Throughout Kash Patel’s tenure as FBI director, the former podcast personality has meandered from one self-imposed controversy to another, but the last couple of weeks have been especially brutal.

The Atlantic, for example, published a rather devastating report alleging that FBI personnel have expressed concerns about the director’s unexplained absences and excessive drinking, which have alarmed colleagues and potentially created a security risk. Patel denied the allegations, accused The Atlantic of being part of an elaborate journalistic conspiracy he equated with organized crime and filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against the magazine on Monday. None of that stopped congressional Democrats from seizing on the allegations to demand he submit to alcohol abuse screening.

Around the same time, Patel lost a defamation case against ex-MSNBC analyst and columnist Frank Figliuzzi, a former assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI. Patel also faced a separate controversy after the bureau investigated a New York Times reporter for writing an article Patel didn’t like.

There’s been lingering scuttlebutt for months about the thin ice under the director’s feet, and the latest round of headlines has only intensified the chatter. Indeed, on midday Saturday, Politico reported that things “aren’t looking great” for Patel, adding that he appeared likely to be the next high-ranking official to exit the administration. This dovetailed with related observations about just how little the White House has done to defend Patel, or even to say his name out loud.

Consider what we’ve seen from the FBI director since that Politico report:

• On Saturday evening, following the incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, Patel stood alongside Donald Trump and told him he serves as an inspiration to American law enforcement personnel. The comment earned him a presidential pat on the back.
• On Monday morning, Patel appeared on Fox News and said, “First and foremost, I want to remind your audience of President Trump’s leadership, literally courage under fire.”
• On Tuesday afternoon, Patel appeared at a press conference to defend the absurd criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey, trying to justify why it took nearly a year to build an indictment against someone for arranging some seashells in a way Republicans didn’t like.

“Our investigators work methodically,” Patel said with a straight face.

At the same press conference, he went on to credit Trump, his leadership and the president’s “backing of the blue” (all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding).

Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney for Michigan and an MS NOW legal analyst, joked, “If I didn’t know better, I would suspect that someone is desperate to keep his job.”

We’ll learn soon enough whether the director’s latest scramble proves effective, though journalist Garrett Graff made the case that Patel has likely saved his job, at least “for a few weeks.” Watch this space.

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