'Paranoid Mess': Kash Patel Torched For Reportedly Polygraphing FBI Officials

FBI Director Kash Patel has found himself tangled up in yet another high-profile scandal following a report from MS NOW on Thursday, which said he had ordered polygraph tests for more than a dozen former and current members of his security detail.

The report, citing two people briefed on the development, described the embattled director as being in “panic mode,” and said he had been isolating himself from senior FBI leaders.

The report was just the latest in a string of incidents that have landed Patel in hot water over the last several months. Those include an incident at the Winter Olympics where Patel was recorded chugging beer in a locker room with Team USA, a bombshell report in The Atlantic, which detailed incidents of excessive drinking and erratic behavior, and a subsequent report from The Atlantic that claimed Patel had distributed self-branded bourbon bottles to FBI staff and civilians while on official business.

FBI spokesman Ben Williamson declined to comment to MS NOW about whether Patel had ordered the polygraph tests, but denied claims that he had isolated himself from senior staff.

“I’ve been in the usual operational leader meetings with him every day this week … it’s false,” Williamson told the outlet

“The only people in panic are the ‘panicans’ in the media pushing out false stories because they spend zero time covering the record-breaking success in reduction in crime at this FBI,” Williamson added.

Critics were quick to jump on this latest report, with many saying Patel was “paranoid” and questioning why he would feel the need to polygraph his security team if The Atlantic story wasn’t true, as he claimed in his $250 million defamation lawsuit against the magazine.

In a Politico report last month, a top White House official said Patel will likely be the next Trump administration cabinet member to be fired, saying it was “only a matter of time.”

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