President-elect Trump tapped longtime ally and crusader against the “deep state,” Kashyap “Kash” Patel to lead the FBI, where he will work to snuff out America’s “crime epidemic,” bust up migrant gangs, and stymie drug and human trafficking, the upcoming president declared in his announcement.
“Kash did an incredible job during my First Term, where he served as Chief of Staff at the Department of Defense, Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council. Kash has also tried over 60 jury trials,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Sunday evening.
“This FBI will end the growing crime epidemic in America, dismantle the migrant criminal gangs, and stop the evil scourge of human and drug trafficking across the Border. Kash will work under our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to bring back Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity to the FBI.”
Following Trump’s massive win over Vice President Kamala Harris at the ballot boxes last month, speculation mounted that Patel was a top contender to serve as the FBI chief – an agency Trump and conservatives have repeatedly slammed as “weaponized” against Republicans.
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Kash Patel and President-elect Trump (Getty Images)
Patel, 44, is a New York native who grew up on Long Island in Garden City, and was raised by Indian immigrant parents. He earned his law degree in 2005 from Pace University, before serving as a public defender in Florida’s Miami-Dade area, where he tried “scores of complex cases ranging from murder, to narco-trafficking, to complex financial crimes in jury trials in state and federal courts,” according to his Defense Department biography.
Patel hit the national radar during Trump’s first administration, including when he worked as the national security adviser and senior counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence under the leadership of then-Committee Chair Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif.
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“Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People. He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution,” Trump continued in his announcement of Patel as FBI chief.
Kash Patel speaks during a campaign rally for former President Trump on Oct. 13, 2024, in Prescott Valley, Arizona. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
Patel’s name spread across news reports as he became known as the man behind the “Nunes Memo,” a four-page document released in 2018 that revealed improper use of surveillance by the FBI and the Justice Department in the Russia investigation into Trump.
“If they had gotten it right in the first place, when Devin and I and so many others were actually putting out the truth, instead of serving as a disinformation machine for the left-wing agenda, there would be no reassessment,” Patel told Fox News Digital of the memo last year. “They could not have done their work in the deep state without their partners in the mainstream media, who are part of that deep state.”
Patel’s role in the investigation and memo elevated his career status in the Trump orbit, and he was named senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council in 2019 under the first Trump administration. In that role, he assisted the White House in eliminating foreign terrorist leadership, such as ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdad in 2019 and al-Qaeda militant Qasim al-Raymi in 2020, according to his biography.
In November 2020, as Trump squared off against Joe Biden at the ballot boxes, the 45th president named Patel chief of staff to acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller. The administration shake-up followed Trump firing Secretary of Defense Mark Esper after the Cabinet member said he did not support invoking the Insurrection Act in order to send the U.S. military to quell violent protests that rocked cities nationwide in 2020.
Patel has been a staunch Trump ally, including joining the 45th president during his trial in Manhattan in the spring, and echoing that the United States’ security and law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, need to be overhauled. Patel published a book last year called “Government Gangsters,” where he railed against the “deep state,” the weaponization of the federal government and the Russia investigation into Trump.
Kash Patel and other supporters listen as former President Trump speaks to the media as he arrives for his trial in Manhattan on May 20, 2024. (Dave Sanders-Pool/Getty Images)
Trump called the book a “roadmap” to exposing bad actors in the federal government and said it is a “blueprint to help us take back the White House and remove these Gangsters from all of Government.”’
In his book, Patel explicitly called for the revamp of the FBI in a chapter dubbed “Overhauling the FBI,” where he did not mince words about the state of the law enforcement agency.
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“Things are bad. There’s no denying it. The FBI has gravely abused its power, threatening not only the rule of law, but the very foundations of self-government at the root of our democracy. But this isn’t the end of the story. Change is possible at the FBI and desperately needed,” he wrote.
“The fact is we need a federal agency that investigates federal crimes, and that agency will always be at risk of having its powers abused,” he continued, advocating the firing of “corrupt actors,” “aggressive” congressional oversight over the agency, complete overhauls to special counsels, and moving the FBI out of Washington, D.C.,
Former President Trump speaks during a campaign event, Sept. 25, 2024, in Mint Hill, North Carolina. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
“Most importantly, we need to get the FBI the hell out of Washington, D.C. There is no reason for the nation’s law enforcement agency to be centralized in the swamp. Keeping the FBI in its behemoth Washington HQ building only allows for institutional capture and incentivizes senior leadership in the FBI to lose focus on their mission and learn how to play political games instead, currying favor with politicians and cultivating relationships with the press to advance their career.”
