Today marks one year since Kash Patel was confirmed, and his first year as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been a humiliating catastrophe. Since his confirmation, Patel has used the FBI to cover up the truth about Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, undermine free and fair elections, and take private jets on the taxpayers’ dime to visit his girlfriend. 

Patel has completely fumbled the handling of the Epstein files, and while stonewalling their release for months on end, Patel reportedly privately informed government officials that Trump’s name appeared in them. 

At Trump’s behest, Patel has sought to undermine free and fair elections. Last month, the FBI raided Georgia’s Fulton County Election and Operations Hub to hunt for nonexistent 2020 election fraud in an election that Trump lost.

All the while, Patel repeatedly uses taxpayer dollars to take vacations on private jets, visit his girlfriend, and provide her an unnecessary security detail — even ordering agents to chauffeur her friends home after nights out. Just yesterday, Patel treated himself to a trip to Milan on a government jet to watch Team USA men’s Olympic hockey at an estimated cost to taxpayers of $75,000. 

In response, DNC Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer released the following statement: 

“Kash Patel is embarrassingly incompetent and unqualified to lead the FBI. He has utterly failed in his role as one of the top law enforcement officers in the United States, and has spent his tenure flying across the globe on the taxpayer dime to take vacations and visit his girlfriend. Meanwhile, he has stonewalled the release of the Epstein files, covering up the truth about Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, after previously demanding transparency. Patel should be fired or he should resign.”