In an interview with FNC host Laura Ingraham, FBI Director Kash Patel addressed a report claiming he refused to exit an FBI jet in Utah after the assassination of Charlie Kirk because he did not have an FBI “raid jacket” that fit him. According to the report, Patel, unable to find a jacket in his size, a women’s medium, opted to wear a standard windbreaker and attach FBI Velcro patches to it. He also allegedly asked nearby agents to remove their patches so he could place them on his own jacket. Patel told Ingraham that while he didn’t have a raid jacket, several FBI agents offered him theirs. Patel said he wore it with pride.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS: You mentioned the thing about the patches and the gossipy stuff, which I know you laughed it off on Twitter, on X, but they’re saying, oh, he refused to get off the plane in Utah after Charlie Kirk’s assassination because he wanted a better-fitting FBI raid jacket. Is that true? And does fashion really make the man, Kash? FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL: It’s 100 percent false, as you know. Look, Laura, sadly, I was at 9-11 at Ground Zero in New York City on 9-11 because I was a White House representative honoring those victims and their names being read. You are very familiar with that. Then we made the immediate decision, after Charlie got shot in the neck, to fly to Utah unexpectedly to lead the manhunt to find the perpetrator in less than 33 hours, because the FBI cut video, put it out in a press conference, and these people are worried about what I was wearing and what patches I was wearing. I was honoring my men and women at the FBI. One of my agents handed me a jacket and said, “Hey, boss, you should probably wear this. We’re going into the command center.” I said, “I’d be honored to wear that.” And then another one handed me the SWAT team badge of the unit that was protecting the area where Charlie was assassinated. I wore that with pride. These people can talk about my appearances all they want, but look at the results. The FBI, this FBI, my FBI, the one that Dan and I are building here under President Trump, is succeeding in ways that no FBI has ever done so before. So the institutionalists and the anonymous reporters from the swamp, D.C. bureaucracy, are the ones we are crushing. And that’s how I know we’re winning. And if Eric Swalwell wants to come online and talk about what jacket size I wear, I’m happy to send him a women’s medium so him and Fang Fang can go out again.

Patel addressed the controversy on X:

I was looking for a Youth Large… Domestic terrorism arrests are UP 30% this year – impressive, considering I spent zero days dating a Chinese spy named Fang Fang, where should I send your women’s medium for date night? https://t.co/f1Ffgn7PVV

– Kash Patel (@Kash_Patel) December 2, 2025

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