1st December, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate Kash Patel to replace current FBI director, Christopher Wray, when he takes office.
“I am proud to announce that Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel will serve as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Saturday evening.
Wray has three years remaining in his 10-year term and would have to resign or be fired to create a vacancy. CNN reports that Trump nominated Wray in 2017 after firing James Comey, but he began to sour on Wray before he left office in 2021.
Trump’s view of the FBI only worsened after his Mar-a-Lago resort was searched in August 2022, and Trump was later indicted for allegedly retaining classified documents.
“Every day, the men and women of the FBI continue to work to protect Americans from a growing array of threats,” the agency said in a statement to CNN. “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.”
Trump’s interest Patel speaks to his urge to fill top law enforcement and intelligence positions with supporters who may be open to carrying out his demands for specific investigations as well as inoculating the president against possible future probes.
It also sets up another potentially explosive confirmation battle in the Senate, where members are already bracing for how they’ll navigate a slew of unorthodox Trump picks. One of those picks, fellow Trump loyalist and Justice Department critic Matt Gaetz dropped out of the fight to become attorney general as it became clear the former Florida congressman would not have the GOP support necessary for confirmation.
It’s unclear whether Patel, a firebrand, could face a similar uphill battle through the confirmation process.
Patel has heavily criticized 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 “museum of the deep state.”
“The FBI’s footprint has gotten so freakin’ big,” Patel said on the “Shawn Ryan Show,” criticizing the agency’s intelligence-gathering operation.
During the interview, Patel also ridiculed the FBI for its 2022 search warrant of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, which led to charges being brought against the former president for retaining classified documents. The judge overseeing that case eventually dismissed the charges against Trump.
In a 2023 interview with Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser, Patel said the Justice Department under Trump would “come after” media members.
“We’ve got to put in all-American patriots top to bottom,” Patel said of the DOJ, adding that the department under Trump “will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media.”
“Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections – we’re going to come after you,” he is quoted by CNN.
Earlier this month, one of the president-elect’s top advisers, Elon Musk, appeared to weigh in on Patel’s candidacy for the FBI job via X, the social media platform he owns. He responded with a “100” emoji to a top Trump ally’s tweet endorsing Patel for the job.
