Growing turmoil inside Donald Trump’s administration may soon claim another high-profile official, with the latest controversy centering on the one thing the president reportedly “doesn’t tolerate.”
On April 2, Donald Trump pushed Attorney General Pam Bondi out of her role after growing frustration inside the White House over her performance, including backlash tied to her handling of investigative files connected to Jeffrey Epstein, according to the New York Times.
Trump quickly announced Bondi would move into the private sector while Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche stepped in as acting attorney general.
The shakeup came just weeks after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was also forced out, fueling fresh speculation that more high-profile exits could still be coming – and now, some former insiders believe FBI Director Kash Patel may be next.
Trump ‘disappointed’ with Patel
The growing scrutiny surrounding Patel, 46, comes as questions continue swirling around the FBI director following a series of reports alleging alcohol-related incidents and erratic behavior since he took over the bureau in February 2025.
One episode that reportedly irritated Trump involved Patel celebrating with the USA Men’s Hockey team after its gold medal victory at the Milan Olympics earlier this year. A video circulating online appeared to show Patel slamming down a beer inside the locker room while partying with players and pounding the table during the celebration.
According to reports, Trump was unhappy with the optics and personally expressed disappointment over Patel’s behavior afterward.
For longtime Trump observers, that reaction was hardly surprising. The president has famously avoided alcohol for decades and has repeatedly spoken about his hatred of excessive drinking, often tying those views to his older brother Fred Trump Jr., who struggled with alcoholism before his death at just 42 years old.
That personal history has reportedly shaped the way Trump judges aides and allies inside his administration, making the allegations surrounding Patel especially sensitive.
Threat to ‘national security’
Behind closed doors, concerns about Patel reportedly stretch far beyond one Olympic celebration. According to a report published earlier this year by The Atlantic, several current and former officials claimed Patel’s drinking had become “a recurring source of concern across the government” and alleged he was “known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication.”
The article, later highlighted by the Daily Beast, cited more than two dozen anonymous sources and described the situation as serious enough to potentially “threaten national security.”
Patel has forcefully denied the allegations, publicly dismissing them as “BS,” while also filing a defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic, Courthouse News Service reports.
‘Hit piece lies’
“Memo to the fake news – the only time I’ll ever actually be concerned about the hit piece lies you write about me will be when you stop,” Patel wrote in a social media post April 18. “Keep talking, it means I’m doing exactly what I should be doing. And no amount of BS you write will ever deter this FBI from making America safe again and taking down the criminals you love.”
Still, the controversy surrounding the FBI director only intensified after details surfaced involving an incident in which Patel allegedly struggled to log into an internal government system before panicking over fears he had been fired.
According to the report, title “The FBI Director is MIA,” several sources described Patel as suffering a “freak-out” after temporarily losing access to the system and believing Trump had removed him from his position.
Patel denied wrongdoing, reports noted that his own lawsuit acknowledged he had, in fact, experienced issues accessing the government network that day.
Trump ‘doesn’t tolerate excessive drinking’
The fallout has only fueled more speculation about Patel’s future inside the administration. Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security during Trump’s first term before later becoming one of the president’s most vocal critics, said he’s stunned Patel has lasted this long amid mounting reports surrounding his alleged drinking habits.
“If there’s one thing that the president doesn’t tolerate it’s excessive drinking,” Taylor said during an appearance on MS NOW.
Taylor added that he was surprised Patel had managed to survive the growing controversy for this long inside Trump’s administration.
“I think it’s remarkable he’s hung on this long, there was of course reporting that the president was close to replacing Patel, I would be very surprised if he makes it through the summer,” he said, predicting the director will be gone by Labor Day.
Patel reportedly paranoid
At the same time, the fallout has reportedly left Patel increasingly isolated inside the administration.
Multiple reports claim the FBI director has recently avoided interactions with some senior Trump officials while waiting for media coverage surrounding the controversy to cool off. Fresh criticism has also emerged after allegations surfaced claiming Patel pushed for aggressive efforts targeting journalists connected to the reporting against him. According to those reports, Patel allegedly ordered lie detector tests and explored measures involving surveillance of reporters, though details surrounding those claims remain limited.
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