Records appear to reveal that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel has made tracking down his critics a priority.
The FOIA records appear to show Patel directing his team on Feb. 5 to identify social media accounts criticizing him and respond to them.
The directive was contained in a text exchange between Patel and the FBI’s assistant director for public affairs, included in the latest tranche of records released by the government as part of its review of materials related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The directive was contained in a text exchange between Patel and the FBI’s assistant director for public affairs, included in the latest tranche of records released by the government as part of its review of materials related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. (RELATED: ‘Not Going To Take This Laying Down’: Kash Patel Announces Move Against Media Hit Piece)
In the exchange, Patel appeared focused on the reach of posts criticizing him and shared an account with his public affairs assistant director (AD) to examine. The aide characterized the account as an “‘Epstein didn’t kill himself bot account,’” while offering Patel an explanation: “if you are wondering where it’s coming from.”
Patel pushed back on the suggestion that the engagement was largely bot-generated, arguing that the account’s reach represented genuine attention. “277k responses are not bots,” Patel wrote.
He then reminded the aide that he had specifically instructed his team to identify the accounts behind the criticism and engage with them by highlighting the FBI’s accomplishments. “What I asked you and your team to do is find them, and post our record year results back at them all, continuously,” Patel wrote, before asking whether the aide had “been doing that.”
The aide appeared to distinguish between the number of responses and the post’s overall visibility, explaining that the engagement Patel cited did not necessarily translate into meaningful reach. “That’s views – it’s 400 responses; a real visible tweet gets 5x that,” the aide wrote.
Hellbound and Down 