WASHINGTON — The White House denied on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump was considering removing Kash Patel as director of the FBI as news outlet MS NOW reported.

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.

They have confided to allies that the president is weighing removing Patel and considering top FBI official Andrew Bailey as his replacement, according to MS NOW, formerly MSNBC.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on X that the story was “completely made up” and posted a photo of Trump and Patel that she said was taken in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

Leavitt said Trump and Patel were in a meeting when the report was published, and the president reacted to it by laughing and saying, “What? That’s totally false. Come on Kash, let’s take a picture to show them you’re doing a great job!”

A spokesperson for MS NOW said the news organization stands behind its reporting.

—

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal in Washington and Kanjyik Ghosh in Barcelona; Writing by Ismail Shakil; Editing by Leslie Adler and Cynthia Osterman)