Trump taps longtime ally Kash Patel to lead FBI

As a congressional staffer, Kash Patel helped expose FBI misconduct. Now, he’s President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Christopher Wray as the bureau’s director.

In another major announcement of house cleaning, Trump announced Saturday on Truth Social that the former Pentagon senior official, influential congressional staffer, White House aide and former terrorism prosecutor, would be his nominee to run the FBI, which has been besieged by scandal and whistleblowers in recent years.

“I am proud to announce that Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel will serve as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Trump’s post said. “Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People.”

The president-elect noted the role Patel played in exposing misconduct by the FBI regarding the Russia investigation.

“He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution,” Trump added. “Kash did an incredible job during my First Term, where he served as Chief of Staff at the Department of Defense, Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council. Kash has also tried over 60 jury trials.”

“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. Kash will work under our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to bring back Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity to the FBI,” Trump continued.

BREAKING: President Trump nominates Kash Patel as FBI Director pic.twitter.com/LHu2odgxkY

— WorldNetDaily (@worldnetdaily) December 1, 2024

Last year, Patel’s book “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy,” was published that detailed his critique of federal agencies, including the Justice Department and the FBI.

During the first Trump administration, Patel was the chief of staff to Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller.

Before that, Patel was the deputy assistant to the president and the senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council.

While at the NSC, he helped oversee Trump policies that included eliminating the Islamic State terrorist group, as well as Al Qaeda leadership such as al-Baghdadi and Qasem al-Rimi.

Patel also was the principal deputy to the former Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell, who oversaw the operations of 17 intelligence community agencies.

Before going to the White House, Patel was senior counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, under then-Chairiman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and oversaw the investigation into the Russian active measures campaign to influence the 2016 presidential–election.

He also played a key role in the Nunes memo that showed the FBI relied on partisan “politically motivated or questionable sources” to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to spy on Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

The two and a half year investigation into whether Trump conspired with the Russian government to win the 2016 election was prompted by information fed to the FBI from Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, and Democrat operatives. The House panel and later special counsel Robert Mueller concluded there was no evidence that Trump conspired with Russians.

If confirmed, Patel would return to law enforcement, which is what he did before his time on Capitol Hill when he was a terrorism prosecutor at the Justice Department.

While at the Justice Department, Patel was also the liaison officer to Joint Special Operations Command, to conduct collaborative targeting operations against high value terrorism targets.

[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]