.
Kash Patel Blasts Stephen A. Smith Over Claim that Trump Is Behind NBA Gambling Probe: ‘Single Dumbest Thing I’ve Heard’
Dylan Gwinn
24 Oct 2025
Consider FBI Director Kash Patel unimpressed by ESPN hot-take artist Stephen A. Smith’s take that President Trump is behind the FBI’s crackdown on illegal gambling in the NBA.
“I’m the FBI director. I decide which arrest to conduct and which not to conduct,” Patel told Fox News host Laura Ingraham on The Ingraham Angle Thursday.
“That may be the single dumbest thing I’ve ever heard out of anyone in modern history. And I live most of my time in Washington, DC.”
Patel added, “It’s right up there with Adam Schiff. We arrest people for crimes.”
On Thursday, Smith melted the internet with a wild claim that Trump was behind the FBI crackdown on the NBA, and that the WNBA could be next.
“Remember, Trump has a long, long history connected to the world of sports because he had those casinos,” Smith said. “Where do you think folks were coming half the time? I’m not talking about individuals, I’m talking about the culture. When people want to go to a casino, when people wanna gamble, when people wanna party, or whatever the case may be, this was his kind of connection to that.”
“Don’t be surprised if the WNBA is next on his list, because when you’ve got all of these protests that have been going out there and people have been protesting against him and what have you, this man is coming,” Smith continued. “He’s coming.”
“I’m watching a press conference with the director of the FBI. Tell me when we’ve seen that,” he continued. “We’ve seen accusations before. We’ve seen athletes get in trouble with the law before. You don’t see the director of the FBI having a press conference. It’s not coincidental. It’s not an accident. It’s a statement, and it’s a warning that more is coming.”
“In his eyes, folks tried to throw [Trump] in jail. In his eyes, he’s innocent, and ‘they’re trying to put me behind bars. I’m getting everybody.’ He’s not playing,” Smith warned.
The FBI crackdown resulted in 31 arrests, including Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and former NBA player Damon Jones.
However, as Breitbart’s Warner Todd Huston explains, Smith’s hysterical bleatings about Trump fly in the face of the facts about the FBI investigation.
“Smith is either entirely ignorant of the facts of this case or deliberately obscuring them,” Huston writes. “The point is, this investigation was started by the Biden FBI in 2022. According to reports, “Operation Royal Flush” began in 2021 or 2022 during the Biden administration. Meaning, Trump’s administration didn’t launch the probe for anything like “revenge” and merely followed up on the Biden administration’s ongoing probe.”
---------------
From Breitbart
Link:
https://www.breitbart.com/sports/202...ing-ive-heard/
.