President-elect Donald Trump has named longtime ally Kashyap “Kash” Patel, who has been a frequent and harsh critic of the FBI, to serve as the bureau’s next director in the new administration.
Patel, 44, is an attorney with experience in national security, intelligence and counterterrorism and helped uncover the bureau’s surveillance of the Trump campaign and first term. He has been a member of Trump’s transition team, advising the administration on other appointments.
Trump announced Patel’s appointment in a Truth Social post on Saturday.
“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’s statement read. “He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution.”
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Former Chief of Staff to the U.S. Secretary of Defense Kash Patel speaks during a campaign rally for former President Trump at Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott Valley, Ariz., Oct. 13. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
The current FBI director, Christopher Wray, is currently serving a 10-year appointment which began in 2017. Wray will either need to be fired or resign in order for Patel to take the position.
Patel is widely seen as a staunch Trump loyalist who will implement Trump’s desired reforms within the agency. During the first Trump administration, he served as senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council and later as the chief of staff for acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, from 2020-2021.
Patel has been a fierce critic of bureaucracy and corruption. In 2023, Patel published a book called “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy,” which delved into “the major players and tactics within the permanent government bureaucracy,” according to the book’s description.
Media outlets have labeled Patel an “extremely controversial pick,” with MSNBC’s Morning Joe calling him the “personification of MAGA rage about the Justice Department and the FBI.”
“I would shut down the FBI Hoover Building on day one and reopen the next day as a museum of the Deep State,” Patel said in an interview with “The Shawn Ryan Show.”
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Trump has nominated Patel to lead the FBI in the new administration. (Getty Images)
The attorney started his career as a public defender in Florida’s Miami-Dade County after attending the University of Richmond and earning a law degree from Pace University in New York and a certificate in international law from University College London Faculty of Laws.
In 2014, Patel became a federal prosecutor at the Department of Justice National Security Division, a role in which he led prosecutions against members of Al-Qaeda, ISIS and other terror groups.
Patel has served in several roles in the federal government, including most recently as the chief of staff to the Department of Defense and Deputy Assistant to President Trump during Trump’s first term. Prior to his Pentagon stint, Patel served as deputy director of National
Intelligence and as deputy assistant to the president on the National Security Council.
Before joining the first Trump administration, Patel served as the national security advisor and senior counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), where he
reported to Committee Chair Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. In that role, he helped to oversee the House probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and uncovered unlawful surveillance of the Trump campaign by the FBI and DOJ.
The FBI director position requires Senate confirmation. In an X post on Saturday night, Trump ally Mike Davis called Patel “unquestionably qualified.”
Former Chief of Staff to the Department of Defense Kash Patel greets the crowd during a campaign rally at Minden-Tahoe Airport, in Minden, Nev., Oct. 2, 2022. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“I served as Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley’s chief counsel for nominations – the job responsible for the confirmation of the FBI director,” Davis wrote. “Kash Patel will win Senate confirmation. He’ll bring much-needed reforms to a broken, corrupt FBI.”
Trump’s statement said that Patel will work with Pam Bondi, the nominee for attorney general, to reform the FBI.
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“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,” Trump’s post concluded. “Kash will work under our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to bring back Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity to the FBI.”
The FBI issued a statement following Trump’s announcement.
“Every day, the men and women of the FBI continue to work to protect Americans from a growing array of threats,” read the statement. “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.”