FBI Director Kash Patel is aggressively downsizing his agency’s legal department at precisely the moment a mountain of scandals against him are pouring in.
The FBI’s Office of the General Counsel — several hundred lawyers who advise top officials, defend the bureau in lawsuits, and coordinate with Justice Department prosecutors — has started pushing employees toward early retirement under Patel’s direction, with terminations reportedly still on the table, according to Bloomberg Law. Patel had earlier ordered the office to fire an attorney seemingly just to send a message, though that particular directive never got carried out.
The office had largely avoided the disruption seen elsewhere at the bureau under President Trump’s second term, despite the Heritage Foundation’s far-right Project 2025 blueprint recommending its elimination entirely in favor of handing legal review to DOJ lawyers, who argued doing so would serve as a crucial check on an agency “pushing past legal boundary after legal boundary.”
General Counsel Samuel Ramer, a Trump-era veteran who’s tried walking a tightrope between pleasing Patel and protecting his staff, recently demoted his own deputy overseeing litigation. FBI spokesman Ben Williamson denies any tension between the two men.
“It is totally false,” Williamson said when asked whether Patel and Ramer’s relationship was soured.
Patel, who used to advise the House GOP on national security issues before being appointed to head the FBI, has faced a series of scandals about his erratic behavior in office, ranging from allegations of excessive drinking to personal use of government planes. He has denied any misconduct and filed lawsuits against commentators and media publications that have broken these stories.
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