FBI launches investigation into ‘dishonest leakers’ who ‘undermine’ bureau mission

The FBI has launched an investigation into “dishonest leakers” inside the bureau who have recently pushed “false information” to the media – leaks that FBI officials say has undermined the mission of the nation’s premiere law enforcement institution, Just the News has learned.

The internal investigation by the bureau comes weeks after Kash Patel, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump who held a number of national security positions during the first Trump Administration, took the reins as FBI director. 

FBI sources told Just the News that the media leak investigation will be wide in scope and aggressive in finding those who have or will share what the sources characterized as misleading and inaccurate information with the press, with the sources saying the probe could include the seizure of phones, polygraph tests and criminal referrals.

“Director Patel’s FBI will not tolerate the dissemination of false information designed to both undermine the FBI’s mission and put our brave agents at security risk,” FBI spokesman Ben Williamson said. “Dishonest leakers will be identified and dealt with appropriately.”

The FBI has also cancelled its subscription to the Wall Street Journal, which had published a number of articles based on anonymous sources in recent days. Williamson told Just the News that “the FBI will no longer use precious American tax dollars to help spread false information about our agents who put themselves in harm’s way.”

The Wall Street Journal published an article in late February on “Kash Patel’s Whirlwind Start at the FBI.”

Patel was confirmed last month to run the FBI  in a 51-to-49 vote by the Senate. 

The new FBI director served as the deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council during the first Trump Administration, and was also the principal deputy to the acting director of national intelligence in Trump’s first term. Prior to that, he served as senior counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where he helped unravel the false Trump-Russia collusion saga.

The Wall Street Journal on Friday published another story citing “people familiar” with matter saying Patel asked for a secure land line to connect directly with Trump’s Oval Office. 

The outlet also reported that “people familiar” told the outlet that “Patel has inquired about hiring his own private security detail. The director already gets a retinue of FBI agents tasked with ensuring his safety, but Patel asked about having a separate detail, in an apparent suggestion that he didn’t fully trust the FBI agents.”

FBI sources denied this had occurred, and Williamson told Just the News that this claim was simply not true.

The Wall Street Journal, again citing “people familiar” with the matter, also wrote on Friday that “in briefings, senior Justice Department officials have focused on immigration and gang violence, top Trump priorities, and have fewer questions about the threats from China and Russia that used to dominate the meetings.”

Williamson again said that claim was “absolutely false” as well. Just the News has reviewed written internal directives from Patel emphasizing the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party and the need for the FBI to continuously highlight the CCP threat.

Last week, Patel personally announced on X (formerly Twitter) the arrests of two active duty U.S. Army soldiers and one former U.S. Army soldiers charged in an alleged espionage plot to provide sensitive national defense information to China. 

Patel wrote that “these individuals have been charged with stealing America’s defense intelligence capabilities and empowering adversaries like China in betrayal of our country” and “they will now face American justice.”

Jian Zhao and Li Tian, active-duty U.S. Army soldiers stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, were arrested along with Ruoyu Duan, a former U.S. Army soldier, for the scheme last week. 

Zhao specifically was charged for his alleged conspiracy to transmit several classified hard drives marked “SECRET” and “TOP SECRET” and for allegedly agreeing to send the classified hard drives to China. 

Patel also said in a DOJ press release that “while bribery and corruption have thrived under China’s Communist Party, this behavior cannot be tolerated with our service members who are entrusted with sensitive military information.”

Patel’s early tenure has also been marked by the arrest of Mohammad Sharifullah, whom the Justice Department has charged a co-conspirator in the deadly Abbey Gate attack of August 2021, and by Patel’s vow to help with the release of information on deceased financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump also said he will be receiving a report on the assassination attempts against him this week.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, lamented after Patel’s successful confirmation in late February that Patel has a “recurring instinct to threaten retribution against his and President Trump’s perceived enemies.”

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), countered: “Change is coming to the seventh floor of the J. Edgar Hoover Building, and that is a good thing. Over the past several years, political infection has diminished the FBI’s credibility and distracted the Bureau from its core law enforcement responsibilities. 

"As FBI director, Kash Patel promises to restore the FBI’s primary focus on law and order, as well as national security, and do right by the brave FBI agents who work day in and day out to keep Americans safe.”