‘Career FBI agents, intel analysts, and staff led the investigation into Comey and others,’ Kash Patel says.
FBI Director Kash Patel has dismissed claims that the bureau has become more politicized under his watch in the wake of former Director James Comey’s indictment on Thursday.
In a post early on Friday, Patel defended the FBI’s efforts in the investigation targeting Comey and said that the media, in part, was to blame.
<Career FBI agents, intel analysts, and staff led the investigation into Comey and others. They called the balls and strikes and will continue to do so. The wildly false accusations attacking this FBI for the politicization of law enforcement comes from the same bankrupt media…
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) September 26, 2025
“Career FBI agents, intel analysts, and staff led the investigation into Comey and others. They called the balls and strikes and will continue to do so,” he wrote in a statement on X.
“The wildly false accusations attacking this FBI for the politicization of law enforcement comes from the same bankrupt media that sold the world on Russia Gate—it’s hypocrisy on steroids.”
Russiagate refers to claims that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 election to aid President Donald Trump, which he has categorically denied. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence in July said that the Obama administration “manufactured and politicized intelligence” to target Trump, although a special counsel investigation led by former FBI head Robert Mueller in 2019 concluded Russia did interfere in the election.
“Their baseless objections tell us now, more than ever, that we are precisely over the target and will remain on mission until completion,” Patel also wrote.
Comey was indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced. Grand jurors rejected one of the counts that was brought against Comey, but ultimately returned an indictment against the former FBI director.
He’s charged with making a false statement and obstruction relating to testimony he gave before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2020. He could face up to five years in prison if convicted, said the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“The charges as alleged in this case represent a breach of the public trust at an extraordinary level,” U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan said in a statement.
“The balance of power is a bedrock principle of our democracy, and it relies upon accountability and a forthright presentation of facts from executive leadership to congressional oversight.
“Any intent to avoid, evade, prevent, or obstruct compliance is a violation of professional responsibility and, most importantly, the law.”
In a statement responding to the indictment, Comey denied the allegations that were brought against him.
