The podcast bros credited with supercharging Donald Trump’s campaign are turning on one of their own.
MAGA mouthpiece Tucker Carlson cast doubt on the FBI under its new director, Kash Patel—a onetime right-wing podcaster himself—during an appearance on Trump-friendly Theo Von’s show Tuesday night.
“I just don’t have a ton of confidence in the FBI or the men who run it,” the former Fox News anchor said. “And I’m not saying that out of ignorance at all.”
Carlson, 56, cited the widely criticized investigation into the September killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk under Patel, 45, and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongiono, 51.
“This dumb Twitter [now X] s–t,” Carlson scoffed. “Leaders of the FBI on Twitter, like what?”
Carlson was referring to Patel’s proclamation on X and other social platforms that Kirk’s suspected killer was in custody shortly after the shooting on a Utah college campus—a claim he was forced to walk back less than two hours later after local officials denied it. The suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was arrested days later after a family friend tipped off authorities. White House sources later griped to Reuters that Patel’s online antics were “unprofessional,” adding his “performance is really not acceptable to the White House or the American public.”
Von, 45, echoed Carlson’s frustration, saying Patel’s bumbling only deepens public distrust in both the FBI and the investigation into Kirk’s death.
“I agree,” Von said. “And also, here’s the weird thing. I never wanted to think about any of this s–t. I never wanted to think that our FBI didn’t care about us or that our CIA was compromised.”
The two podcasters insisted that other right-wing figures—like Candace Owens—weren’t to blame for the conspiracy theories swirling around Kirk’s death, instead pointing squarely at Patel’s chaotic messaging.
“The people with the authority are the ones responsible, and they’re the ones who should be held responsible when there’s a failure,” said Carlson. “Not some podcaster, not me, not you, not Candace.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the FBI for comment.
Carlson and Von are fixtures in the so-called “manosphere,” an online network built on masculinity and dominance that draws tens of millions of listeners weekly and is credited for helping Trump, 79, connect with a younger male demographic. (the Daily Beast has reached out to representatives for both for comment.)
Before he was a Trump-appointed official, Patel also enjoyed a career pushing wild and outlandish claims in the conspiracy-laden universe of conservative podcasting—a world that has seemingly turned its back on him.
Patel’s seemingly endless series of missteps—including commandeering a government jet to fly to Pennsylvania for a “date night” with his girlfriend—has fueled rumors that he’s on the chopping block, with reports that his behavior had become an embarrassment to Trump.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, 28, slammed such reports as “fake news” and “completely made-up” in November and posted a picture of Trump and Patel giving a thumbs-up in the Oval Office.
“In fact, when this Fake News was published, I was in the Oval Office, where President Trump was meeting with his law enforcement team, including FBI Director Kash Patel,” Leavitt wrote on X.
“I read the headline to the President, and he laughed. He said: ‘What? That’s totally false. Come on Kash, let’s take a picture to show them you’re doing a great job!”
But even as Patel has attempted to lay low, he landed in hot water again last week after reports surfaced that he instructed agents to give his girlfriend’s intoxicated friend a ride home.
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