Donald Trump picked Kashyap “Cash” Patel as FBI director, nominating a loyalist and critic of the “deep state”. to lead the federal law enforcement agency that the president-elect has long criticized as corrupt.
Patel, 44, worked as federal prosecutor and public defender but rose to prominence in Trump circles after expressing outrage at the agency’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. He called for FBI leadership to be fired as part of a drive to keep federal law enforcement “on its heels.”
If confirmed, Patel will replace Christopher Ray FBI director who was appointed by Trump in 2017 after the then-president fired James Comey over the FBI’s secret Russia investigation.
Comey later testified to Congress that there was no evidence of collusion, but that the FBI had “grounds to investigate” the matter.
Patel had ties to former Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, who led opposition to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation while he was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
In making his nomination for FBI director, Trump said in a statement to Truth Social that Patel “is a brilliant attorney, investigator and champion of America First who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending justice and protecting the American people “.
“Cash will work under the leadership of our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to restore loyalty, courage and integrity to the FBI,” Trump added.
Trump noted Patel’s service as Defense Department chief of staff, deputy director of national intelligence and senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council during his first term.
Patel, he said, “played a central role in exposing the Russia, Russia, Russia fraud, standing up as a defender of truth, accountability and the Constitution.”
“This FBI will end America’s growing crime epidemic, break up migrant criminal gangs and stop the scourge of human and drug trafficking across the border,” he said.
If confirmed by the Senate — Gina Haspel, CIA director during Trump’s first term, reportedly threatened to resign in 2020 when Trump tried to install Patel as her replacement — Patel would likely prove to be a loyal operative of Trump’s desire to reform what the president-elect sees as Washington’s bureaucratic overreach.
Patel told the Conservative Political Action Conference in July that it was necessary to “identify the people in government who are crippling our constitutional republic”.
Trump called Patel’s book 2023 “Government Thugs,” in which he argues for firing government employees who undermine the president’s agenda, “a plan to take back the White House.”
The reforms outlined by Patel in the book “Defeating the Deep State” include moving FBI headquarters from Washington to “restrain FBI leadership from engaging in political gamesmanship” and reducing the attorney general’s office, which he claims was taken by “decision of the prosecutor’s office – making”.