Trump picks loyalist Kash Patel as FBI chief | FBI

Donald Trump has named Kashyap “Kash” Patel as FBI director, appointing a loyalist and “deep state” critic to head the federal law enforcement agency that the president-elect has long described as corrupt.

Patel, 44, has worked as a federal prosecutor and public defender but rose to prominence in Trump circles after expressing outrage over the agency’s investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election . He has called for the firing of FBI leadership to bring federal law enforcement “into compliance.”

If confirmed, Patel would replace Christopher Wray, the FBI director appointed by Trump in 2017 after then-President fired James Comey over the FBI’s Russia collusion investigation.

Comey later testified before Congress that there was no evidence of any collusion but that the FBI had a “basis for investigating” the matter.

Patel had ties to former Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, who as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee led the opposition to special counsel Robert Muller’s Russia investigation.

When nominating him for FBI director, Trump said in a statement on Truth Social that Patel is “a brilliant lawyer, investigator and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption and defending justice and protect the American people.”

“Kash will work under our great Attorney General Pam Bondi to restore loyalty, bravery and integrity to the FBI,” Trump added.

Trump noted Patel’s service as chief of staff at the Defense Department, deputy director of national intelligence and senior director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council during his first term.

Patel, he said, “played a critical role in exposing the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax and stood as a champion of truth, accountability and the Constitution.”

“This FBI will end America’s growing crime epidemic, dismantle criminal migrant gangs and end the evil scourge of human and drug trafficking across the border,” he said.

If confirmed by the Senate — Gina Haspel, CIA director during Trump’s first term, reportedly threatened to resign in 2020 when Trump tried to install Patel as her deputy — Patel will likely prove a staunch supporter of Trump’s wish , the president-elect’s views on reforming Washington’s bureaucratic overreach.

Patel said at the Conservative Political Action Conference in July that it was necessary to “identify the people in government who are crippling our constitutional republic.”

Trump has called Patel’s 2023 book “Government Gangsters,” in which he advocates firing government workers who undermine the president’s agenda, a “plot to take back the White House.”

The reforms Patel outlines in the book “To Defeat the Deep State” include moving the FBI headquarters out of Washington to “prevent FBI leadership from engaging in political gamesmanship” and downsizing the office of the Attorney General, who, in his opinion, had adopted “prosecutor’s decisions.” Manufacturing”.