Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s nominee to direct the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), once declared that his first act in power would be to “shut down the FBI Hoover building on day one and reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state”.
Trump appears to agree with the sentiment, but not the solution: why shut the FBI down when you can use it to harass your political enemies?
Trump plans to install Patel as FBI director to replace Christopher Wray, whom he appointed in 2017 after dismissing his predecessor, James Comey. Patel made a name for himself in Trump’s first term as deputy assistant to the president, senior director for counter-terrorism at the National Security Council and deputy acting director of national intelligence. Yet according to critics, his primary credential to lead the FBI is simple: he’s a devoted Trump loyalist.
