Politico’s Dash Burns reported Saturday that FBI Director Kash Patel will be the next Trump official to have his head on the chopping block.

Burns posted to X, “A top White House official tells me that Kash Patel is likely the next Cabinet-level official to go. ‘It’s only a matter of time,’ the official, who was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, told me.”

Burns added, “There are several reasons, the official said, but top among them is the number of negative stories centered on Patel is ‘not a good look for a Cabinet secretary,’ and Trump is fed up with the level of distraction.”

Burns wrote that speculation in Washington ramped up after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Navy Secretary John Phelan this week. Trump had reportedly questioned Phelan’s ability to keep up with building ships at the rate needed by the Navy.

Patel recently filed a $250 million lawsuit against The Atlantic after staff writer Sarah Fitzpatrick’s article claiming he had “alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.” The article also detailed a Patel “freak out” when he was unable to log into his FBI computer account and thought Trump had fired him.

The Atlantic responded to Patel’s lawsuit by stating, “We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit.”

Patel came under scrutiny in February when he was filmed enthusiastically chugging a beer with the U.S.A. Men’s Olympic Hockey Team after they won the gold in Milan, Italy.  The FBI director put the incident down to being a proud American.

On Friday, The Intercept reported that Patel was arrested twice in alcohol-related incidents while in college and law school, as outlined in a newly surfaced disclosure letter.

Patel disclosed the arrests in a 2005 letter with his application to the Florida Bar Association.

Patel wrote that he was arrested while an underage college student for public intoxication after being escorted out of a basketball game.

The second arrest occurred in New York City while he was a law student at Pace University.

“We went to a few of the local bars and consumed some alcoholic beverages. At the end of the night, we decided to walk home. In a gross deviation from appropriate conduct, we attempted to relieve our bladders while walking home.”

Patel ended up paying a fine for “public urination.”

He wrote that the incidents were “not representative of my usual conduct of behavior.”

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