President-elect Donald Trump has announced he will nominate MAGA loyalist Kash Patel to lead the FBI.
For Patel to steer the agency, current FBI Director Christopher Wray would need to resign or be fired. Trump appointed him in 2017 and he has three years left in his 10-year term.
Trump announced his pick of of Patel, who has pledged to go after Trump’s enemies in the media, on Saturday evening.
“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. “This FBI will end the growing crime epidemic in America, dismantle the migrant criminal gangs, and stop the evil scourge of human and drug trafficking across the Border.”
A conspiracy theorist who wants to restrain federal law enforcement agencies, Patel has advocated for firing workers and going on a prosecution spree to fulfill Trump’s promise of retribution. He is a Trump loyalist who has railed against the so-called “Deep State.” Even among the most staunch MAGA loyalists, he is viewed as a controversial figure.
He previously served as chief of staff at the Department of Defense during Trump’s first term, in addition to deputy director of National Intelligence, and senior director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council.
The FBI released a statement of its own in response to Trump’s announcement.
“Every day, the men and women of the FBI continue to work to protect Americans from a growing array of threats,” the agency said. “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.”
If all of Trump’s nominees are confirmed, Patel will be working under Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who Trump appointed as US attorney general.
Kash Patel says as Trump’s next CIA Director he will lead “patriots” appointed by Trump in an all-out effort to prosecute and jail people in government and the media: “We will find the conspirators in govt and the media. Yes, we are going to come after the people in the media.” pic.twitter.com/NuLyqOIKWO
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 5, 2023
Patel first entered the MAGAsphere when he served as a staffer to US Representative Devin Nunes in 2018. At the time, Nunes was the lead Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. In that role, Patel worked to discredit the FBI’s Russia investigation into the Trump campaign.
On Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast last year, Patel said a team of “all-American patriots” in all levels of government in the next Trump administration will “come after” members of the press that he claims have “lied about American citizens” and “helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections.”
“We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminal or civilly, we’ll figure that out,” said Patel, who joined the Trump administration in 2019.
“We’re putting you all on notice,” he added. “And Steve, this is why they hate us. This is why we’re tyrannical. This is why we’re dictators, because we’re actually going to use the Constitution to prosecute them for crimes they said we have always been guilty of but never have.”
Earlier this month, Politico reported that Patel and Cliff Sims, a former National Intelligence staffer, were vying for the No. 2 position at the CIA while advising Trump on cabinet picks.
Trump has yet to announce who he wants to lead the CIA. Also on Saturday, Trump tapped Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister to serve as the next administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency.
“As DEA Administrator, Chad will work with our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to secure the Border, stop the flow of Fentanyl, and other Illegal Drugs, across the Southern Border, and SAVE LIVES,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Chronister has served as the county’s sheriff since September 2017 and has 32 years of experience in the department.
He was twice re-elected by voters following his initial appointment by Governor Rick Scott.
“It is the honor of a lifetime to be nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and I am deeply humbled by this opportunity to serve our nation,” he said in a statement.
It remains to be seen if either of the men will ever assume their officers. Several of Trump’s picks have come under fire in recent weeks and one, Former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name from consideration amid doubts he’d be confirmed by his Republican colleagues.
