Patel was seen with Trump at his New York court hearing
President-elect Donald Trump has announced that his former aide Kash Patel will be nominated for FBI chief.
Trump posted on Truth Social: “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.”
If selected, Patel would replace incumbent FBI Director Christopher Wray.
With three years left on Wray’s term, he is expected to be fired or resign.
But who is Kash Patel?
Born in New York’s Long Island to Gujarati-Indian parents, Kash Patel said he has a “very deep connection” with India.
He has a criminal justice degree from Richmond University and a law degree from Pace University. Patel also has an international law from University College London.
Between 2005 and 2013, Patel worked as a county and federal public defender in Florida.
In 2014, he joined the Department of Justice as a trial attorney and simultaneously served as a legal liaison to the Joint Special Operations Command.
During Trump’s first presidential term, Patel advised the director of national intelligence and the secretary of defence.
However, he reportedly endeared himself to the former president with his role in the 2018 FBI investigation into Russian involvement in Trump’s presidential campaign two years earlier.
A report from The New York Times described Patel as the primary author of the secret “Nunes Memo” at the centre of this investigation.
In 2018, Kash Patel was an aide to Representative Devin Nunes who headed the House Intelligence Committee at the time.
By authoring the memo, Patel was key to Nunes’ efforts to discredit the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign.
On numerous occasions, Patel was seen with Trump at his New York court hearing that named him a convicted felon. He told reporters that Trump was the victim of an “unconstitutional circus”.
After securing immunity, Patel showed his support for Trump before a Washington grand jury.
He also appeared at a Colorado court hearing on Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election leading to the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol building.
Then the Chief of Staff to the Acting Defence Secretary, Kash Patel testified that Trump had “pre-emptively authorised 10,000 to 20,000 troops to deploy days before the attack”.
However, the court later found that Patel was “not a credible witness”.
Kash Patel’s proximity to Trump sharply contrasts his predecessors James Comey or Christopher Wray who toed the modern-day precedent of FBI directors keeping presidents at arm’s length.
If he becomes FBI Chief, Patel is expected to overhaul the security service.
He previously voiced his criticism of the FBI. In an appearance on The Shawn Ryan Show, Patel said:
“The FBI’s footprint has gotten so freakin’ big.”
He also criticised the FBI’s 2022 search warrant of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, which formed the basis for the case involving classified documents against the latter.
In his book Government Gangsters, Patel mentioned moving the FBI headquarters out of Washington and reducing the general counsel’s office within the FBI as among the “top reforms to defeat the deep state”.
He told Shawn Ryan:
“I’d take the seven thousand employees that work in that building and send them across America to go chase down criminals.”
Patel also criticised “the deep state”, describing it as “the most dangerous threat to our democracy”.
Trump approved of Patel’s book and called it a “blueprint to take back the White House”.
In an interview with Trump loyalist and conservative strategist Steven Bannon, Patel promised to investigate and “come after” journalists who had “lied” and “helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections”.
Patel said: “We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminally or civilly.
“We’ll figure that out. But yeah, we’re putting you all on notice.”
Kash Patel may be Donald Trump’s pick for FBI Chief but he will also need to be confirmed by the Senate, and could likely face some opposition.
Loading ...