Patel: ‘I won't be lectured' by Comey
FBI Director Kash Patel dismissed criticism from one of his predecessors, James Comey, who recently suggested he was ill equipped to run the bureau.
In an exclusive interview Wednesday on Fox News's 'Special Report,' host Bret Baier asked Patel about Comey's recent Instagram post of shells arranged to form '8647,' in what many supporters of President Trump's understood to be a threat on the president's life.
Others suggested the message could have been a call to oust Trump from power. Comey insisted, however, that he did not arrange the seashells himself — merely took a photo of it — and that he would never call for violence. He subsequently removed the post.
'You know, the FBI is bigger than any leader it's ever had or ever will have,' Patel said about the Instagram post. 'And James Comey is a private citizen, and he can walk around the beach and talk about seashells and Crayola crayons for all I care about and talk about how we're the conspiracy theorists.'
'But I'll just remind the American people of one thing,' he continued. 'When that man was the leader of the FBI, he perpetrated the largest criminal conspiracy, packaged political information from overseas, took it to a federal FISA court and illegally surveilled a political opponent.'
'So, I won't be lectured on how to run this FBI from that man,' the FBI chief added.
It was not immediately clear what criticism Patel's remarks were addressing, but earlier that day, Comey made an appearance on CNN and raised questions about Patel and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino's leadership abilities.
Comey said he's not confident in the FBI leadership but said he has faith in the career officials there.
'I hope the career people are able to support the director and the deputy director,' Comey said, referring to Patel and Bongino. 'There are lots of people in the FBI who know what they're doing. I hope these two guys are letting them guide them.'
The former Obama administration official noted that he lacks confidence in the leaders themselves.
'Nothing in their life or their career gives me confidence that they know anything about leading an organization like that,' Comey said. 'And so, I would have serious doubts.'
'I bet they do internally about whether they have doubts. Great. Let the people who know what they're doing give you advice, and listen to them,' he added.
President Trump ousted Comey from his post leading the FBI in 2017 and the ex-director has since been a vocal critic of the president and vice versa.
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'I had done everything in my career so that I could put myself in a position to potentially be ready to be general manager, and that's no matter what,' Adams said. 'Everybody at some point is a first-time general manager. I felt as prepared as you could possibly be when the phone call came in. Now here I am.' No two general managers in the NHL have exactly the same experience, but Adams' background stands out among his peers. Of the currently employed NHL GMs, Adams is one of six who never held an assistant general manager or vice president of hockey operations title in the NHL prior to his hiring. Of those six, he's one of two who never scouted or consulted in an NHL hockey operations department. The other is Canadiens GM Kent Hughes, who was a longtime prominent NHL agent and has an experienced president of hockey operations above him. Outside of the afternoons he spent in his cubicle in the Sabres hockey operations department from December 2009 to August 2011, Adams had no prior NHL hockey operations experience. 'I think that's what rubs people the wrong way,' said one former scout. 'He wasn't in Fargo watching a game. He wasn't in Medicine Hat watching a game. He wasn't at the U18s in Slovakia in August missing family vacation. That's the grind. That's what pretty much everybody else did unless your name is Joe Sakic.' Sabres executives vetted at least two candidates for potential senior adviser positions to help Adams. He said they couldn't find the right fit and isn't sure if anyone would have had experience with what the Sabres were about to go through. On Oct. 11, 2020, five months after hiring Adams, Pegula stood inside his new general manager's office. 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Buffalo finished in last place, and Adams fired coach Ralph Krueger. That conversation with Pegula painted the picture of an owner who wants to be heard, a general manager willing to listen and together, a tandem that hasn't been able to bring playoff hockey back to Buffalo. The Sabres haven't spent to the salary cap ceiling during Adams' time as general manager. In the last five seasons, they've been a combined $60 million under the cap while the league's cap has been mostly flat. The business decisions Adams and Pegula made in 2020 not only led to a calamitous 2020-21 season, but they also had repercussions on the team's future. 'They're on a hamster wheel,' said another former Sabres scout. 'They just keep going around in circles.' Jack Eichel, the team's 23-year-old captain and franchise player, wanted to be traded, in part, because the Sabres wouldn't allow him to have his preferred neck surgery. And it was too late to convince Sam Reinhart to stick around after the team had missed multiple chances to sign him to a long-term contract under previous regimes. After having misguided Stanley Cup hopes the previous fall, Adams embarked on Buffalo's latest rebuild. One source described the situation in 2021 by saying, 'There was no plan.' Advertisement The next four seasons reflected the ups and downs of a general manager learning on the job and building a roster with an emphasis on homegrown players. The team got 76 points in 2021-22 and awarded Adams and then-coach Don Granato contract extensions. After getting 91 points in 2022-23, Adams barely changed the roster, and the team regressed to 84 points. Adams fired Granato before his contract extension kicked in. Adams and Pegula then brought back Ruff, 13 years after he'd been fired, for a second coaching stint with the Sabres. The 64-year-old didn't bring any of his own assistants, and the team still entered the season with the youngest roster in the NHL. During the 13-game winless streak that sank the Sabres' season, Terry Pegula flew to Montreal to meet with the team and express confidence in the group shortly after Adams' 'palm trees' news conference. The next night, the Sabres lost 6-1 to the Canadiens. The team spent most of the season in last place in the Eastern Conference and ended with 79 points. In a behind-the-scenes video of the Sabres' trade deadline process, Ruff noted that the team's culture needed to change. In that video, Pegula is on a conference call multiple times throughout the day, weighing in on decisions. That offered a view into the dynamic between Adams and Pegula, a dynamic that other potential general managers might view as a red flag. 'Any self-respecting GM who takes that job is going to say, 'I have to be able to run this for you,'' said one former NHL executive. 'I know it's your team and I have to talk to you about things, but I have to be able to build a team and make decisions. If I have to run a simple (Henri) Jokiharju for a fourth by you, what are we doing here?' Adams and Ruff recently had their end-of-season review with Terry Pegula and his oldest daughter, Laura. Terry Pegula took over duties as team president after Kim Pegula had a debilitating cardiac arrest in 2022. Since firing Ted Black, the Sabres haven't had a president or COO who has worked for an NHL team prior to the Sabres. Advertisement Sitting in the alumni room in the 200-level of the Sabres' arena during the interview for this story, Adams said it's 'not true' that he's unwilling to stand up to Terry Pegula or have disagreements with him. Adams said he was honest with Pegula about what went wrong and where he's made mistakes. He thinks the team needs to improve in puck management, team defense and special teams. After that meeting, Adams hired former Hurricanes teammate Eric Staal as a special assistant to the general manager and changed strength coaches. The team hired former Columbus Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekäläinen as a senior adviser and hasn't ruled out more additions to the front office. There is a recognition from Adams and Pegula that more experienced voices are needed in the front office. The coaching staff is still the same, though. And it's still Adams and Pegula at the top of the organizational chart, along with Ruff. Adams and Ruff each have a year left on their contracts. 'There's frustration, starting with me, with where we finished in the standings,' Adams said. 'We didn't make a coaching change and bring in an experienced coach like we did with the expectations to not be a playoff team. We were all upset after the season. For me, preparing for those meetings was to make sure I honestly was able to articulate where we are today, what I think we've done poorly, what I think we've done well and where we go from here. There was great alignment coming out of that meeting.' (Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; top photos: Tony Ding / Icon Sportswire, Dave Sandford / NHLI, Kevin Hoffman / Getty Images)
