"On June 5th, Kash Patel, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was in Austin, Texas, to record a podcast interview with Joe Rogan. Patel had recently declared that the F.B.I. had moved on from its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes, but his agents were still looking into other "coverups," including the Covid-19 lab leak and the role that the Bureau's own operatives supposedly played in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol."
"In Rogan's studio, Patel, wearing an olive-green hoodie and smoking a fat cigar, laid out a new conspiracy, in which the Chinese Communist Party was systematically killing Americans with fentanyl as part of a "long-term plan" to "wipe out tens of thousands of Americans a year" who "might grow up to serve in the United States military or become a cop or become a teacher.""
"Rogan said, "Oh, that is such a dark, dark thing." Patel fired up his stogie with a butane lighter and exhaled a billowy cloud of smoke. "It is," he replied. "But we're on it.""
Kash Patel, now FBI director, used a high-profile podcast appearance to advance conspiracy claims about the Chinese Communist Party and fentanyl, and to announce probes into alleged "coverups" such as a Covid-19 lab leak and supposed FBI involvement in January 6. He said the Bureau had moved on from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation while pursuing other targets. He presented himself informally on-air. Former classmates and colleagues described him as an at-best average student and an adequate attorney with earlier left-leaning interests. His tenure reflects a shift toward partisan aims and retaliatory priorities within the Bureau.
Read at The New Yorker
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