President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement of Kash Patel being nominated as the new FBI director continued to illicit strong opinions from experts and lawmakers on the Sunday shows.
In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump announced his intent to replace current FBI Director Christopher Wray, who Trump hired during his first term. Since then, media outlets have labeled Patel an “extremely controversial pick” because of his opposition to the “deep state.”
Left-wing commentators showed concern over the politicization of the FBI and whether Patel would be a Trump “enforcer” who’d “dismantle” the agency.
Former Obama administration official Juliette Kayyem claimed Patel was chosen only to go after Trump’s political enemies.
Longtime Trump ally Kash Patel was nominated by the president-elect on Saturday. (Getty Images)
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“[Patel] has no other agenda but revenge. I mean, it‘s not like he has a theory of law enforcement, a theory of reducing crime or financial crimes. He exists for one reason, and he‘s close to Trump for one reason, which is he will be the enforcer of what might be called sort of the revenge tour of this second term. So it‘s not really a matter of, what do I think or what should people think. He is appointed for this purpose,” Kayyem said.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., accused Trump of being resentful of Wray showing too much “independence” and “objectivity” in his job and denied any politicization by the current administration.
“I haven‘t seen what the proof is that the FBI has been weaponized against a political party or the Department of Justice. Of course, this Department of Justice has brought charges against a Democratic U.S. senator in New Jersey, a Democratic congressman in Texas. And so some people just seem to think that it should go only in one direction. And if it doesn‘t, then somehow it‘s politicized. And I think that‘s what they mean when they talk about politicization in the deep state. I mean, the deep state? Nobody‘s ever defined it. Apparently, it just means anybody who doesn‘t do the will of Donald Trump,” Raskin said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan also denied any politicization within the FBI and criticized Trump for wanting to replace Wray before he finished his term.
Former Obama advisor Juliette Kayyem claimed Patel was only nominated to enact revenge for Trump. (CNN screenshot)
“The current FBI director, Chris Wray, was actually appointed by Donald Trump. Joe Biden didn’t fire him,” Sullivan said to Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press. “He relied upon him to execute his responsibilities as the director of the FBI, and allowed him to serve out the fullness of his term over the course of the Biden administration. That’s how we approach things, and we would like to ensure that the FBI remains an independent institution insulated from politics.”
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Republicans, however, had a more positive response to Patel’s nomination.
“Donald Trump campaigned on reforming the FBI and the Department of Justice, so I don’t know why any of this is frankly surprising to people… Trump has nominated in Kash Patel someone who has served as chief of staff at the Department of Defense…deputy director of the NSI… senior staffer on the House Intelligence Committee. He was a federal prosecutor under the Obama administration and so certainly has requisite experience for this role,” New York Rep. Mike Lawler said on “State of the Union.”
He added, “The fact is our system of justice needs to be de-politized, and unfortunately under the Biden administration, we have seen it weaponized, and it’s wrong.”
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called Patel a good choice to “take on the partisan corruption in the FBI.”
“I think Kash Patel is a very strong nominee. I think the entire slate of cabinet nominees President Trump has put forward is very strong. I believe that every one of these cabinet nominees is going to be confirmed by the Senate. I think Kash Patel is going to be confirmed by the Senate. You look at his background. He has a serious, professional background,” Cruz said.
He added, “I gotta say all the weeping and gnashing of teeth, all the people pulling their hair out are exactly the people who are dismayed about having a real reforming coming into the FBI and clean out the corrupted partisans who sadly have burrowed into senior career positions at the FBI.”
Patel’s nomination drew positive reactions from Republicans but negative reactions from left-wing commentators. (Getty Images)
On Saturday night, Andrew McCabe, who briefly served as acting FBI director under Trump in 2017 and was deputy director, went viral after he called Patel’s nomination “a plan to disrupt, to dismantle, to distract the FBI.”
“It’s a terrible development for the men and women of the FBI and also for the nation that depends on a highly functioning, professional, independent Federal Bureau of Investigation,” McCabe said on CNN. “The fact that Kash Patel is profoundly unqualified for this job is not even, like, a matter for debate.”
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Wray is currently serving a 10-year appointment as FBI director that is set to end in 2027. Wray will either need to resign or be fired for Patel to take his place. In a statement to Fox News Digital, the FBI gave no indication Wray is planning on resigning.
“Every day, the men and women of the FBI continue to work to protect Americans from a growing array of threats,” read the statement. “Director Wray’s focus remains on the men and women of the FBI, the people we do the work with, and the people we do the work for.”