By Summary
- Patel advocates for FBI restructuring.
- Patel’s nomination may face opposition from Senate Democrats and some Republicans.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 (AfrikTimes) – Republican President-elect Donald Trump announced on Saturday his intention to nominate Kash Patel, a former National Security official and staunch loyalist, to lead the FBI. This move signals Trump’s plan to remove the bureau’s current director, Christopher Wray.
Patel, who previously served as an advisor to both the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense during Trump’s first term, has been a vocal critic of the FBI’s intelligence operations. He has advocated for restructuring the agency, stripping it of its intelligence-gathering role, and purging its ranks of any employees who refuses to support Trump’s agenda.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation seal is seen at FBI headquarters before a news conference by FBI Director Christopher Wray on the U.S Justice Department’s inspector general’s report regarding the actions of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the 2016 U.S. presidential election in Washington, U.S. June 14, 2018.
“The biggest problem the FBI has had has come out of its intel shops. I’d break that component out of it. I’d shut down the FBI Hoover building on day one and reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state,” Patel said in a September interview on the conservative Shawn Ryan Show. And I’d take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to chase down criminals. Go be cops. You’re cops. Go be cops.”
With the nomination of Patel, Trump is signaling that he is preparing to carry out his threat to oust Wray, a Republican first appointed by Trump, whose 10-year term at the FBI does not expire until 2027. FBI directors by law are appointed to 10-year terms, as a means of insulating the bureau from politics. Wray, whom Trump tapped after firing James Comey in 2017 for investigating his 2016 campaign, has been a frequent target of Trump’s supporters’ ire.
Wray has also faced criticism from Trump’s allies, particularly for his leadership during key events, such as the court-authorized search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate for classified documents. He was also scrutinized for overseeing the implementation of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s directive to address violent threats and harassment against local school boards.
Former US President Donald Trump with his adviser Kash Patel.
Meanwhile, Special Counsel Jack Smith, who led two federal cases against Trump regarding his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents, filed motions on Nov. 25. Smith requested the dismissal of these cases before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, citing the Justice Department’s policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Christopher Wray had previously signaled no intention of stepping down before the end of his term and was busy planning events well into his 2025 calendar, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Kash Patel, Prescott Valley, Arizona, October 13, 2024.
Kash Patel, 44, who previously worked as a federal public defender and a federal prosecutor, emerged as a controversial figure during Trump’s first term in the White House. He was instrumental in working to lead House Republicans’ probe into the FBI’s 2016 investigation into contacts between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia during his stint as an aide to former House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes.
Later, during Trump’s first impeachment trial, ex-National Security Council official Fiona Hill told House investigators she was concerned that Patel was secretly serving as a backchannel between Trump and Ukraine without authorization. Patel denied those allegations.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies before the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party in Washington, D.C., on January 31, 2024.
After Trump left office in January 2021, Patel was one of several people Trump designated as a representative for access to his presidential records. He was one of the few former Trump administration officials who claimed, without evidence, that Trump had declassified all of the records in question. He was later subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury in connection with the probe.
As a private citizen, Patel wrote a book called “Government Gangsters” which Trump in 2023 declared would be used as a “roadmap to end the Deep State’s reign.”
Patel’s nomination to lead FBI is likely to garner pushback from Senate Democrats and possibly even some Republicans, though Patel has received public support from some high-profile Republicans such as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
