Newly appointed FBI Director Kash Patel held his first videoconference call with top agents around the country on Wednesday, Feb. 26.
While some of the call was business as usual from President Donald Trump’s unconventional pick to lead the agency, there were a few moments that raised eyebrows, according to ABC News and The New York Times.
For one, Patel reportedly expressed his desire to have the FBI partner with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in order to increase agents’ fitness levels.
UFC owner and CEO Dana White has ties to the Trump administration and even stumped for the president at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
However, on Thursday, Feb. 27, a spokesperson for the mixed martial arts company told Sportico he was “unaware of any formal conversations between the two sides.” The FBI has not yet commented on the story.
Elsewhere during the videoconference, Patel reportedly expressed his desire to join the FBI hockey team, and according to The New York Times, he “used the words ‘intelligence’ and ‘counterintelligence’ interchangeably, suggesting that he was confusing them.”
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Patel was narrowly confirmed as the new FBI director on Friday, Feb. 21, despite having no experience as a senior law enforcement official.
“There will be accountability within the FBI and outside of the FBI, and we will do it through rigorous constitutional oversight starting this weekend,” he said in his remarks at the swearing-in ceremony. “There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive action.”
Patel has been vocally critical of the organization over the past few years, accusing the FBI of being “illegitimate” and “completely politicized.” He has repeatedly called their investigation into the links between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign a “witch hunt” and a hoax.
On his Kash’s Corner podcast for the Epoch Times — a platform known for spreading far-right conspiracy theories — Patel made many unfounded claims about the agency, including his belief that they paid Twitter to censor conservatives ahead of the 2020 election.
He also suggested that the FBI may have used confidential sources to coerce Jan. 6 rioters into their violent acts, thereby entrapping them.
“The FBI and DOJ [are] politicizing targets and manufacturing crimes. They’re basically saying, show me the man and I’ll show you the crime,” he said on a 2022 show.
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