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Following the 2020 election, Patel has spoken out against a number of high-profile investigations and issues he sees within the DOJ, potentially previewing what voters could expect from him as FBI director. He slammed the Justice Department, for example, for allegedly burying evidence related to the identity of a suspect who allegedly planted pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties in Washington, D.C., a day ahead of Jan. 6, 2021.
Patel has also said Trump could release both the Jeffrey Epstein client list and Diddy party attendee lists, which could expose elites allegedly involved in sex and human trafficking crimes.
“I look forward to working with Kash Patel as FBI Director to release Epstein’s flight logs and black book,” Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn posted to X following Patel’s nomination. “Under the Trump administration, the American people are going to get answers.”
Former President Trump, speaks during a campaign rally at Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on Oct. 21, 2024, in Greenville, North Carolina. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Similar to Blackburn, other conservatives have celebrated Trump tapping Patel for FBI chief, remarking that the FBI’s alleged targeting of Catholics in the U.S. – which was underscored when the FBI arrested a Pennsylvania dad in 2022 who frequently prayed outside of abortion clinics – would likely end under Patel’s leadership, and that he would likely put a focus on prosecuting crimes, as opposed to policing thoughts or beliefs.
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“Patel is somebody with a fresh set of eyes who has a chance to identify and cure the abuses of an FBI that has become too often an enemy, not a friend of liberty and freedom. For example, Patel would be taking over an FBI that has targeted Catholics. The FBI has decided that traditional Catholics need to be watched carefully because we might be adjacent to extremism,” columnist David Marcus wrote in an op-ed for Fox Digital this weekend.
Former Trump administration national security adviser Robert O’Brien added on X that Patel “handled some of the nation’s most sensitive issues with care and discretion. From assisting President Trump in the take-down of ISIS and bringing justice to Kayla Mueller’s murderer – al Baghdadi – to risking his life in Syria for hostage Austin Tice, Kash Patel fought for America. I have no doubt that Kash Patel will inspire our line FBI agents who want to fight crime, destroy the cartels, capture spies, and jail mobsters, thugs, fraudsters and traffickers.”
Democrats and liberal members of the media have slammed Trump’s choice of Patel as FBI chief, calling him as a “danger” to the U.S. and “unqualified” for the role.
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“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. The fact that Kash Patel is profoundly unqualified for this job is not even, like, a matter for debate,” former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said on CNN this weekend. “The installation, or the nomination, I guess we should say at this point, of Kash Patel as FBI director can only possibly be a plan to disrupt, to dismantle, to distract the FBI, and to possibly use it as a tool for the president’s political agenda.”
Kash Patel is followed by reporters as he departs from a deposition meeting on Capitol Hill with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, on Dec. 9, 2021. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The criticisms of Patel follow him outlining in his book that Democrats should “be very afraid” as a battle between “the people and the corrupt ruling class” plays out on the national stage.
“While Democrats might enjoy watching the Deep State do battle against President Trump and the America First movement, they – and all Americans – should be very afraid. The shocking and terrible details of what the Deep State has already done to increase its power fill this book. Suffice to say, there are no depths to which the Deep State will not descend, crimes they will not commit, or lives they will not destroy to get their way,” he wrote in his book.
“But that doesn’t mean they are invincible.”
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Patel currently sits on the board of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., the parent company of Truth Social, and founded the nonprofit The Kash Foundation, which works to “support educational and legal efforts needed to facilitate government transparency,” according to its website.
Patel faces a couple of hurdles before he can become FBI director, including not only the Senate confirming his nomination, but also the removal of the current FBI director. FBI Director Christopher Wray, whom Trump nominated in 2017, is in the midst of a 10-year appointment that does not end until 2027. Wray would need to resign or be fired in order for Patel to take the position.
FBI Director Christopher Wray arrives to testify during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on June 4, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Firing Wray has earned support from conservatives and elected Republican officials, including Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who could reclaim his position as chair of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee next year.
“Chris Wray has failed at fundamental duties of FBI Dir He’s showed disdain for cong oversight & hasn’t lived up to his promises It’s time 2 chart a new course 4 TRANSPARENCY +ACCOUNTABILITY at FBI,” Grassley posted on X. “Kash Patel must prove to Congress he will reform &restore public trust in FBI.”
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The FBI released a statement Saturday evening following Trump’s announcement, stating: “Every day, the men and women of the FBI continue to work to protect Americans from a growing array of threats. 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.”
For Patel, he vowed to restore integrity to the FBI if he is confirmed.
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“It is the honor of a lifetime to be nominated by President Trump to serve as Director of the FBI,” Patel said in a statement. “Together, we will restore integrity, accountability, and equal justice to our justice system and return the FBI to its rightful mission: protecting the American people.”