet for Trump.
The Secret Service didn’t take any disciplinary action against O’Grady, who was serving as the boss of the Denver Field Office, for that social media post, even though it was well known throughout the agency she had written it with many agents deeply concerned about the leadership’s lack of response.
After this reporter wrote a story about O’Grady’s post, the agency placed O’Grady on paid administrative leave for nearly two years to allow her to hit her retirement date. She left the agency in 2019 with full pension benefits.
September 12, 2025