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On Saturday, President-elect Donald Trump said that he will choose 44-year-old loyalist Kashyap “Kash” Patel, who has no managerial experience in federal law enforcement, as the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution.”
Patel, who must be confirmed by the Senate to lead the FBI, has a reputation as a staunch Trump supporter who has advocated for a purge of alleged Trump opponents from the agency and disseminated irrational “deep state” conspiracy theories.
In a statement, Patel said, “Being nominated by President Trump to serve as Director of the FBI is the honor of a lifetime.”
“Together, we will restore integrity, accountability, and equal justice to our justice system and return the FBI to its rightful mission: protecting the American people.”
Senate Republicans who indicated earlier this month that they would reject Matt Gaetz as Trump’s attorney general are likely to be pressured once again by Patel’s nomination.
Patel was a federal prosecutor in Washington and a public defender in Florida. Despite a criminal investigation into alleged sex trafficking, Gaetz, a fervent Trump supporter with no prosecutorial expertise, was never prosecuted. Gaetz refuted the accusations.
Patel was deemed unfit for the role by a former top law enforcement officer who had previously dealt with him.
“It’s absurd. The former official, who wished to remain anonymous out of concern for Trump’s reprisals, said, “He’s probably the least qualified individual ever nominated for a senior position in federal law enforcement.”
“I’m not aware of any noteworthy accomplishments he made at the DOJ. His reputation as a prosecutor was low.
Trump also suggested Patel lead the FBI in the latter months of his first administration. When then-attorney general William Barr strongly opposed, Trump abandoned his proposal.
“Patel had virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency,” Barr said in his autobiography.
Patel has propagated the unfounded conspiracy theory that federal officials in the “deep state” attempted to topple the former president and the lie that Trump was cheated out of the 2020 election.
Patel promised to target judges, attorneys, and journalists who, in his opinion, had inappropriately probed Trump and rigged the 2020 election in an interview with veteran Trump supporter Steve Bannon last year.
Patel stated, “We will adhere to the law and the facts, go to the courts, and correct these justices and attorneys who have been prosecuting these cases based on politics.”
In addition, Patel stated, “We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media — yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections.”
“We’re going to figure that out, whether it’s criminally or civilly,” he said, “but yeah, we’re putting you all on notice.”
“We’re actually going to use the Constitution to prosecute them for crimes they said we have always been guilty of but never have.”
Trump’s allegations that the 2020 election was rigged were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal judges who were nominated by both Democrats and Republicans.
Furthermore, former DOJ and FBI personnel have consistently rejected the “deep state” allegations as untrue conspiracy theories driven by political motivations.
They point out that no criminal charges were brought against top officials as a result of special counsel John Durham’s years-long inquiry of the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigations.
Additionally, they claim that the FBI is purging officials who were seen to be disloyal to Trump in order to scare anyone who would dare look into the actions of Trump or other officials during his second term.
Additionally, Trump’s appointment of Patel defies the 10-year term limit for FBI directors that was established after Watergate.
The strategy is to make sure that the FBI is not perceived as supporting a particular president’s political agenda.
Christopher Wray, the current director of the FBI, will finish his ten-year tenure in 2027. That issue was brought up by White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan on Sunday, who noted that Trump chose Wray during his first term.
“The Biden administration adhered to the long-standing norm that FBI directors serve out their full terms because the FBI director is a unique player in the American government system,” Sullivan stated in an appearance on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
That’s how we go about things. Additionally, we want to make sure that the FBI continues to be a politically neutral organization,” Sullivan continued.
“Every day, the men and women of the FBI continue to work to protect Americans from a growing array of threats,” the FBI said in a statement following Trump’s move.
The men and women of the FBI, the individuals we work with, and the people we work for continue to be the center of Director Wray’s attention.
While working as a staffer for then-Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif, on the House Intelligence Committee in 2017, Patel first won Trump’s favor.
The FBI’s investigation into Russia’s election meddling and Moscow’s outreach to Trump campaign members in 2016 was seen by Trump and his supporters as an effort to undermine his administration.
According to former FBI officials, the investigation was started because they believed Russia’s actions threatened American national security.
In a document he wrote, Patel accused the FBI of obtaining a warrant improperly in order to spy on Carter Page, a former advisor to Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Many of the claims made in the letter were eventually shown to be false. The FBI’s monitoring during the Russia probe had serious flaws.
According to an inspector general assessment, but there was no proof that government officials had behaved in a politically motivated manner.
Patel was a member of Trump’s White House National Security Council at the conclusion of his first term.
He also temporarily served as the interim national intelligence director’s adviser and as Defense Secretary Chris Miller’s chief of staff.
Patel was also proposed by Trump to be the deputy director of the CIA. Career intelligence officer Gina Haspel, the then-CIA Director, vowed to quit if Patel was put in place.
“It was a fairly conspiratorial environment at that point,” said Marc Short, who was vice president Mike Pence’s chief of staff at the time.
Patel advocated for the replacement of “anti-democratic” government officials in intelligence and law enforcement with “patriots” in his biography, “Government Gangsters,” which was released last year.
“We will use this blueprint to help us take back the White House and remove these Gangsters from all of Government!” Trump said in his appreciation of the book.
Patel stated earlier this year that he would “shut down” the bureau’s headquarters building in Washington, D.C.
And “reopen it the next day as a museum of the ‘deep state,'” in an appearance on a YouTube program hosted by former Navy Seal Shawn Ryan.
‘Wizard’ protecting ‘King Donald’: Since joining Trump’s 2024 campaign, Patel has pushed his biography.
Its film adaptation, and a series of children’s novels in which he plays a “wizard” defending “King Donald.”
He has promoted the Kash Foundation, his charity, as a means of aiding the poor and giving money for legal defense to those who come forward with information about wrongdoing.
Tax returns for 2023 show that the foundation’s revenue, which was primarily derived from contributions, climbed to $1.3 million last year from $182,000 in 2022.
About $425,000 of the $674,000 in costs reported by the charity went toward marketing and advertising.
On Truth Social, Patel also promoted “Warrior Essentials,” a nutritional supplement that opposes vaccinations and claims to “reverse” their effects.
In his biography, Patel describes how, despite his desire to work for a legal firm and earn a “sky-high salary” after graduating from law school, “nobody would hire me.”
Rather, he moved to Miami to work as a public defender. Patel has stated that he was the “lead prosecutor” for a federal case against.
A Libyan who is suspected of participating in the deadly 2012 attack on a U.S. outpost in Benghazi during his tenure as a prosecutor at the Justice Department.
Patel stated, “I was the Main Justice lead prosecutor for Benghazi,” during his Ryan YouTube interview.
However, Patel is not named as the lead prosecutor or as a member of the prosecution team in the Justice Department’s 2017 statement that the Libyan was accused in the attack and that he would be found guilty in a federal trial in 2019.
The nominations of Patel and Gaetz, according to a former senior federal law enforcement officer who worked with Trump during his first term.
Were evidence of Trump’s contempt for the FBI and DOJ and their attempts to avoid being used to settle political scores.
“He will simply trample them underfoot. The former official, who wished to remain anonymous out of concern for Trump’s reprisals, said, “He’s thumbing his nose at the DOJ and FBI with these nominations.” “He’s going to effect his will regardless of our norms.”