Turns Out FBI Director Kash Patel Hates Reading

FBI Director Kash Patel doesn’t like to read briefings.

Forty-five current FBI employees spoke to The New York Times about the state of the bureau one year into Patel’s tenure, and his lack of interest in reading is one of the many revelations about their new director. What they had to say painted a damning picture of Patel’s leadership.

Patel made his feelings known on the written word during his first director’s call with the heads of the bureau’s field offices. On that call, according to one field office leader, Patel “had no agenda, no thoughts, no strategy or leadership philosophy or priorities to share.”

“I specifically remember him saying at one point, ‘I don’t read.’ He explained he didn’t read briefing materials,” the leader said.

This seems to fit right in with previous reporting about Patel, from his repeated use of the FBI’s private jet to see his singer girlfriend to his apparent obsession with social media. In fact, the tagline of the Times report is about how current and former FBI employees say Patel’s changes “are undermining the agency and making America less safe.”

Patel largely got the FBI job because President Trump was impressed with his desire to take revenge on Trump’s enemies. It seems that a willingness to take the job seriously and effectively run the most powerful law enforcement agency in the U.S. wasn’t a factor, nor was the desire to read important materials. That’s something that he has in common with Trump.

President Donald Trump blamed the “big aspirin” he’s taking for his enormous bruise that has suddenly switched hands.

Trump was photographed at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week with what appeared to be yet another large bruise. This time, the back of his left hand was discolored, though normally it’s his right hand that’s been bruised.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One Thursday, Trump offered an explanation for the injury.

“I clipped it on the table. So I put a little uh, what do they call it? Cream on it. But I clipped it,” Trump told reporters. “I would say, take aspirin if you like your heart, but don’t take aspirin if you don’t wanna have a little bruising. You know, if you take the big—I take the big aspirin. And when you take the big aspirin, they tell you, you bruise.

“The doctor said, ‘You don’t have to take that sir, you’re very healthy.’ I said, ‘I’m not taking any chances,’” Trump recounted.

As intent as Trump is to blame the injury on “big aspirin,” clearly he didn’t want to appear actually feeble.

But the oldest president ever elected to office has regularly been spotted with mysterious bruising on the back of his hand, giving rise to speculations about his health—including as to whether he is receiving undisclosed intravenous treatment.

The White House has dismissed concerns, citing Trump’s “frequent hand shaking and the use of aspirin”—a dubious line, given that the mark appears on the part of the hand subjected to the least, if any, pressure during a handshake.

President Trump is selling permanent membership spots on his new “Board of Peace” for $1 billion—and he won’t tell us what the money is for. 

“On the Board of Peace, some of the countries … I think the permanent members contributed a billion dollars,” a reporter asked Trump on Thursday night aboard Air Force One. “Is that money supposed to be for Gaza?” 

The “Board of Peace” was initially a post-ceasefire reconstruction plan for Gaza, hence the reporter’s question. But now it seems to have evolved into a Trump-controlled dupe of the United Nations.

“Some of the countries have already put up much more than that,” Trump responded. “Much more than that.” 

“What’s that money for?”

“That’s a lot of money, but it’s nothing compared to the value of peace,” Trump said, completely ignoring the direct question. “It’s so destructive for everybody when you have wars.” 

This is an incredibly dubious answer, especially from a president who has spent so much of his tenure personally enriching himself and his family. Is the membership fee for a chunk of real estate in Jared Kushner’s abhorrent “New Gaza” plan? Or is it going straight to Trump’s pocket via some offshore bank account based in Qatar? We may never know.  

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s rising global popularity has cost him a seat at Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace.”

“Dear Prime Minister Carney,” Trump posted on Truth Social Thursday evening. “Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time.

“Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he added.

The sudden revocation came hours after a heated back-and-forth between the neighboring leaders regarding Carney’s scathing address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, in which he marked the finale of Pax Americana and the end of a “rules-based order.”

“Every day we’re reminded that we live in an era of great-power rivalry,” Carney said Tuesday. “That the rules-based order is fading. That the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must.

“The middle powers must act together because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.”

The speech was phenomenally well met—except by Trump, who proceeded to warn Carney online that “Canada lives because of the United States.” Then he pulled the plug on Canada’s invite to his supposedly coveted “Board of Peace.”

Trump initially floated his “Board of Peace” idea back in September, as part of a 20-point peace plan to control Gaza, promising to include major heads of state as well as former world leaders, such as former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair.

But the board’s charter, as circulated to dozens of nations last week, makes little mention of Gaza. Instead, its goals appear to be as lofty as they are broad, seeking to “promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict.”

The concept came under new scrutiny over the last week in light of Trump’s escalations toward Greenland and NATO. Trump has also invited leaders of nations with terrible track records on human rights, such as Russia and Saudi Arabia, to join.

Longtime U.S. allies warned that the “Board of Peace” could upend world order, with several, including France, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Slovenia, refusing to join the board at all.

Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob told reporters Wednesday that he had declined on the basis that such a body “dangerously interferes with the broader international order.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents dragged a half-naked elderly grandfather out into the snow in handcuffs while on a manhunt—but the person they were looking for was already in custody.

The Department of Homeland Security tried to justify dragging ChongLy “Scott” Thao out into the snowy streets of St. Paul, Minnesota, over the weekend by claiming that ICE had been conducting a “targeted operation” to arrest two convicted sex offenders who were “AT LARGE.”

But Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell revealed Thursday night that one of the targets of that operation, Lue Moua, who was allegedly wanted for assault of a minor, was already in custody.

“He is in fact in prison and subject to a detainer,” Schnell said, during an interview on CNN’s OutFront with Erin Burnett. Schnell said ICE had previously been notified that Moua was not actually “at large.”

Schnell explained that while ICE’s coordination with local law enforcement was “long-standing,” ICE was not well coordinated with state law enforcement. “This is happening at a much higher level, a political level, and I think that’s part of the challenge here,” he said.

Clearly, DHS has been using the alleged presence of undocumented immigrants with heinous criminal records to justify countless cruelties in Minnesota, but the stories it’s spinning are simply fiction, and the so-called criminals it’s looking for aren’t even on the streets anymore.

Earlier this week, DHS demanded that leaders in Minnesota give it access to county jails and state prisons in order to deport an alleged 1,360 inmates who may be subject to deportation. The Minnesota Department of Corrections said the number of inmates DHS had actually identified was closer to 300 people—who would historically be released to federal officials after they’d finished serving their sentences.