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📰 Above the fold
As FBI agents searched for the killer of conservative commentator and podcaster Charlie Kirk, FBI Director Kash Patel allegedly would not step off his plane at the Provo, Utah airport unless he was wearing an FBI raid jacket with the proper shoulder patches. The search for those items interrupted the investigation, according to a report sent to congressional committees.
According to the 115-page report prepared for the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, Patel stayed on his plane in Provo the day after Charlie Kirk was shot at Utah Valley University until staff brought him the special jacket. The report says he ultimately took a female agent’s jacket to secure the correct size.
Patel then reportedly complained that the shoulders of the loaner jacket did not have patches attached to them, and he again refused to leave the plane. The report alleges that members of an FBI SWAT Team in the field searching for Kirk’s killer stripped patches off their gear and delivered them to the airport.
The account remains uncorroborated. The memo attributes the jacket story to a source dubbed ALPHA 99, described as “reliable, trustworthy, and competent,” with several decades of FBI service.
The allegation appears in a 115-page report prepared for the House and Senate Judiciary Committees and published by the New York Post. The report concludes the agency is a “rudderless ship” and “all f—ked up” under Patel. The report also slams Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino as “something of a clown.”
Patel has been criticized recently for his use of a government jet to travel for a date with his girlfriend, and for providing the 27-year-old country singer with an FBI SWAT team as a personal security detail.
After President Donald Trump nominated Patel to lead the FBI, Utah Sen. Mike Lee defended Patel against attacks from Democrats about his qualifications for the job and for his connections to people who have promoted far-right neo-Nazi and racist ideologies.
“Your commitment to the Constitution, to the rule of law and to the American people is remarkable,” Lee gushed during Patel’s confirmation hearing. “And I’m honored to know you, to call you my friend, and to give you my vote.”