President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he would choose Kashyap “Kash” Patel, a 44-year-old loyalist with little significant experience in federal law enforcement, as 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 wrote in a message to Truth Social. “He played a critical role in exposing the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, acting as an advocate for truth, accountability and the Constitution.”
Patel, who will need Senate confirmation to become FBI director, has built a reputation as the ultimate Trump loyalist who has spread baseless “deep state” conspiracy theories and called for a purge of alleged Trump enemies from the FBI.
His nomination is likely to put renewed pressure on Senate Republicans who rejected Trump’s nomination of Matt Gaetz, a firebrand Trump loyalist under criminal investigation for sex trafficking, to serve as attorney general earlier this month.
A former senior law enforcement official who had interacted with Patel in the past said he was not qualified for the position.
“It’s ridiculous. He may be the least qualified person ever nominated to a high-level position in federal law enforcement,” said the former official, who asked not to be named, citing fears of retaliation from Trump. “I don’t know of anything significant he accomplished at the Justice Department. He was not highly regarded as a prosecutor.”
During the final months of Trump’s first term, Trump also proposed that Patel lead the FBI. William Barr, then attorney general, objected vehemently and Trump abandoned his plans.
“Patel had virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest levels of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency,” Barr later wrote in his memoir.
Patel has promoted the falsehood that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Trump, as well as the baseless conspiracy theory that federal bureaucrats in the “deep state” tried to overthrow the former president.
Patel has called for replacing “anti-democratic” officials in law enforcement and intelligence agencies with “patriots” who he says will work for the American people. In his memoir ‘Government Gangsters’ he described the current political moment as ‘a struggle between the people and a corrupt ruling class’.
“The Deep State is an unelected cabal of tyrants who believe they can control who Americans can and cannot elect as president,” Patel wrote. “They think they get to decide what the president can and cannot do, and they believe they have the right to choose what the American people can and cannot know.”
Former FBI and DOJ officials have dismissed such claims as politically motivated conspiracy theories. They note that special counsel John Durham’s yearlong investigation into the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation has not yielded any criminal charges against senior officials.
Democratic lawmakers worry that a tough Trump firebrand like Patel could reshape the makeup and mission of the nation’s most powerful federal law enforcement agency. They also claim that any purge of FBI agents deemed disloyal to Trump is intended to intimidate any agent who dares investigate the president’s conduct.
Trump’s appointment of Patel also violates the post-Watergate standard that FBI directors serve 10-year terms. The purpose of the practice is to ensure that the FBI is seen as apolitical and does not serve the political interests of a specific president. Current FBI Director Christopher Wray will complete his 10-year term in 2027.
After Trump’s announcement, the FBI said in a statement: “Every day, the men and women of the FBI continue to work to protect Americans from a growing number of threats. 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.”
Following Trump’s ‘deep state’ claims
Patel, a former public defender and federal prosecutor, rose to increasingly senior national security posts in the final year of Trump’s first term.
Patel first found favor with Trump in 2017 as a congressional staffer for former Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. Trump and his allies viewed the FBI investigation into Russian election interference — and its reach among members of the Trump campaign in 2016 — as an attempt to sabotage his presidency.
Patel drafted a memo accusing the FBI of making mistakes in obtaining a warrant to conduct surveillance on former Trump 2016 campaign adviser Carter Page.
Many of the memo’s claims were later refuted. An inspector general report found flaws in the FBI’s oversight of the Russia investigation, but also found no evidence that federal authorities had acted in a politically partisan manner.
Patel went on to serve on Trump’s White House National Security Council, briefly as adviser to the acting director of national intelligence and as chief of staff to Defense Secretary Chris Miller at the end of Trump’s first term.
In addition to proposing that Patel serve as FBI director during his final months, Trump suggested that Patel serve as deputy CIA director. Then-CIA Director Gina Haspel, a career intelligence officer, threatened to resign if Patel was installed.
Patel and some other Trump loyalists suspected there was information hidden in the intelligence community that could shed more light on bureaucratic plots against Trump and in favor of Joe Biden, former officials said.
“It was a pretty conspiratorial environment at the time,” recalls Marc Short, who served as chief of staff to then-Vice President Mike Pence.
Patel has also echoed Trump’s rhetoric labeling journalists as traitors and calling for the “cleaning out” of allegedly disloyal federal officials. In an interview last year with Trump ally Steve Bannon, Patel vowed to go after “conspirators” who he said had abused their positions in the government.
“The one thing we learned in the first go-around in the Trump administration is that we have to deploy all-American patriots from top to bottom,” Patel told Bannon.
“And the one thing we will do that they will never do is we will follow the facts and the law and go to court,” he said. “And correct these judges and lawyers who prosecuted these cases based on politics.”
“We will be looking for the conspirators, not only in the government but also in the media – yes, we are going after the people in the media who lied about American citizens helping Joe Biden rig the presidential election,” he said. Patel. “Whether it’s criminal or civil, we’re going to find out – but yes, we’ll keep you all informed.”
A ‘wizard’ who defends ‘King Donald’
Patel joined Trump on the 2024 campaign trail and has promoted his memoir, a film adaptation of the memoir and a series of children’s books depicting him as a “wizard” who defends “King Donald.”
He has touted his charity, the Kash Foundation, as a way to help the needy and provide legal defense funds to whistleblowers and others. But the foundation has released few details about its finances.
According to 2023 tax returns, the foundation’s revenue rose to $1.3 million last year, up from $182,000 in 2022, with much of the money coming from donations. The foundation reported expenses of $674,000, of which approximately $425,000 was spent on advertising and marketing.
Patel has also appeared on Truth Social and is leaning toward “Warrior Essentials” anti-vaccine diet supplements, which are supposed to “reverse” the effects of Covid-19 vaccines.
In his memoir, Patel tells how after law school he dreamed of getting a job at a law firm and a “sky-high salary,” but “no one wanted to hire me.” Instead, he became a public defender in Miami.
Referring to his stint at the Justice Department following his work as a public defender, Patel has claimed he was the “lead prosecutor” in a federal case against a Libyan accused of taking part in the deadly 2012 attack on an American compound in Benghazi.
“I was the Justice Department’s top lead prosecutor for Benghazi,” Patel said in an interview on a YouTube channel hosted by former Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan.
But the Justice Department announcements at the time did not list Patel as lead prosecutor or part of the legal team.
During a 2016 proceeding in Houston for a case involving a Palestinian refugee who pleaded guilty to supporting ISIS, a federal judge, Lynn Hughes, stripped Patel naked and kicked him out of chambers, according to a court transcript.
The judge repeatedly questioned why Patel had flown all the way from Central Asia to attend the proceedings, as the judge said his presence was unnecessary. And he scolded Patel for not dressing appropriately.
“Act like a lawyer,” the judge said. He accused Patel of being a Washington bureaucrat who would interfere in a matter in which he was not needed. “You’re just another non-essential worker from Washington.”
In his memoirs, Patel wrote that he had returned from Tajikistan with no suit to wear to court, and that he chose not to talk back to the judge “who targeted me” to damage the government’s terrorism to prevent. case.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
