FBI’s Kash Patel shoots off blazing memo on false CNN report: We ‘don’t answer to the media, especially the fake news’
FBI Director Kash Patel shared choice words for the “fake news” after a report claimed details regarding plans for employees of another agency within the Justice Department.
“This ‘report’ is entirely false.”
A stated intention of President Donald Trump’s administration toward clearing out the swamp in Washington, D.C. involves considering relocating offices elsewhere in the nation. What it does not involve at this time, according to Patel, who also serves as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), is a reallocation of ATF agents to the FBI or a cut of the agency “by more than a third.”
“Law enforcement agents don’t answer to the media, especially the fake news,” Patel captioned a post on X Monday evening as he shared a memo that responded directly to a report from CNN.
That memo began, “I want to address a report from this weekend speculating about the intentions of FBI leadership with personnel decisions at the ATF. This weekend, CNN reported news of a plan on the part of our leadership to ‘cut as many as one-third’ of ATF agents and reallocate 1,000 agents over to the FBI. The report even suggested our leadership team altered course after reading a news report, and ultimately backed off certain aspects of changes.”
“This ‘report’ is entirely false,” said the director.
Within CNN’s report, a “major cutback of the ATF” was claimed based on accounts of three unnamed “people briefed on the plan” wherein Patel intended to move “as many as 1,000 ATF agents to the FBI” and cut the agency’s workforce, “The move represents a major cutback of the ATF, an agency that long has been in the crosshairs of gun rights groups that believe its work infringes on Second Amendment rights. The ATF has about 2,600 agents and more than 5,000 employees, a number that has remained largely unchanged for years.”
The report, which was updated Saturday afternoon, also added that supposed pushback to the claims had led to officials backing off parts of the alleged plan.
Additionally, a statement from ATF spokeswoman Ashlee J L Sherrill explained the movement of roughly 150 ATF agents was a “temporary reassignment of resources to bolster public safety and combat criminal organizations more effectively.”
“Additionally, ATF routinely initiates surge operations in cities across the country facing significant increases in violent crime,” she added.
Meanwhile, Patel’s memo went on to make clear, “The fake news will NEVER be responsible for operational command authority over the ATF, we are. The brave men and women of the ATF who courageously dedicate themselves to protecting the American public will not have their security jeopardized by the media’s disinformation campaigns. When we make decisions, they will be final, regardless of the input of CNN or any other news organization.”
He also addressed the commitment shared by himself and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino toward restoring trust in federal law enforcement days after the former U.S. Secret Service agent turned commentator visited the ATF and declared, “It’s a new era — one where Americans will be kept safe and their Constitutional rights will be protected.”
On movement of agents, Patel joined Fox News host Trey Gowdy on “Sunday Night in America” and explained that of the 38,000 FBI employees, around 11,000 were located within a 50-mile radius of Washington, D.C., “And a third of the crime does not happen in this region.”
To tackle the crimes being committed in “Anytown, USA” the director expressed, “…we’re gonna reorient our assets in Washington — we’re gonna look at it strategically as we’ve been doing the last month — and send our agents, and analysts and SOS operatives into the field to take on this violent crime explosion that has occurred over these last four-five years, and to make sure that every state and every county…is all safe and secure.”
(Video Credit: Fox News)
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