President-elect Donald Trump’s stunning announcement on Saturday evening that he will nominate Kash Patel as FBI director sets the tone for a new round of turbulence at a law enforcement agency charged with protecting the homeland and investigating federal crimes.
Patel, a steadfast Trump ally with plans to shake up the institution he is supposed to lead, is a study in contrast to the current tight-lipped director, who has followed the mantra of ‘keep calm and take tough ‘ preaches.
By choosing Patel over more conventional candidates, Trump is once again testing his ability to get the Senate to bend to his will by confirming some of his more provocative nominees.
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What happens to the current FBI director?
Christopher Wray was appointed director by Trump in 2017 and technically has three years left in his 10-year term.
That length of time is intended to ensure that directors of the nation’s most prominent federal law enforcement agency can operate free from political influence or pressure. Presidents have typically, but not always, retained the director in power when they took office, as President Joe Biden has done with Wray.
But it is also true that all FBI directors serve at the pleasure of the president; Indeed, Wray was nominated after Trump fired the FBI chief he inherited when he took office, James Comey.
The announcement means Wray can either resign, in accordance with Trump’s clear wishes, or wait to be fired once Trump takes office in January. Regardless, the selection of a successor is a clear indication that Wray’s days are numbered. Should Wray leave before Patel can be confirmed, the acting director position would likely be filled in the interim by the current FBI deputy director.
Can Patel be confirmed by the Senate?
Republicans may have won control of the Senate, but his confirmation is not assured.
There are undoubtedly lawmakers who support Trump’s desire for a radically overhauled FBI, especially after federal investigations that resulted in two separate indictments against the president-elect, and who share his sentiment that federal law enforcement is “weaponized” against conservatives.
But Patel is likely to face deep skepticism during his confirmation hearings over his stated plans to rid the government of “conspirators” against Trump, and his claims that he would destroy the FBI’s headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue in the nation’s capital. close and send the thousands of employees who work there to ‘pursue criminals’ across the country.
And while Trump may have wanted a loyalist willing to pursue retaliation against his perceived adversaries, that perspective will likely give pause to senators who believe the FBI and Justice Department should operate free of political influence and not be tasked with to carry out the personal actions of a president. agenda.
Ahead of the potentially painful confirmation battle ahead, Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, wrote on social media late Saturday: “Kash Patel will be another test of the Senate’s power of advice and consent. Patel must prove to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he is qualified and, despite his past statements, will put our country’s public safety ahead of a political agenda aimed at retaliation.”
Trump has also raised the prospect of using recess appointments to push his nominees through the Senate.
If Patel is confirmed, can he actually do what he said he will do?
Patel has made a series of brash claims about his plans for the federal government, but most of these proposals would require the support and buy-in of other officials and would almost certainly encounter significant resistance. His claim that he would shrink the FBI’s footprint and authority contrasts with the approach traditionally taken by the bureau’s leaders, who consistently say they want more resources — not fewer.
He has talked about trying to rid the government of “conspirators” against Trump and “pursuing the people in the media who lied about American citizens helping Joe Biden rig the presidential election,” both criminally and civil law manner.
Under the FBI’s own guidelines, criminal investigations cannot be based on arbitrary or unfounded speculation, but must have an authorized purpose to detect or interrupt criminal activity. And while the FBI conducts investigations, the responsibility for filing federal charges or filing a lawsuit on behalf of the federal government falls to the Department of Justice. Trump said last week that he planned to nominate former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as attorney general.
Patel’s proposed crackdown on government officials’ leaks of information to the media is an indication that he wants the Justice Department to reverse its current policy banning the secret seizure of reporters’ phone records in leak investigations. That policy was implemented by Attorney General Merrick Garland after an outcry over the revelation that federal prosecutors had obtained subpoenas for journalists’ phone records.
Patel has talked about decoupling the FBI’s intelligence-gathering operations — now a core function of the bureau’s mandate — from the rest of its activities. It’s unclear whether he plans to follow through on that pledge or how it would be greeted at a time when the U.S. faces what officials say is an increased threat from terrorism.
He also says he wants to close the FBI’s legendary headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue and send the employees who work there across the country. It’s not clear whether this is a hyperbolic claim that simply reflects disdain for the “deep state” or something he would actually try to implement, but what that would look like in practice remains a big question mark.
