Andrew Weissmann: FBI Dir. Kash Patel has a 'fundamental misunderstanding of his role'

0:00 mutual physicians mutual we have breaking news

0:02 tonigh from MSNAS Karolinigan-Kendelanian with a reporting

0:07 about the panicked paranoia and desperation

0:10 of Donald Trump's FBI Director Kashyap Patel.

0:13 Quote, FBI Director Kashyap Patel ordered the polygraphing of more

0:17 than two dozen former and current members of his security detail,

0:21 as well as other staff,

0:23 and has been described as being in panic mode to save his job

0:26 and find leakers among his team according

0:29 to two people briefed on the development.

0:32 This comes a day after the Atlantic, which is being sued by Kashyap Patel

0:36 for previous reporting about him reported that Patel, quote,

0:40 has given out bottles of his personalized whiskey to FBI

0:44 staff as well as civilians he encounters in his duties,

0:47 according to eight people.

0:49 Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic,

0:51 published a note today about Kashyap Patel's lawsuit against

0:54 The Atlantic saying that nothing will deter us from our work.

0:57 And while he was at it, he included a picture of the FBI

1:02 director's personalized bourbon bottle that The Atlantic managed

1:06 to buy from someone who said Patel gave it to him at an event in Las Vegas.

1:12 The FBI responded to The Atlantic,

1:15 senior bureau officials have long exchanged commemorative items

1:20 and formal gift settings consistent with ethics rules.

1:24 Director Patel has followed all applicable ethical

1:26 guidelines and pays for any personal gift himself.

1:30 Joining us now is Andrew Weissman,

1:32 former FBI general counsel and an MSNOW legal analyst.

1:35 And Andrew, so the FBI people clearly not denying one word about

1:41 the Patel bourbon that is carried by the caseload on his plane.

1:46 Just saying, everybody does it.

1:51 Yes, not only they're not denying it, they're admitting it.

1:55 And so what we have here is an FBI director who does does not,

2:00 to put it bluntly, understand the nature of his responsibilities to the public.

2:08 The idea that you would polygraph people because they are saying

2:12 truthful information about your conduct is not something that is a secret,

2:18 that it should be kept from the public who you serve.

2:22 It's not like there is and sort of polygraphing because

2:26 the leaks are about an ongoing criminal or national security investigation.

2:31 That's not what we're talking about.

2:33 That would be a legitimate use of the polygraph.

2:37 But here we're talking about something that the public has a right

2:40 to know because the fbi director works for the public um not

2:45 vice versa and so this is really a sign of just a fundamental

2:50 misunderstanding about his role in connection with running the bureau and what

2:55 he owes the public um and the idea that this is something

2:59 that's going on at the at the fbi i mean it is

3:03 so sickening to me having worked there that everybody at the fbi

3:07 the men the women and the agents the analysts the staff all

3:11 deserve better and the public deserves better the uh how drunk should

3:17 an fbi director be how often what what what is the standard

3:22 what are the odds of the fbi director getting a call

3:25 in the middle of the night where you'd really want the director to be

3:29 sober um so that's what you call a softball question um

3:33 and the idea that uh you have the fbi saying everybody did

3:38 this could you imagine robert muller um this is a man who

3:43 is famous for never at any speech ever wanting to talk about himself.

3:48 You always had to take out the word I or me

3:50 from a speech because you didn't want to do that.

3:54 There are very, very strict rules at the FBI,

3:57 Beth, the FBI about alcohol consumption.

4:00 For one thing, the agents are armed.

4:03 And so obviously you can't have any alcohol in that situation.

4:07 But of course, you are completely aware that you may have

4:11 to respond to a national security crisis at any moment, at any moment.

4:17 And so there is just no alcohol whatsoever.

4:22 And that's leaving Leaving aside the idea that you would actually use

4:29 the FBI insignia for personal use as a token to give to people,

4:35 that's something that, you know, obviously is not something that everyone does.

4:41 That is not something that Chris Ray or Louis

4:45 Freeh or Robert Mueller would engage in any circumstances.

4:49 So the reporting indicates that Patel is in his office

4:53 and he won't speak to all sorts of people

4:55 at the highest levels working in the FBI because he's

4:59 afraid of which one of them might be informers on him.

5:03 But if Patel is completely incompetent.

5:06 Isn't it better that he's just locked alone in his office,

5:09 not talking to anyone?

5:12 Okay, so that is an interesting question because here's the way I answer that.

5:18 Having seen the way that an FBI director needs to function,

5:24 having a leader of an organization in a crisis is critical.

5:30 Yes, of course, having somebody who's completely

5:33 incompetent and if the reporting is correct,

5:35 you know, and also inebriated is obviously somebody who you do not want there.

5:40 But again, we are owed more.

5:42 i really can't stress having been in that like it been

5:46 the general counsel how important it is to have senior experienced

5:49 people with judgment and the ability to sift through facts to be

5:57 able to call the shots about what needs to be done.

6:01 We're not talking about minor issues here.

6:04 We're talking about the safety of America against

6:08 the most heinous and hideous and potentially devastating crimes.

6:15 Andrew Weissman, thank you very much for joining

6:17 us tonight with your invaluable expertise in this issue.

6:21 Thank you very much.

6:22 You're welcome.