President Donald Trump offered support to FBI Director Kash Patel on Tuesday, after news outlet MS NOW reported that Trump was considering ousting Patel from his current role.
"He is doing a great job I think," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked about the report.
According to Reuters, the White House earlier denied that Trump was considering removing Patel.
MS NOW, citing three unidentified people with knowledge of the situation, said in an online report that Trump and his top aides had grown increasingly frustrated by the unflattering headlines Patel has generated.
As per formerly MSNBC, they have confided to allies that Trump is weighing removing Patel and considering Andrew Bailey, the FBI's co-deputy director, as his replacement.
FBI directors by law are appointed to 10-year terms as a means of insulating the bureau from politics, and are subject to confirmation by the Senate.
Patel, a Trump loyalist who during the president's first term advised both the director of national intelligence and the secretary of defense, has previously called for stripping the FBI of its intelligence-gathering role and purging its ranks of any employee who refuses to support Trump's agenda.
