Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI and an ardent supporter of the president-elect, has pledged to help get rid of the one agency he wants to lead.
The former public defender is widely seen as a controversial figure and his importance to the president-elect stems from his distaste for the established powers in Washington.
Appointing him as FBI director would likely replace current director Christopher Wray, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, before his 10-year term expires in three years — a move that has already drawn bipartisan criticism.
The FBI director also needs to be confirmed by the Senate, where members are already figuring out how to navigate Trump’s imprecise election.
As of late last week, some close to Trump believed there was a “disagreement” between Patel and Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey over who the president chose as FBI director, according to a person familiar with the conversation.
But some inside Trump’s inner circle were unhappy with the alternative choice, the source said, adding a third, unidentified candidate would have emerged in the next week or two if Trump had not made a decision by then.
Patel, in particular, is not seen as a consensus choice for the job, the source said, noting that it would always come down to what Trump wanted and, perhaps, the last person he spoke to on a given day.
Vows to take on the ‘deep state’
In his 2023 book, “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, The Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy,” Patel lays out his case against what he calls the “deep state” — a menacing term he says includes elected officials, journalists, Big Tech tycoons and “members of an unelected government” – calling for a “house cleaning” of the Justice Department, which he says has been carried out. it protected top members of the Democratic Party while targeting Republicans and their allies.
Trump has hailed the book as “a plan to take back the White House and remove these Gangsters from the rest of the Government,” according to the affidavit.
Patel has been highly critical of the FBI, and in a podcast interview in September, called for the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC, to be dismantled and turned into a “deep space museum.”
“The FBI’s crisis has gotten worse,” Patel said on the “Shawn Ryan Show,” criticizing the agency’s intelligence-gathering work.
During the interview, Patel also mocked the FBI for its 2022 search of Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, which led to accusations against the former president of keeping classified documents. The judge in charge of the case later dismissed the case against Mr. Trump after finding that the lawyer was illegally appointed.
In a 2023 interview with Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser, Patel said the Justice Department under Trump would “go after” members of the media.
“We have to put all Americans on the line from top to bottom,” Patel said of the DOJ, adding that the department under Trump “will be out looking for conspirators, not just in government but in the media.”
“Yes, we will come after the media people who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig the presidential election – we will come after you,” he said.
Mr. Trump, during his first term, is said to have considered making Patel the deputy director of the FBI, former Attorney General Bill Barr wrote in his memoir that Patel “does not have the experience that would enable him to work at the highest level of law enforcement,” adding that Patel would be the FBI’s number 2 “on top.” of my dead body.”
Senators will want to emphasize Patel’s split along party lines on the announcement.
Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called Patel “an unqualified loyalist,” and a Democratic senator. Chris Murphy on Sunday said that Patel “only deserves … he agrees with Donald Trump that the Department of Justice should work. to punish, shut down and intimidate the political opponents of Donald Trump.”
Incoming Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, meanwhile, criticized Wray, now FBI director, saying in a social media post that he “failed” during his tenure. But he added that Patel “has to prove to Congress” that he will do better than Wray.
Rise to Washington
Patel, a self-proclaimed New Yorker, was raised Hindu by her immigrant parents, according to her book. He wrote that he grew up in politics but became right-wing during his college years at the University of Richmond. This, he wrote, made his public defense work “extraordinary”; he described his colleagues in that field as “far left.”
Patel graduated from Pace University School of Law in 2005 and later worked for about nine years as a public defender in Florida, according to his book. He spent time in the public defender’s office in Miami-Dade County and in the Southern District of Florida.
Patel went on to work as a federal prosecutor in the National Security Division of the DOJ, according to his book. He called it a “dream job” for any young lawyer.
At the DOJ, Patel oversaw the prosecution of criminals affiliated with al Qaeda, ISIS and other terrorist groups, according to the Defense Department. He also served as DOJ’s assistant liaison to the Joint Special Operations Command during the fight against “high-priority terrorism.”
Patel said he was the “lead prosecutor” in the DOJ’s case against those who carried out the 2012 attack on a US embassy in Benghazi, Libya, which killed four Americans. But The New York Times reported in October that Patel was a junior employee at the time and was not part of the testing team.
In 2018, Patel continued to serve as an aide to Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee at the time. Patel played a key role in Nunes’ efforts to undermine the FBI’s Russia investigation into the Trump campaign, including a controversial classified memo that alleged the FBI’s abuse of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act authorizations for Trump advisers.
Cooperation with the Trump administration
In 2019, Patel went to work for Trump on the National Security Council before becoming chief of staff to then-Defense Secretary Christopher Miller at the end of Trump’s first term. Trump briefly floated Patel as a possible replacement for then-CIA Director Gina Haspel, who he considered firing after the 2020 election. Patel was also tapped to lead Pentagon reform efforts for Trump’s first term, hoping to coordinate with the incoming Biden-Harris administration.
Patel was also swept up in a federal lawsuit against Trump, which was dismissed. In the summer of 2022, he became one of Trump’s representatives to negotiate with the National Archives and the Department of Justice as both agencies tried to retrieve documents kept by Trump from his presidency. Patel was one of the few advisers around Trump after his presidency who could face legal risk related to the Mar-a-Lago situation, CNN reported at the time, and appeared before a federal grand jury investigating the matter. Patel was not charged.
In 2021, they also met with the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol, which found at the time that “there is substantial reason to believe” that Patel had important information about how the Department of Defense and the White House prepared and. responded to the attack.
Speaking at the time, Patel said he had appeared before the court “to answer the questions to the best of my ability.”
After Trump: Children’s books and foundations
Patel, seen even among Trump loyalists as self-promoting, has used his relationship with the president-elect to maintain his public image through books and positions with foundations and think tanks.
Since the first Trump administration, Patel has written a children’s book trilogy called “The Plot Against the King.” The first book tells the story of “Hillary Queenton and her voice” who “spread the lie that King Donald had cheated to become King.” The second tells the story of “finding out the truth and uncovering evidence of a malicious plan to elect Sleeping Joe instead of King Donald on Election Day.” And his latest book, published in September, tells the story of the “MAGA King” on a journey to “get rid of Comma-la-la-la and take his throne.”
Patel founded Fight With Kash — now the Kash Foundation — which is “dedicated to providing financial assistance to active-duty service members and veterans, legal defense funding, and educational programs,” according to the organization.
Patel – and his foundation – came under scrutiny last year after two witnesses for the Republican House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Jim Jordan, in his attempt to show that the government was “armed” by the defenders said that Patel paid their legal fees.
According to his foundation, Kash also sits on the board of directors of the Trump Media Technology Group, the parent company of Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social.
Kash also served as director of national security and intelligence at the Center for Renewing America, a think tank founded by Russell Vought – Trump’s choice to lead the Office of Management and Budget and one of the key authors of the conservative blueprint Project 2025.
CNN’s Zachary Cohen, Holmes Lybrand, Evan Perez, Kristen Holmes, Morgan Rimmer and Jalen Beckford contributed to this report.
For more CNN news and newsletters, create an account at CNN.com