The FBI probe now targets suspects, including three NBA arrests, potentially involving manipulated performances to win prop bets.
FBI Director Kash Patel appeared on Laura Ingraham, addressing the bombshell investigation announced Thursday, looking into roughly 30 suspects and several key NBA figures connected with mafia families in an alleged gambling bust.
After spotlighting the NBA’s issue, talking heads like Stephen A. Smith spoke on ESPN, twisting the reality to blame President Donald Trump.
Smith framed the NBA’s potentially illegal activity as an act of vengeance from Trump, which Patel on Ingraham called one of the dumbest claims said around a microphone.
“It’s simple, we follow the money,” Patel said about the investigation.
“These individuals got in bed with La Cosa Nostra and four of the five major crime families in New York City to create gambling empires. To rob people of their money. To extort people. To commit acts of wire fraud. To rig games, poker games, and NBA games to make extra bucks.”
SAS connected the FBI investigation to Trump in a First Take rant Thursday.
“You know what world we’re living in terms of politics,” Smith said. “How many times with one incident after another? Trump is coming.
“It’s not coincidental. It’s not an accident. It’s a statement. And it’s a warning that more is coming, and that’s what they’re saying here. … In (Trump’s) eyes, folks tried to throw him in jail. In his eyes, he’s innocent, and they tried to put me behind bars. ‘I’m getting everybody.’ He’s not playing.”
The FBI probe now targets suspects, including NBA arrests, potentially involving manipulated performances to win prop bets.
Meanwhile, Patel didn’t mince words, slamming Smith’s hot-take conspiracy as brain-dead commentary.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – NOVEMBER 17: Stephen A. Smith attends 2024 PrizePicks World Championship at Pullman Yards on November 17, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for PrizePicks)
Kash Patel takes his seat as he arrives for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination to be FBI Director, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 30, 2025. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
“It has nothing to do with legal gambling, and it has everything to do with those in positions of power in places like the NBA getting in bed with La Cosa Nostra and committing acts of extortion, fraud, money laundering, wire fraud and so many other crimes.
READ: Here Is The Real Reason Stephen A. Smith Is Blaming Trump For NBA Gambling Arrests | Burack
“When people start chirping at us that we’re coming after them for sports betting, they’re starting to sound like Governor [JB] Pritzker, who’s just looking for a potshot on TV. …
“I’m the FBI director. I decide which arrests to conduct and not conduct. That may be the single dumbest thing I’ve ever heard out of anyone in modern history, and I lived most of my time in Washington, D.C. It’s right up there with Adam Schiff. We arrest people for crimes.”
Patel’s message was simple: if you did nothing wrong, you’re not in line to get dunked on by the FBI.
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