Reporter Bluntly Asks Trump if Kash Patel Is About To Be Fired

President Donald Trump was bluntly asked aboard Air Force One on Tuesday whether he planned on getting rid of FBI Director Kash Patel following a report suggesting he would do just that.

“Are you planning to replace Kash Patel?” the president was asked.

“No, he’s doing a good job. Kash Patel? No, he’s doing a great job, I think,” Trump said.

MS Now reported earlier in the day, citing three people with knowledge of the situation, that Trump is considering firing Patel. According to the report, the president is tired of “unflattering” headlines generated by Patel, including “using a government jet to visit his girlfriend and enlisting a SWAT team as her security detail.”

Patel reportedly took a government jet recently to catch a show being performed by his girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back on the report suggesting Patel will potentially be fired, claiming the president laughed the whole thing off. She included a picture of Trump and Patel smiling together. A spokesperson for MS NOW backed up the reporting in the face of the president’s complaints.

“The organization stands behind its reporting,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“This story is completely made up. In fact, when this Fake News published, I was in the Oval Office, where President Trump was meeting with his law enforcement team, including FBI Director Kash Patel. I read the headline to the President, and he laughed. He said: ‘What? That’s totally false. Come on Kash, let’s take a picture to show them you’re doing a great job!’ Do not believe the Fake News!” she wrote.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson also released a statement in response to the MS Now report, praising Patel as a “critical” member of the administration.

“President Trump has assembled the most talented and impressive Administration in history, and they are doing an excellent job carrying out the President’s agenda,” she said. “FBI Director Patel is a critical member of the President’s team, and he is working tirelessly to restore integrity to the FBI.”

Watch above via The White House.