Kash Patel PANICS as FBI agents REVOLT

0:00 You're watching the legal breakdown.

0:01 Glenn, we have a very bizarre update from inside the FBI where Cash

0:06 Mattel has reportedly now begun issuing uh

0:09 polygraph tests to his own FBI agents.

0:12 So, first and foremost, because this is such a a weird kind of update that I

0:16 think a lot of people aren't familiar with, is this legal?

0:19 Is this customary?

0:20 What does this do to morale?

0:22 Just give a general overview here about what it means to start

0:25 giving polygraph tests to FBI agents at the behest of the FBI director.

0:30 Legal, yes.

0:32 Customary, not really.

0:34 What does it do to morale?

0:36 It destroys morale and Brian at all, but guarantees that the leaks about

0:42 Cash Patel's behavior will not just continue, but they will accelerate.

0:47 I predict at light speed.

0:50 So, let's break this story down a little bit.

0:52 Um, I think it was Carol Lenig and Ken

0:54 Delaney and broke the news that Cash Patel, director of the FBI,

0:59 had ordered more than two dozen polygraph tests,

1:03 lie detector tests of his staff members,

1:06 current and former security detail members, and other members of his team.

1:11 And let me tell you, Brian,

1:13 one way to destroy morale is to start basically accusing

1:19 everybody around you of engaging in misconduct or being disloyal.

1:25 Now, let me talk about um how polygraphs

1:28 typically can and are administered to FBI agents.

1:33 you know, part of the kind of inprocessing and even part

1:37 of the application process if you want

1:39 to join the FBI involves polygraph examinations.

1:43 And so it's not unusual.

1:45 But what is really unusual is for, you know,

1:49 something to go on inside the FBI and have the director

1:54 all of a sudden turn his scrutiny on his own team members.

1:59 You know, Brian, over the years, I worked as part of many teams.

2:03 I even headed up some teams.

2:05 I mean, it it could be a football team.

2:07 It could be a team of prosecutors and support staff.

2:10 When I was an army jag and we were doing court marshal prosecutions

2:15 or when I was the chief of homicide at the DC US attorney's office,

2:19 I had a team of 30 homicide prosecutors

2:22 and and parallegals and legal assistants, big teams.

2:26 And the one thing you want to do is try to project that you trust them,

2:31 that you support them, that you have their back.

2:35 Now, if you suspect some wrongdoing or perhaps some deficient performance,

2:40 you go behind closed doors and, you know,

2:42 you thoughtfully address those matters.

2:44 But to all of a sudden say,

2:46 "I'm ordering more than two dozen polygraph examinations,

2:50 lie detector tests of everybody around me," that will destroy morale.

2:56 And frankly, Brian, it will end up turning uh FBI personnel against Cash Patel.

3:03 There was an interesting update to the Atlantic

3:07 story that first broke some news about, you know, Cash Patel's,

3:11 let's just call it inappropriate leadership as the FBI director.

3:15 And then remember Cash Patel sued the Atlantic for defamation,

3:19 I think to the tune of quarter of a billion dollars

3:22 because I guess that's what his reputation is worth in his mind.

3:25 There was some follow-up reporting that after Cash Patel filed that suit,

3:30 all of a sudden there were more sources from within the FBI

3:35 coming forward and providing additional information

3:38 about Cash Patel to the Atlantic.

3:40 But here is really I think the most dangerous aspect of all

3:45 of this and it is the reporting by Carol Lenig and Ken Delaneian as follows.

3:51 Patel has walled himself off from some senior bureau FBI leaders

3:57 this week after multiple media reports raised red flags about his leadership.

4:03 And Patel has also avoided meeting this week

4:07 with some key operational leaders at the FBI.

4:12 So now you have an FBI director who

4:16 is per perhaps isolating himself from important leadership

4:21 meetings where you know you would want

4:22 the FBI director at least if he were competent

4:26 and concerned about the safety of the American

4:29 people to be on top of things you know

4:32 that are being discussed by his leadership team

4:34 when it comes to for example ongoing criminal investigations,

4:37 national security matters.

4:39 But it sounds like based on this reporting, you know,

4:42 he may be so paranoid that he is walling himself off.

4:46 At least that is what's being reported.

4:48 So, you know, this is kind of a lose lose lose, right?

4:52 It's it's a lose for Cash Patel.

4:54 It's a lose for the American people.

4:56 It's the lose.

4:56 It's a lose on the national security front.

