The FBI director is targeting reporters and his own agents to stop embarrassing leaks.
Kash Patel at a press conference on April 28, 2026, at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.
(Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images)
Under Donald Trump, people go into public service not to do good or administer the state competently but rather to boost their personal brands and make a quick buck. In his pre-presidential days, Trump famously, and lucratively, leased out his name to dubious products, whether it be Trump steaks, Trump University, Trump dolls, or Trump pom-poms. Elevation to the highest elected office in the land has not stopped this cornucopia of kitsch. At the official Trump store you can buy all sorts of merchandise, including hats, golf accessories, and bathrobes.
Trump’s closest political allies have followed his lead. Many of his cabinet team, notably Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, emerged from the world of cable news punditry. They are well-practiced in the art of self-promotion and side hustles such as writing books.
But few in Trump’s circle have so avidly tried to profit from their proximity to power as the appropriately named FBI director Kash Patel. In the many products that bear his name, Patel likes to style himself as Ka$h, with the dollar sign “s” echoing Walt Disney’s money-loving mallard, Uncle $crooge. As Sarah Fitzpatrick, writing in The Atlantic, reports, “Even before he was confirmed as FBI director, Patel sent out Ka$h-branded merch boxes that included hats, socks, and other items depicting the comic-book character the Punisher.” A Department of Justice employee described Patel as “very merch forward.”
In his current position, it would be unseemly for Patel to make money directly from merch. That’s why Ka$h-branded merchandise is now sold by the nonprofit Kash Foundation. But that’s where Patel’s commitment to probity, such as it is, ends. He has created branded mememtos, including a challenge coin and personalized bourbon, that he gives away to people he meets in his line of duty.
As The Atlantic details:
it is not unusual for him to travel with a supply of personalized branded bourbon. The bottles bear the imprint of the Kentucky distillery Woodford Reserve, and are engraved with the words “Kash Patel FBI Director,” as well as a rendering of an FBI shield. Surrounding the shield is a band of text featuring Patel’s director title and his favored spelling of his first name: Ka$h. An eagle holds the shield in its talons, along with the number 9, presumably a reference to Patel’s place in the history of FBI directors. In some cases, the 750-milliliter bottles bear Patel’s signature, with “#9” there as well.
By itself, this habit might seem picayune. But of course it falls hard on the heels of a larger branding crisis ignited by an earlier Atlantic report, also written by Sarah Fitzpatrick, alleging that Patel has been prone to bouts of “conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences.” Patel has not only strenuously denied these allegations—he’s sued The Atlantic, accusing the magazine of publishing an article “replete with false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office.”
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As my Nation colleague Elie Mystal has explained, this lawsuit is on the face of it “preposterous.” As a public figure, Patel faces a very high burden of having to prove that The Atlantic with actual malice published something it knew to be false. Last month, a federal judge in Texas dismissed an earlier Patel lawsuit against MSNBC contributor Frank Figliuzzi, who had also suggested that the FBI director was a frequent drinker.
Further, Patel is not acting as if The Atlantic’s allegations were “fabricated.” Rather, his rage seems to stem from the assumption that credible information was leaked by his own team. In an effort to combat the allegations and other reports of misconduct, Patel has launched a witch hunt against journalists and his own agents. On Wednesday, MS Now reported that the FBI had launched an investigation of Sarah Fitzpatrick. The FBI has also been investigating a New York Times reporter who reported on allegations that government security and transportation had been improperly provided to Patel’s girlfriend.
Patel is investigating not just reporters who have embarrassed him but also his own FBI staff. On Thursday, MS Now reported:
FBI Director Kash Patel ordered the polygraphing of more than two dozen former and current members of his security detail, as well as other staff, and has been described as being in panic mode to save his job and find leakers among his team, according to two people briefed on the development.
Patel walled himself off from some senior bureau leaders this week after multiple media reports raised red flags about his leadership, according to three people familiar with his recent actions. Two of the people told MS NOW that the director ordered the polygraphing this week of former and current security detail members, as well as several information technology staff.
Patel is clearly under siege. One way to understand his actions is that he’s engaged in a doomed effort to salvage his brand. The reporting from The New York Times and The Atlantic has clearly damaged his reputation, so he is working to stanch the leaks. Further, he has recently launched high-profile politically motivated persecutions that are clearly designed to curry favor from Trump. On April 21, the Department of Justice laid charges of financial crimes against the Southern Poverty Law Center, an anti-racist group that has long been the subject of MAGA ire. This was followed on April 28 with charges against former FBI director James Comey of making threats against Donald Trump. This was a particularly egregious persecution, since it rested on nothing more than an Instagram post featuring the numbers 86 47. This was the second time the Trump administration has tried to jail Comey; last year Comey was exonerated in a prosecution based on testimony he gave to Congress.
As I’ve suggested in an earlier column, Patel’s malignancy is tempered by his incompetence. While his politically motivated investigations and prosecutions are an affront to the rule of law, there is little reason to think they will be successful. Neither lawsuits nor lie detectors will save Patel’s tarnished brand. He’s caught in a trap of his own making: The more he struggles to establish his good name, the worse he looks.
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