Trump plans to replace current FBI director with firebrand Kash Patel, drawing bipartisan fire
By Holmes Lybrand, Zachary Cohen, Evan Perez and Kristen Holmes, CNN
(CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate firebrand loyalist Kash Patel to serve as FBI director, an extraordinary move that would put a self-described enemy of the so-called deep state as the head of the nation’s top law enforcement agency — a role that would give Patel power to carry out Trump’s threats to go after his political opponents.
Trump’s interest in Patel speaks to his urge to fill top law enforcement and intelligence positions with supporters who may be open to carrying out his demands for specific investigations as well as inoculating the president against possible future probes.
“I am proud to announce that Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel will serve as the next Director 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 posted on Truth Social on Saturday evening.
Even among Trump loyalists, Patel is widely viewed as a controversial figure and relentless self-promoter whose value to the president-elect largely derives from a shared disdain for established power in Washington. Putting him in charge of the FBI would require forcing out current director Christopher Wray, who was appointed by Trump, before his term expires — prompting bipartisan criticism.
Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton compared Patel to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s leader of secret police, the NKVD, telling CNN: “The Senate should reject this nomination 100-0.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan cautioned Sunday that the FBI director should not be subject to the “whims” of politics, but declined to weigh in directly on Patel.
“What makes the FBI director different from most other nominees is they’re not just appointed for one term of a president, they’re appointed for enough time to last past two terms of a president, because they’re supposed to be insulated from politics,” Sullivan told CNN’s Kasie Hunt on “State of the Union.”
Incoming Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley heavily criticized Wray, the current FBI director, saying in a social media post that he “failed” during his tenure. But Grassley added that Patel “must prove to Congress” that he will do better than Wray.
The Patel pick almost certainly sets up another potentially explosive confirmation battle in the Senate, where members are already bracing for how they’ll navigate a slew of unorthodox Trump picks. One of those picks, fellow Trump loyalist and Justice Department critic Matt Gaetz, dropped out of the fight to become attorney general as it became clear the former Florida congressman would not have the GOP support necessary for confirmation.
It’s unclear whether Patel could face a similar uphill battle through the confirmation process.
Wray has three years remaining in his 10-year term and would have to resign or be fired to create a vacancy. Trump nominated Wray in 2017 after firing James Comey, but he began to sour on Wray before he left office in 2021. Trump’s view of the FBI only worsened after his Mar-a-Lago resort was searched in August 2022, and Trump was later indicted for allegedly retaining classified documents.
“Every day, the men and women of the FBI continue to work to protect Americans from a growing array of threats,” the agency said in a statement to CNN. “Director Wray’s focus remains on the men and women of the FBI, the people we do the work with, and the people we do the work for.”
Patel has heavily criticized the FBI and, in a podcast interview in September, called for the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC, to be dismantled and turned into a “museum of the deep state.”
“The FBI’s footprint has gotten so freakin’ big,” Patel said on the “Shawn Ryan Show,” criticizing the agency’s intelligence-gathering operation.
During the interview, Patel also ridiculed the FBI for its 2022 search warrant of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, which led to charges being brought against the former president for retaining classified documents. The judge overseeing that case eventually dismissed the charges against Trump.
In a 2023 interview with Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser, Patel said the Justice Department under Trump would “come after” members of the media.
“We’ve got to put in all-American patriots top to bottom,” Patel said of the DOJ, adding that the department under Trump “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 come after you,” he said.
Earlier this month, one of the president-elect’s top advisers, Elon Musk, appeared to weigh in on Patel’s candidacy for the FBI job via X, the social media platform he owns. He responded with a “100” emoji to a top Trump ally’s tweet endorsing Patel for the job.
Patel rose to prominence within Trump’s orbit in 2018, when he served as an aide to Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee at the time. Patel played a key role in Nunes’ efforts to discredit the FBI’s Russia investigation into the Trump campaign, including a controversial classified memo that alleged FBI abuses of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants on Trump advisers.
In his 2023 book, “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy,” Patel lambasted “crazed partisans” for hijacking “the law enforcement apparatus” against Trump.
Patel’s book heavily criticizes what he refers to as “the deep state” – an amorphous term he says includes elected leaders, journalists, Big Tech tycoons and “members of the unelected bureaucracy” – calling it “the most dangerous threat to our democracy.”
Patel in his book also calls for “a comprehensive housecleaning” of the Justice Department, arguing it has protected high-ranking members of the Democratic Party, failed to prosecute individuals who leaked information during the first Trump administration, and unjustly targeted Republicans and their allies.
Trump has praised the book as a “blueprint to take back the White House and remove these Gangsters from all of Government,” according to promotional endorsements of the book.
In 2019, Patel went to work for Trump on the National Security Council before becoming chief of staff to the acting defense secretary at the end of Trump’s first term.
When Trump considered firing then-CIA Director Gina Haspel after the 2020 election – as he pushed to release more information about the Russia investigation – Patel was floated as a potential replacement.
While that never came to pass, Patel has remained a fixture in Trump’s orbit, though his proximity to the president-elect has ebbed and flowed.
The mixed views of Patel among those close to Trump has been on display during the transition process as he was passed over for the job of CIA director – a role sources say he had actively lobbied for.
Multiple sources familiar with the Trump transition process previously expressed deep concerns about the possibility of Patel being named FBI director – a role where he would have vast authority to investigate the president’s political enemies, help declassify sensitive information and carry out a purge of career civil servants.
“Kash is frightening at the bureau,” a source familiar with internal deliberations about the role of FBI director previously told CNN.
FBI directors serve 10-year terms in part to shield the bureau’s leader from political pressure. FBI directors serve decadelong terms as the result of a post-Watergate law passed in response to J. Edgar Hoover’s controversial 48-year leadership of the agency.
The breaking of this norm is not new for Trump, who fired Comey shortly after taking office in 2017. Comey, who helmed the FBI during the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election as well as the Hillary Clinton email controversy, was fired by Trump in May 2017 after serving in the position for over three years.
Trump on Saturday evening also announced that he has picked Chad Chronister, sheriff of Hillsborough County, Florida, to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration in his incoming administration.
This story has been updated with additional information.
The-CNN-Wire
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