FBI Director Kash Patel has caused “frustration” within the Trump administration after he touted a terror bust before agents and prosecutors could get their facts straight, a report alleges.
Among those allegedly peeved at the embattled director, already under fire for jetting to watch his girlfriend’s concert and visit her city on a government plane this week, is Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, sources told MSNBC.
Patel, 45, posted to X at 7:32 a.m. that the FBI had “thwarted a potential terrorist attack and arrested multiple subjects in Michigan who were allegedly plotting a violent attack over Halloween weekend.”
The director did not share additional details about the attack in the Detroit, Michigan, suburb of Dearborn, but promised there would be “more to come.”
Patel’s rush to take a victory lap—mere hours, if not less—after agents made the bust did not sit right with some officials in the bureau, sources told MSNBC.
The network’s justice and intelligence correspondent, Ken Dilanian, posted on X that senior FBI officials are “frustrated” that Patel’s announcement went public “before a criminal complaint was prepared and before key details were clear, including what exactly this plot entailed.”
The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.
Patel posted later Friday that “a violent plot tied to international terrorism was disrupted.”
He wrote, “This is what defending the homeland looks like—vigilance saves lives.”
The bureau released no other details about the foiled attack or those who were arrested. MSNBC sources said the plot “involved a group of young people, some of whom are minors, who had been engaging online with Islamic extremist content.”
MSNBC noted that none of those detained were immediately charged.
Friday was not the first time Patel has ruffled feathers in the administration by seemingly jumping the gun on an arrest announcement.
Patel was widely ridiculed in September for announcing that the FBI had arrested a suspect in the assassination of the right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk. A man was detained mere hours after the attack, which Patel blasted to his millions of followers on social media, but was ultimately released and determined to have no involvement in the slaying.
The FBI’s actual murder suspect, Tyler Robinson, was not taken into custody until more than 24 hours later.