4:59 Um, but let's hope that this may ultimately prompt some of the changes

5:05 at the FBI that I think can only make matters better.

5:10 Now, I want to ask about the prospect of a revolt within the FBI.

5:13 But before I do that, just a quick

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5:32 Now, Glenn, you kind of alluded to this idea of a revolt within the FBI.

5:36 But does the fact that this reporting exists,

5:39 which means that somebody in the FBI or multiple people within

5:42 the FBI are actually leaking this very information to news sources,

5:47 does that suggest that this is actually backfiring,

5:50 that there is some evidence of a revolt within the FBI?

5:52 Because otherwise, we just wouldn't know about it.

5:56 Yeah.

5:56 So in the first instance, I think what gave rise to the Atlantic

6:00 article in the first place about, you know,

6:02 Cash Patel's leadership or lack thereof was probably dissatisfaction

6:08 in the rank and file about what Patel was doing, you know, how he was behaving.

6:14 And then when he tries to crack down and get to the bottom of it by, you know,

6:18 doing these, you know, casting a wide net of lie detector uh tests,

6:23 that seems to have prompted more leaks,

6:26 more people from inside coming forward and saying, "Listen, you know,

6:30 now this is what he is doing to try to put

6:33 a lid on it." So I I have a feeling it will accelerate.

6:36 I have a feeling all of the negative reporting, you know,

6:40 including things like Cash Patel giving out personalized bottles of bourbon,

6:45 I mean, I heard somebody make the comment that he

6:48 doesn't seem to understand the bourbon of proof, does he?

6:51 Um, but I I think all of it is probably sending the signal

6:55 right to the Oval Office that this guy has become beyond a distraction.

7:00 And you know, we'll see if Cash Patel gets thrown

7:04 under the bus by Donald Trump just like Christy Gnome did,

7:07 just like Pam Bondi did.

7:09 You know, I think we may see um more cabinet

7:13 officials kind of being shown the door by Donald Trump.

7:17 Of course, the question then becomes who who do we get behind Cash Patel?

7:21 And could that person be worse?

7:24 Could that person be less equipped to run the Federal Bureau of Investigation?

7:28 Well, you know what?

7:29 If Donald Trump is picking that person, you know,

7:32 I'm gonna suggest that maybe um we could

7:36 end up even getting somebody worse than Cash Patel.

7:39 Yeah, I think that's a safe bet.

7:40 And I think if history has shown us anything,

7:42 it's that as bad as these Trump administration officials are,

7:46 as much as we want them to go away,

7:48 it is almost inevitable that they'll be replaced by somebody worse.

7:51 The vice president going from Mike Pence to JD Vance, objectively worse.

7:54 the attorney general going from Pam Bondi uh who is, you know,

7:58 corrupt and incompetent to Todd Blanch who is corrupt and certainly less

8:03 incompetent than Pam Bondi was shows that that went in a worse direction.

8:07 And so I think we do need to disabuse ourselves

8:09 of this idea that whoever Trump replaces some ousted official

8:13 with is going to be better because you know if

8:15 history has shown us anything over and over and over again,

8:18 it's that it goes in a worse direction, not a better one.

8:21 But Glenn, I want to ask here,

8:23 given what we've seen about Cash Battel's pretty obvious paranoia,

8:26 is there any precedent for this as far

8:28 as a different FBI director in history goes?

8:31 Yeah.

8:31 Well, Jay Edgar Hoover was was pretty kind of famously paranoid at times

8:37 and was alleged to have engaged in misconduct kind of, you know,

8:40 during the Watergate era, but early on.

8:44 And then Richard Nixon actually replaced him with a guy named

8:47 El Patrick Gray who's not exactly a household name, but you know,

8:51 he seemed to be, you know, willing to do some of uh Richard Nixon's dirty

8:55 bidding and actually was accused of obstructing some investigations.

8:59 So, you know, it's not unfortunately all that uh

9:03 unusual or unprecedented that we have FBI directors

9:07 kind of being parano paranoid or abusing the power

9:11 of the FBI just as we are seeing,

9:14 you know, Todd Blanch, the acting attorney general, and before him, Pam Bondi,

9:18 the attorney general, you know,

9:20 weaponizing the Department of Justice to do what?

9:23 Well, to, you know, use it in service of whatever Donald Trump wanted.

