General Discussion

A Politico report added, “Patel’s blunder came at a time when the embattled director was already under scrutiny from all sides of the political spectrum — and from many current and former agents in the bureau itself.”

A day later, according to The New York Times’ latest reporting and multiple sources, Patel convened an online meeting with 200 agents to discuss the manhunt, launched into profanity-laced tirades and whined about not being kept in the loop by his subordinates. From the article:

The killing of Mr. Kirk on Wednesday not only poses a challenge to agents racing to find the shooter, it also represents a grave leadership test for Mr. Patel. His swift pronouncements about the inquiry have revived concerns about his lack of experience, obsession with social media and purge of some of the bureau’s most experienced investigators, according to current and former officials, most of whom spoke on the sensitive matter on the condition of anonymity.

......That’s plainly true. Patel’s tenure has featured a variety of embarrassments and brazenly partisan personnel purges. Things went from bad to worse this week when three former senior FBI officials filed a brutal federal lawsuit, which characterized Patel’s bureau as fixated on “politically motivated retribution” and consumed by the whims of a Trump White House.

In case that weren’t quite enough, Patel, just a few weeks ago, fired the highly regarded head of the FBI field office Salt Lake City for reasons that have not yet been explained — and given that the Kirk shooting happened in Utah, the director’s decision received obvious and unavoidable scrutiny anew over the last couple of days.....

Patel has been battling suspicions that he simply wasn’t up for the job ever since. He still enjoys the White House's backing, but he nevertheless took additional steps toward confirming those suspicions this week.