Trump nominates loyalist Kash Patel as FBI director | Wilnesh News

President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he will pick Kash Patel, a 44-year-old loyalist with little to no extensive experience in federal law enforcement, to serve as FBI director.

“Kash is a consummate lawyer, investigator and ‘America First’ fighter who has dedicated his career to exposing corruption, defending justice and protecting the American people,” Trump wrote in the letter. Truth Society Postsbelieves that Patel will “bring back loyalty, bravery and integrity to the FBI.”

Patel, who must win Senate confirmation to become FBI director, has earned a reputation as an ultimate Trump loyalist by spreading baseless “deep state” conspiracy theories and calling for the purge of FBI personnel seen as Trump loyalists. People who are common enemies.

His nomination could renew pressure on Senate Republicans who rejected Trump’s nomination of Matt Gaetz to be attorney general. transactions were subject to criminal investigation.

“It’s ridiculous. He’s arguably the most unqualified senior law enforcement official ever to serve in federal law enforcement,” said a former senior law enforcement official who interacted with Patel. “I don’t know what significant accomplishments he accomplished at the Department of Justice. . He was not well regarded as a prosecutor.”

Patel promoted the lie that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Trump and the baseless conspiracy theory that “deep state” federal bureaucrats are trying to overthrow the former president.

Without citing any specific evidence, Patel called for replacing “anti-democratic” civil servants in law enforcement and intelligence agencies with “patriots” who he said would serve the American people. In his memoir, “Government Gangster,” he describes the current political moment as “a battle between the people and the corrupt ruling class.”

“The deep state is a cabal of unelected tyrants who think they should decide who Americans can or cannot elect as president,” Patel wrote. “Who think they can decide what the president can and cannot do , who believe they have the right to choose what the American people can and cannot know.”

Former FBI and Justice Department officials and Democratic lawmakers worry that a hard-line Trump demagogue like Patel could reshape the makeup and mission of the nation’s most powerful federal law enforcement agency.

Trump’s nomination of Patel also flouted the post-Watergate norm that FBI directors should serve for ten years. The purpose is to ensure that the FBI is viewed as apolitical and does not serve the president’s political interests. Current FBI Director Christopher Wray is scheduled to end his ten-year term in 2027.

“FBI personnel continue to work every day to protect Americans from growing threats,” the organization said in a statement. “Director Wray’s focus remains with the men and women of the FBI, with our The people we work with and the people we work for.”

A former public defender who rose to increasingly senior national security positions in the final year of Trump’s first term, Patel won over Trump as a congressional staffer during the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. favor.

He drafted a memo accusing the FBI of making mistakes when it obtained search warrants to conduct surveillance on former Trump campaign volunteers.

Many of the claims in the memo were later proven to be false. The inspector general report found flaws in FBI surveillance during the Russia investigation but also found no evidence that federal authorities acted in a politically partisan manner.

Patel later served on Trump’s White House National Security Council, briefly served as an adviser to the acting director of national intelligence, and served as chief of staff to Defense Secretary Chris Miller at the end of Trump’s first term.

In the final months of Trump’s term, the former president proposed that Patel serve as CIA deputy director or take over the FBI. Then-CIA director Gina Haspel, a career intelligence officer, threatened to resign if Patel took office, but then-Attorney General William Barr strongly objected. Trump ultimately abandoned his plan.

“Patel had virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest levels of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency,” Barr later wrote in his memoir.

Former officials said Patel and some other Trump loyalists suspected the intelligence community was hiding information that could reveal more about a bureaucratic conspiracy against Trump and support for Joe Biden.

“It was a very conspiratorial environment,” said Marc Short, then-Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff.

Patel responded to Trump’s comments, labeling journalists traitors and calling out “Clean up” Allegedly disloyal federal public servant. Last year, in an interview with longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon, Patel vowed to hunt down “conspirators” who he claimed were abusing their government positions.

“One of the things we learned in the first overhaul of the Trump administration is that we have to engage patriots across America from the top down,” Patel told Bannon.

“One thing we will do that they will never do is we will follow the facts and the law and go to the courts to correct these judges and lawyers who are prosecuting these cases on political grounds and actually issue them into law,” he said .

“We’re going to go out and find the conspirators, not just in the government but in the media — and yes, we’re going to go after those in the media who lied to American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig the presidential election. Whether it’s a criminal offense or As a matter of courtesy we will address it – but yes, we want to bring attention to it,” said Patel.

Trump and his allies first began referring to the “deep state” shortly after the 2016 election, casting the investigation into Russian election interference and its contacts with Trump’s campaign as an attempt to undermine his presidency.

according to tax declaration The foundation’s revenue increased to $1.3 million in 2023 from $182,000 in 2022, up from last year, with most of the money coming from donations. The foundation listed expenses at $674,000, including about $425,000 on advertising and marketing.

He still has Appeared A “warrior essential” anti-vaccine dietary supplement is being peddled on Truth Social, which is said to “reverse” the effects of the Covid-19 vaccine.

In his memoir, Patel recounted how after law school he dreamed of getting a job at a law firm and earning a “sky-high salary,” but “no one would hire me.” Instead, he became Miami’s public defender.

Speaking about his work at the Justice Department after serving as a public defender, Patel claimed to be the “lead prosecutor” in a federal case against a Libyan accused of involvement in the 2012 U.S. massacre in Benghazi. fatal attack on the hospital.

“I was the lead prosecutor in Benghazi,” Patel said in an interview on the YouTube channel hosted by former Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan.

But in the Justice Department announcement at the time, Patel was not listed as the lead prosecutor or as a member of the legal team.

In a 2016 case in Houston involving a Palestinian refugee who pleaded guilty to supporting ISIS, federal judge Lynn Hughes scolded Patel and kicked him out of the courtroom. court transcripts.

The judge repeatedly questioned why Patel flew from Central Asia to attend the proceedings, as the judge said his presence was unnecessary. He also scolded Patel for being inappropriately dressed.

“Act like a lawyer,” the judge said. He accused Patel of being a Washington bureaucrat who would interfere in cases when he was not needed. “‘You’re just another non-essential employee in Washington.'”

In his memoir, Patel wrote that he rushed back from Tajikistan without a suit to wear to court and chose not to talk back to the judge “prepared for me” to avoid damaging the government’s terrorism case.