9:28 You know, if Dear Leader announced that he

9:30 had a perceived enemy that must be prosecuted,

9:34 notwithstanding the fact that they'd committed no

9:36 crimes like James Comey and like Leticia James,

9:39 well then Pam Bondi and now Todd Blancher all

9:42 too happy to misuse the powers of the Department

9:46 of Justice just as past FBI directors have

9:49 been willing to misuse the power of the FBI.

9:53 you know, Glenn, just from like a 30,000 foot view,

9:56 and I know that we had touched on this at the beginning,

9:58 but but I'm just curious here,

10:00 and especially um given your experience as a 30-year former federal prosecutor,

10:05 like when you are on the receiving end

10:08 of polygraph tests at the hands of the FBI director,

10:11 doesn't that kind of suggest that you've done something wrong?

10:14 And so what does it say to these FBI agents under Cash Patel that they're

10:19 kind of being treated as criminals instead

10:21 of the people who are taking criminals down?

10:23 Like I I have to imagine we were speaking about uh the morale of the FBI,

10:27 but but also just this idea of of their dedication

10:32 to Cash Patel as FBI director to be treated

10:35 like criminals and then ex be expected to go

10:38 out and by the way pursue his overwhelmingly partisan agenda.

10:43 Can't can't that just have a complete adverse effect?

10:48 It looks like Cash Patel is willing to presume everyone around him is guilty.

10:53 I mean it's not exactly small potatoes that the reporting is he

10:57 ordered more than two dozen polygraph

11:00 examinations lie detector tests be administered

11:04 to you know staff and team members security detail members and um I

11:08 I have to believe that will probably inspire people to leave the FBI.

11:14 I mean, why would you want to continue to serve a director of the FBI

11:19 whose first instinct is to presume you guilty and put you on the box,

11:25 which is what we call it, you know, put somebody on a lie detector test, which,

11:29 you know, I've taken lie detector tests and, you know,

11:31 they can be pretty anxiety producing even when

11:34 you know you're going to tell the truth.

11:36 And I I can't tell you how many

11:38 times I used lie detector tests as investigative tools.

11:42 Let me hasten to add that the courts have long ago ruled

11:45 that the results of polygraph examinations are

11:49 not admissible in court in criminal cases.

11:52 Why?

11:53 Because you can't have a machine sort of take the place of or supplant

11:59 a jury's determination about whether any witness is telling the truth or lying.

12:05 So, you know, you can't even hint at the fact

12:08 that a witness or a defendant had taken a polygraph examination,

12:12 never mind not sharing the results.

12:14 Um, but they're used as investigative tools all the time.

12:17 And I would watch them, you know, produce statements from witnesses once they

12:24 are told they failed a polygraph examination.

12:28 I have seen FBI um agents interrogate them and get the truth out of them.

12:34 And you know, more often than than not, they would say, "Yeah, you know what?

12:38 I thought I might might get caught once you gave me a lie detector test,

12:41 and let me come clean and tell you what I know or what I did." So,

12:44 listen, I I can't imagine the more than two dozen FBI agents,

12:49 employees, security member, security detail members, staff.

12:53 I think there was some reporting about he's also polygraphing people,

12:57 you know, some of the IT specialists at at the FBI.

13:01 I can't imagine they are going to want to continue to work for Cash Patel.

13:07 And if they do, you know, will this really inspire loyalty in them

13:12 and confidence that the leader has their back?

13:15 I I can't imagine it will.

13:17 Last question here, Glenn.

13:18 Let's put your dollar up for uh for for for a bet here.

13:22 Will Cash Patel be the next Trump administration official to be ousted?

13:26 Yeah.

13:26 So, as you know, and as our viewers probably know, I am not a gambling man.

13:31 I'm not a high roller.

13:32 $1 is my betting limit.

13:33 You know what?

13:34 I'm going to put a good 75 cents of my maximum $1 bet on Cash Patel

13:39 being the next cabinet official to be shown

13:42 the undercarriage of a bus by Donald Trump.

13:45 I think he is sucking up so much of the oxygen in corporate media right now.

13:50 He is making Donald Trump and his cabinet pick just look like an absolute fool.

13:56 He's making a mockery of the Trump administration.

13:59 And I do have a feeling he's going to be the next one shown the door.

14:03 All right.

14:03 Well, we will see soon enough, I'm sure.

14:06 So, again, for those who are watching right now,

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14:28 I'm Brian Teller Cohen.

14:29 And I'm Glenn Kersner.

14:30 You're watching the Legal Breakdown.