The false assurance was more than a slip. It spotlighted the high-stakes uncertainty surrounding Patel's leadership of the bureau when its credibility - and his own - are under extraordinary pressure. Patel now approaches congressional oversight hearings this coming week facing not just questions about that investigation but broader doubts about whether he can stabilize a federal law enforcement agency fragmented by political fights and internal upheaval.
The complaint asserts that FBI Director Kash Patel indicated directly to one of the ousted agents, Brian Driscoll, that he knew the firings were likely illegal but was powerless to stop them because the White House and the Justice Department were determined to remove all agents who had helped in investigations surrounding Trump.
Brian Driscoll, the former acting director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), along with two other former senior FBI officials, sued the Trump administration and FBI Director Kash Patel on Wednesday, alleging they were dismissed for political reasons. The three officials said in the lawsuit, filed in a Washington DC federal court, that they were fired by FBI Director Kash Patel in a "campaign of retribution" to purge officials considered disloyal to President Donald Trump.
The FBI raided the Maryland home of John Bolton, a former national security advisor from President Donald Trump's first term, on Friday morning. Agents entered the house at 7 a.m. and searched for classified documents as part of an investigation ordered by Kash Patel, the FBI director. Minutes later, Patel wrote on X, "NO ONE is above the law... @FBI agents on mission."
The FBI is searching Bolton's home as part of an investigation into handling of classified documents, the source has said. A journalist affiliated with AFP news agency reported witnessing FBI agents entering Bolton's home in Bethesda, Maryland, located outside of Washington DC. The New York Times reported that the case was related to whether Bolton "illegally shared or possessed classified information." Bolton has not been detained or charged with any crime, the AP source said.
In releasing the declassified Durham annex - a document, like the Epstein files, in the custody of FBI and DOJ - Kash released not just information on several prominent uncharged third parties, but unsealed and disseminated "unfounded theories" about them.
