Donald Trump nominates Kash Patel as FBI Director, aims to reshape agency

Donald Trump tapped Kash Patel to be FBI director, nominating a loyalist to lead the chief US law enforcement agency — which the president-elect has long derided as corrupt.

Patel rose to prominence expressing outrage over the agency’s investigation into whether Trump’s campaign conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. If confirmed, Patel is likely to rekindle efforts to avenge those probes. 

He’s also a critic of government agencies for actions that he says unfairly target Republicans.

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In his book Government Gangsters — which Trump has called a “blueprint to take back the White House” — Patel endorsed calls to fire government employees who undermine the president’s agenda.

“We must identify the people in government that are crippling our constitutional republic,” Patel told the Conservative Political Action Conference in July. 

Under his list of “top of reforms to defeat the deep state” outlined in his book, Patel calls for the FBI headquarters to be moved out of Washington to “curb FBI leadership from engaging in political gamesmanship” and to significantly shrink the general counsel’s office within the FBI, which he says has taken on “prosecutorial decision-making” instead of operating only as an investigatory body.

In Trump’s first administration, Patel held a number of stopgap national security positions, including chief of staff to Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller in the final months of Trump’s White House term. 

He also served as senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council and as a senior adviser to Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell.

Patel had close ties to former Republican Representative Devin Nunes, who was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and helped lead opposition to the probe of Russia’s role in the 2016 election by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Patel may face some pushback from more traditional corners of the Republican Party. 

Gina Haspel, who led the CIA during Trump’s first term and who had spent decades in the agency, reportedly threatened to resign in late 2020 when Trump sought to install Patel as her deputy, derailing his appointment, according to Axios. 

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