FBI Director Stepping Down As Trump Picks Kash Patel To Lead Agency—Here’s Why Critics Are Worried

11 Dec 2024 by Alison Durkee · Forbes

Topline

FBI Director Christopher Wray indicated Wednesday he’ll leave his post next month, clearing a major hurdle for President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI chief, Kash Patel, an ally who has long railed against the so-called Deep State and vowed to punish Trump’s enemies—and drawn widespread criticism from even top officials in Trump’s first White House.

Key Facts

Trump picked Patel last month to replace Wray as FBI director, a role that requires Senate confirmation.

Trump was widely expected to replace Wray, whom Trump initially hired in 2017, but Wray’s decision to leave on his own with more than two years left in his decade-long term allows Trump to avoid political blowback from firing the FBI chief.

A lawyer by trade, Patel briefly served in the Justice Department during the Obama administration before moving to the House after Trump took office, spending two years as senior counsel to former Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., when he led the House Intelligence Committee in 2017 and 2018, helping with the committee’s widely criticized inquiry into the FBI’s Russia investigation and writing the widely criticized memo that came out of that probe, which alleged missteps at the FBI in its investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties with Russia.

Patel joined the Trump administration after Democrats took back the House in 2018, going from serving as Trump’s senior director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council to senior adviser for Trump’s directors of national intelligence, and then finally being promoted to chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller during Trump’s final months in office.

The Washington Post reported Patel was the de facto head of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Pentagon when he was at those agencies, even if other people held the director title—gaining that power as Patel “appeared singularly focused on pleasing Trump” while in office, The Atlantic reports, with the official echoing the president-elect’s policy aims and rhetoric in wanting to seek revenge against a so-called Deep State of political enemies.

The Post reports Patel was focused on getting rid of officials within intelligence agencies and helping carry out the Trump team’s plan to “restrict the intelligence agencies’ power,” butting heads with top officials in the first Trump administration who weren’t always willing to side with the then-president’s more extreme views and believed Patel did not have sufficient experience for his roles.

Trump tried to install Patel to serve as deputy director of the CIA or FBI in the final months of his presidency, according to multiple reports, but backed down after then-CIA Director Gina Haspel and then-Attorney General William Barr threatened to resign over the move, with The Times reporting Barr vowed Patel would help lead the FBI “over my dead body.”

Crucial Quote

“A lot of people say he’s crazy,” Trump reportedly said about Patel, according to an anonymous adviser cited by The Atlantic. “I think he’s kind of crazy. But sometimes you need a little crazy.”

Chief Critic

“No part of the FBI’s mission is safe with Kash Patel in any position of leadership in the FBI, and certainly not in the deputy director’s job,” former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe told CNN last month, saying the “scope of authority” in that job is “enormous.” “If you enter into that position with nothing more than a desire to disrupt and destroy the organization, there is a lot of damage someone like Kash Patel could do,” McCabe added.

Why Did Kash Patel Generate Controversy In Trump’s First Term?

Beyond his extreme loyalty to Trump and desire to clean house at intelligence agencies, outlets including The Atlantic, Times and Post have pointed to multiple particularly controversial moments during Trump’s first term that illustrated why officials had issues with Patel. Former NSC official Fiona Hill testified during Trump’s first impeachment trial that a staffer told her Patel, when he was at the NSC, was privately feeding Trump information about Ukraine and the then-president described him as the council’s “Ukraine director.” Hill said that “alarmed everybody,” because Ukraine was not part of Patel’s remit and he was not on the list to receive materials about it. Officials also raised issues with an instance in which Patel claimed that then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told him the U.S. had received airspace permission from Nigeria as it executed a rescue mission to retrieve an American hostage. That was in fact not true, and the plane had to circle around while officials scrambled to alert Nigerian authorities about their plan, with Pompeo saying he had never spoken with Patel. Patel denied both of those instances to The Atlantic. The Post also reports that Patel pushed officials to declassify information that would harm national security and the military, according to an anonymous senior defense official.

What Has Kash Patel Done Since Trump Left Office?

Patel has remained a key Trump supporter since leaving the White House, going on to launch an organization called The Kash Network that funds legal and educational efforts for people in line with Trump, including “whistleblowers” and “defamed American citizens” and educating “the public in areas the mainstream media refuses to cover.” The former adviser has also been an outspoken Trump advocate in the media, frequently appearing on right-wing podcasts and programs, and launched a line of merchandise highlighting Trump and Jan. 6 rioters. He has also penned a children’s book called “The Plot Against The King” that paints him as a wizard defending “King Donald” and helped produce the pro-Jan. 6 rioter anthem “Justice for All.” Patel testified before a grand jury in the investigation that led to Trump being indicted for allegedly withholding White House documents, with the Associated Press reporting he received immunity for his testimony, after claiming to Breitbart News that Trump broadly declassified materials while he was in office.

What Would Kash Patel Do During A Second Trump Term?

Patel has broadly vowed to retaliate against Trump’s enemies during a second stint in the White House, telling Steve Bannon on his “War Room” podcast that he wanted to go after perceived enemies “not just in government but in the media.” “We’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,” Patel said, referring to the 2020 election. “We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminally or civilly. ... We’re putting you all on notice.” Patel’s book “Government Gangsters” also calls for a “comprehensive housecleaning” of officials at the DOJ and firing the “top ranks” at the FBI, as quoted by ABC News. He argues in his book that anyone at the FBI should be prosecuted who "in any way abused their authority for political ends,” ABC reports, writing that "the FBI has become so thoroughly compromised that it will remain a threat to the people unless drastic measures are taken.” Other measures that Patel could seek to impose in a second Trump term include taking away security clearances from anyone involved with the FBI’s Russia investigation, shutting down the FBI’s main Washington, D.C., headquarters and sending most officials out into the field, and declassifying and releasing documents from the FBI’s Russia investigation, according to ABC.

Key Background

Trump is expected to staff his second term with loyalists who will carry out his agenda and more extreme proposals, as the incoming president reportedly wants to avoid issues during his first term with top figures like Haspel and Barr refusing to capitulate to his demands. Patel is one of a number of Trump allies floated or already named to serve in the second Trump administration in the week since his election, with Trump making controversial staffing decisions like choosing Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be secretary of defense, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be health secretary and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence. With those picks generating widespread criticism—reportedly even by some GOP lawmakers—it remains to be seen whether Trump’s choices will be confirmed by a majority of senators. Trump has also pushed the idea of using “recess appointments” to confirm his nominees without Senate clearance, however, in which presidents can appoint officials themselves while the Senate is in recess.