Kash Patel ordered FBI aides to carry out a cringeworthy social media revenge campaign—only for them to warn him it would backfire, according to newly released records.
FBI records show Patel urging aides to repeatedly push the bureau’s “record year” statistics at X accounts that criticized the director. In one text exchange, a top official warned that engaging with it would “look bad on you.”
The texts also showed how focused Patel was on how many people were seeing the posts.
The exchange began with an FBI public affairs official flagging an X account called ‘IfindRetards’ as an “Epstein didn’t kill himself” bot account. Patel then noted that the post had received “277k responses,” before being corrected by the aide, who said the figure was actually views.
Patel nevertheless wanted the bureau to engage.
“what i asked you and your team to do is find them, and post our record year results back at them all, continuously,” Patel wrote in the Feb. 5, 2026 exchange.
He followed up moments later with another question.
“have they been doing that.”
Benjamin Williamson, an FBI public affairs official, responded with less enthusiasm.
“that’s views - it’s 400 responses. a real visible tweet gets 5x that.”
Williamson then made clear that the account wasn’t getting a response from the FBI.
“yes. we’re not responding to ‘ifindr----ds.’ that would look bad on you.”
Patel replied that the account’s identity was beside the point.
“its not about them, its about the number of views, because people see it and need to be seeing our stats.”
The post from ‘IfindR----ds’ appears to be one from February 4, which shares a picture of the director with the caption, “His r----d rating just went to all time highs. Congratulations Kash.”
The records offer a glimpse into the priorities of the FBI’s communications operation under Patel, who has repeatedly used social media to publicize the bureau’s activities and defend its work.
The newly released material comes as Patel is facing fresh congressional scrutiny.
He is scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee for an oversight hearing, and his tenure has already drawn questions about his management of the bureau and his handling of sensitive information.
The Epstein records themselves were released through the FBI’s public Vault as part of its production concerning the review of the agency’s investigative holdings related to Jeffrey Epstein.
The FBI declined to comment.
