Kash Patel asked FBI communications staff to respond to a social media account that mocked him online, according to newly released government records, but a senior bureau official rejected the idea, warning that doing so "would look bad on you." The exchange appears in a February 5 text conversation between Patel and Ben Williamson, the FBI's assistant director for public affairs, contained in the latest tranche of records released by the government as part of its review of materials related to Jeffrey Epstein. Messages show Patel pressing FBI staff to engage with a social media post that ridiculed him and encouraging them to respond with information about the bureau's accomplishments. Williamson, however, declined to carry out the request.
The FBI declined to comment when approached by Newsweek. According to the released records, the dispute centered on an X account that had shared Patel's official portrait alongside a post mocking the FBI director. During the exchange, Williamson described the account as "an 'Epstein didn't kill himself' bot account" while discussing whether the FBI should respond.
Patel nevertheless argued that FBI communications staff should engage with the post and use it as an opportunity to highlight the bureau's performance. "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, before asking whether his team had been doing so. "We're not responding to 'ifindr------s.' That would look bad on you," he wrote.
Patel continued to press the issue, arguing that the account's audience made it worth addressing. "Its not about them, it is about the number of views, because people see it and need to be seeing our stats," Patel responded. Williamson also disputed Patel's characterization of the post's engagement, noting that the figure being discussed represented views rather than responses.
Alex Deane, a senior managing director at FTI Consulting who advises organizations and senior leaders on public affairs, reputation management and strategic communications, said Williamson's response reflected established communications practice. "The director received good comms advice from his public affairs lead," Deane told Newsweek. "Officeholders and senior business figures have very little to gain from responding to anonymous online trolling.
"It's always understandable to want to respond to cutting words or misplaced criticism, but the right thing to do is to step back and ask: what happens next, and who wins? "What happens next is yet more of the same hostility, to which you are now expected to respond because you did so before, and they win, because you've been dragged down to their level, and they're elevated so that, in this exchange at least, they're seen as being on a par with you. Williamson for giving good counsel." Ben Williamson serves as the FBI's assistant director for public affairs, making him one of the bureau's senior communications officials.
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