Jim Hartman
President Trump made an unconventional choice of a hard-right disruptor and steadfast loyalist for director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Kash Patel, Trump’s selection as FBI director, has little experience with the 38,000-person agency and has vowed to use it to go after Trump’s long list of enemies.
Patel was nominated after FBI Director Christopher Wray was forced to resign by Trump with three years left on his 10-year term.
Congress wanted the director to serve beyond presidential terms to insulate the FBI from political pressure, but Trump had authority under the Constitution to dismiss Wray before his term ended.
Wray was appointed FBI director by Trump in 2017. A conservative Republican, Wray recognized the job as non-partisan and had the respect and support of FBI agents.
However, Trump soured on Wray after the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago home. He declared “a great day for America” when Wray resigned effective Jan. 20.
Wray had succeeded James Comey, who was fired by Trump in May 2017. FBI abuses under Comey against Trump were documented by the Justice Department inspector general and special counsel John Durham.
Patel worked for GOP Rep. Devin Nunes on the House Intelligence Committee at the time, and he helped uncover some of these abuses.
At his confirmation hearing, Patel, 44, emphasized his life story as the son of Indian immigrants and his nine years as a public defender and a federal prosecutor.
He also worked at the National Security Council.
Patel could bring a highly partisan leadership to the FBI. He wants to shrink the FBI and close its Washington headquarters, prosecute agents he considers corrupt, and take legal action against journalists he called traitors, views that are radically distinct from previous directors.
He’s the author of provocative books including, “Government Gangsters.” It includes an appendix listing 60 people he deemed to be members of the “Executive Branch Deep State” that critics have labeled an enemies list.
Patel’s list includes Biden administration officials, Wray, and first-term Trump officials critical of Trump: former Attorney General William Barr, former adviser John Bolton, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, and former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.
During Trump’s first term, Barr and Central Intelligence Agency Director Gina Haspel threatened to resign if Patel was forced on them as deputy FBI or CIA director, respectively.
In his memoir Barr wrote: “Patel had virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency.”
Bolton says Patel doesn’t belong at the FBI claiming at the National Security Council, Patel was less interested in his assigned duties than in proving his loyalty to Trump. “The Senate should reject Patel’s nomination 100-0,” Bolton asserts.
“He’s unqualified for the job. He’s untrustworthy,” says Charles Kupperman, who served as Trump’s deputy national security adviser and worked closely with Patel.
Esper also questions Patel’s fitness for the job.
A Las Vegas resident, Patel has stuck close to Trump. He launched a clothing company selling pro-Trump T-shirts, as well as those with his own “K$H” moniker. He’s a director of Trump’s social-media startup, Trump Media, which gifted him stock in 2024 worth $826,000.
Trump made pre-emptive announcements that mainstream Republicans like Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo and Mike Rogers wouldn’t be offered positions in his new administration.
Rogers, a former FBI special agent and former House Intelligence Committee chair, narrowly lost his 2024 Michigan Senate bid. He was endorsed by the FBI Agents Association in 2013 and 2017 to lead the FBI.
Trump appointees ordered dozens of senior FBI officials to resign or be fired and now threaten a much broader purge.
The FBI braces for Patel leading a retribution campaign against those deemed disloyal to Trump.
E-mail Jim Hartman at lawdocman1@aol.com.