President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement that he’ll faucet longtime ally Kash Patel to helm the FBI has been met with widespread acclaim among the many MAGA devoted — whereas critics fret he’ll take a wrecking ball to the bureau.
FBI director Christopher Wray has three years left in his time period, however Trump, 78, may have the facility to fireplace him and try to switch him with Patel, 44, whom he has floated for different roles up to now.
Patel got here on the MAGA motion’s radar throughout Trump’s first administration when he labored as an aide to former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and probed the federal government’s actions surrounding the Russian collusion narrative towards the forty fifth and soon-to-be forty seventh president.
Later, Patel served as a US Nationwide Safety Council official, senior advisor to the appearing Director of Nationwide Intelligence and chief of employees to the appearing secretary of protection throughout Trump’s first administration.
Trump supporters lauded the number of Patel, who has dangled the thought of shuttering the FBI’s headquarters within the Hoover Constructing on “day one” and opening up a “Deep State Museum” in its stead.
“Kash Patel was my deputy Director of National Intelligence when I was Acting. I can’t tell you how many people said to me ‘wow.’ He’s nothing like the media portrays him. I love him,” former appearing Director of Nationwide Intelligence Ric Grenell posted on X.
“Kash Patel in his own words Why we need deep reforms from the top This is the BEST choice for FBI Director,” pundit Tim Pool contended exhibiting a clip of Patel railing towards the “two-tiered system of justice” primarily based on one’s politics.
Andrew McCabe, the previous deputy director of the FBI, reacted with alarm to Trump’s alternative of Patel, calling him unqualified on CNN. Some MAGA devoted have been cheered by McCabe’s robust response.
“Andrew McCabe was part of the deep state plot to take down President Trump. If he’s freaking out like this on CNN about Kash Patel being FBI Director, then Trump made the perfect pick,” conservative influencer Robby Starbuck posted on X with the clip McCabe.Se
“Kash Patel served a Snr. Director for counterterrorism when I was National Security Advisor. I was able to count on him to get any job done no matter how complex or difficult the task. He handled some of the nation’s most sensitive issues with care and discretion,” former Nationwide Safety Adviser Robert O’Brien mentioned.
A number of GOP senators heralded Patel, although he appears prone to face a bruising Senate affirmation course of if it involves that.
“I look forward to working with Kash Patel as FBI Director to release Epstein’s flight logs and black book. Under the Trump administration, the American people are going to get answers,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) posted on X.
“Chris Wray has failed at fundamental duties of FBI Dir He’s [shown] disdain for [Congressional] oversight & hasn’t lived up to his promises. It’s time 2 chart a new course 4 TRANSPARENCY +ACCOUNTABILITY at FBI,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) mentioned.
Nevertheless, Grassley added a touch of skepticism: “Kash Patel must prove to Congress he will reform & restore public trust in FBI.”
Critics lambasted Patel for his unfailing loyalty to Trump and argued that the FBI director must be extra of an apolitical determine than he’s.
Trump’s former Nationwide Safety Adviser John Bolton likened his nomination to that of Joseph Stalin’s infamous head of the key police.
“Trump has nominated Kash Patel to be his Lavrenty Beria. Fortunately, the FBI is not the NKVD. The Senate should reject this nomination 100-0,” Bolton mentioned in an announcement.
Jeb Bush’s former communications director-turned staunch Trump adversary Tim Miller blasted Patel as “the most dangerous nominee we’ve seen yet to our democracy.”
Detractors additionally pointed to former US Lawyer Basic Invoice Barr’s previous critique of Patel in his 2022 e book, “One Damn Thing After Another.”
“I categorically opposed making Patel deputy FBI director. I told Mark Meadows it would happen ‘over my dead body,’” he wrote. “Someone with no background as an agent would never be able to command the respect necessary to run the day-to-day operations of the bureau.”
Throughout Trump’s first time period, the president-elect’s allies had mused about Patel for varied roles, together with FBI director and at the same time as a deputy to the CIA director.
To get confirmed because the full-fledged director of the FBI, Patel might want to clear the Senate. Republicans are set to have a 53-seat majority, that means he might solely afford to lose 4 votes (the vice chairman is the tiebreaker).
Trump has advised he might search to bypass the Senate affirmation course of, however Republican defectors might doubtlessly scuttle that.
The president-elect might additionally theoretically try and sidestep the Senate by making him appearing FBI director, which he might do for about 210 days.
