FBI Director Kash Patel has been photographed autographing photos of himself at a two-day training event at the bureau’s academy in Quantico, Virginia, where agents received instruction from MMA fighters.
The shot of a beaming Patel – posing and giving a thumbs-up while sporting a UFC baseball cap and perched at a table on which at least two signed publicity photos are visible – was posted on LinkedIn Monday by attendee James Swann of the U.S. Air Force.
“Had the opportunity to meet and talk with the Director of the FBI, Mr Kash Patel,” Swann wrote in his accompanying post.
“He is a humble individual who speaks highly of his agents and the people around him. I enjoyed our conversation sir.”
Responding to a commentator’s congratulations, Swann described Patel as a “super cool dude, down to earth and didn’t rush anyone away.”
The autograph shot was subsequently reposted to X (Twitter) by ProPublica journalist William Turton, who also noted in a thread that the director was wearing a pair of customized Nike trainers at the same event.
“The shoes feature a number 9 (Patel is the 9th FBI director), a Punisher skull (a vigilante killer from Marvel Comics), and his personal logo (K$H),” Turton explained.
“The backs of the shoes show the FBI motto: ‘Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity.’ Patel was photographed wearing them at an FBI Academy event that featured UFC fighters.”
Some commentators responded by pointing out that Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie, remains missing more than six weeks after disappearing from her Arizona home, with the bureau so far failing to get to the bottom of the mystery despite offering a $100,000 reward for information.
“Epstein arrests: 0. Nancy Guthrie: still missing,” one person sneered above a picture of Patel chugging a celebratory bottle of beer in the locker room of the victorious U.S. men’s ice hockey team at the Winter Olympics in Italy last month.
The former podcaster’s first year at the bureau has been riddled with controversy, from embarrassment over his premature announcement that an arrest had been made following the assassination of Charlie Kirk to the revelation that he fired key members of the FBI spy group that monitors Iran just prior to the outbreak of war with that country.
He has also faced allegations about his usage of a private jet to visit his country-singer girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins.
The latter has meanwhile repeatedly been forced to deny baseless allegations that she is a deep-cover Mossad agent out to entrap Patel.
The couple previously discussed their “love story” on a MAGA podcast hosted by Katie Miller, wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller, which had the misfortune to drop in mid-December when the bureau was engaged in a manhunt for the person behind the shooting at Brown University.
The episode’s timing attracted criticism, notably from far-right activist Laura Loomer, and only reinforced the perception that the FBI is “rudderless” under Patel’s command and that he is “in over his head.”
The bureau has also suffered a number of significant departures in recent months, including the loss of fellow podcaster Dan Bongino as Patel’s deputy and Marshall Yates, who led the FBI’s congressional affairs office.
