'They were baffled': FBI insiders stunned over firing related to Kash Patel's girlfriend
FBI Director Kash Patel has fired a man who he believes is responsible for media reports showing Patel used his FBI jet to fly to see his girlfriend sing at an event, according to reports.
Bloomberg Law reported on Saturday that Patel forced out a 27-year veteran of the bureau.
"The FBI forced out a senior official overseeing aviation shortly after Director Kash Patel grew outraged about revelations of his publicly-available jet logs indicating he’d flown to see his musician girlfriend perform, said three people familiar with the situation," according to the outlet. "Steven Palmer, a 27-year veteran of the FBI, became the third head of the critical incident response group—which includes FBI pilots—to be fired or removed in Patel’s short regime, adding to a year filled with retributive terminations."
The report continues:
"His exit was made official Friday, and a replacement to head the bureau’s crisis management operations including hostage rescue and bomb detection, has already been posted on the FBI’s website."
The report adds, "Patel was angered this week by social media posts and news stories calling attention to his use of an FBI jet that arrived in State College, Pennsylvania, where his girlfriend, country music artist Alexis Wilkins, sang the national anthem at a wrestling match, said the individuals, who spoke anonymously out of fear of retaliation."
"Palmer was told he needed to immediately resign or be fired, which the individuals said was at least partially connected to Patel’s fury over the negative media cycle on his personal travel," it states. "Palmer’s position included supervising the FBI’s aviation units, but Patel’s flight schedule was readily traceable through online tracking services and he reposted photos of himself with Wilkins at the event on his personal X account. The people familiar with the matter said they were baffled as to why Patel might’ve blamed Palmer for the travel details."
Ex-prosecutor Ron Filipkowski chimed in: "Kash fired the guy he thinks outed him for taking another private jet flight to see his girlfriend sing."