黑料社区

WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Kash Patel to serve as FBI director, turning to a fierce ally to upend America鈥檚 premier law enforcement agency and rid the government of perceived 鈥渃onspirators.鈥� It鈥檚 the latest bombshell Trump has thrown at the Washington establishment and a test for how far Senate Republicans will go in confirming his nominees.
鈥淚 am proud to announce that Kashyap 鈥楰ash鈥� Patel will serve as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,鈥� Trump posted Saturday night on Truth Social. 鈥淜ash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and 鈥楢merica First鈥� fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People.鈥�
The selection is in keeping with Trump鈥檚 view that the government鈥檚 law enforcement and intelligence agencies require a radical transformation and his stated desire for retribution against supposed adversaries. It shows how Trump, still fuming over years of federal investigations that shadowed his first administration and later led to his indictment, is moving to place atop the FBI and Justice Department close allies he believes will protect rather than scrutinize him.
Patel 鈥減layed a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution,鈥� Trump wrote Saturday night.
It remains unclear whether Patel could be confirmed, even by a Republican-led Senate, though Trump has also raised the prospect of using recess appointments to push his selections through.
Patel would replace Christopher Wray, who was appointed by Trump in 2017 but quickly fell out of favor with the president and his allies. Though the position carries a 10-year term, Wray鈥檚 removal was not unexpected given Trump鈥檚 long-running public criticism of him and the FBI, including after a search of his Florida鈥檚 property for classified documents and two investigations that resulted in his indictment.
Patel鈥檚 past proposals, if carried out, would lead to convulsive change for an agency tasked not only with investigating violations of federal law but also protecting the country from terrorist attacks, foreign espionage and other threats.
He鈥檚 called for dramatically reducing the FBI鈥檚 footprint, a perspective that dramatically sets him apart from earlier directors who have sought additional resources for the bureau, and has suggested closing down the bureau鈥檚 headquarters in Washington and 鈥渞eopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state鈥� 鈥� Trump鈥檚 pejorative catch-all for the federal bureaucracy.
And though the Justice Department in 2021 halted the practice of secretly seizing reporters鈥� phone records during leak investigation, Patel has said he intends to aggressively hunt down government officials who leak information to reporters and change the law to make it easier to sue journalists.
During an interview with Steve Bannon last December, Patel said he and others 鈥渨ill go out and find the conspirators not just in government but in the media.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,鈥� Patel said, referring to the 2020 presidential election in which Biden, the Democratic challenger, defeated Trump. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to come after you, whether it鈥檚 criminally or civilly. We鈥檒l figure that out. But yeah, we鈥檙e putting you all on notice.鈥�
Trump also announced Saturday that he would nominate Sheriff Chad Chronister, the top law enforcement officer in Hillsborough County, Florida, to serve as the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency.
Chronister is another Florida Republican named to Trump鈥檚 administration. He has worked for the Hillsborough County Sheriff鈥檚 Office since 1992 and became the top law enforcement officer in Hillsborough County 2017. He also worked closely with Trump鈥檚 choice for attorney general, Pam Bondi.
Patel, the child of Indian immigrants and a former public defender, spent several years as a Justice Department prosecutor before catching the Trump administration鈥檚 attention as a staffer for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
The panel鈥檚 then-chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., was a strong Trump ally who tasked Patel with running the committee鈥檚 investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. Patel ultimately helped author what became known as the 鈥淣unes Memo,鈥� a four-page report that detailed how it said the Justice Department had erred in obtaining a warrant to surveil a former Trump campaign volunteer. The memo鈥檚 release faced vehement opposition from Wray and the Justice Department, who warned that it would be reckless to disclose sensitive information.
A subsequent inspector general report identified significant problems with FBI surveillance during the Russia investigation, but also found no evidence that the FBI had acted with partisan motives in conducting the probe and said there had been a legitimate basis to open the inquiry.
The Russia investigation fueled Patel鈥檚 suspicions of the FBI, the intelligence community and also the media, which he has called 鈥渢he most powerful enemy the United States has ever seen.鈥� Seizing on compliance errors in the FBI鈥檚 use of a spy program that officials say is vital for national security, Patel has accused the FBI of having 鈥渨eaponized鈥� its surveillance powers against innocent Americans.
Patel parlayed that work into influential administration roles on the National Security Council and later as chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller.
He continued as a loyal Trump lieutenant even after he left office, accompanying the president-elect into court during his criminal trial in New York and asserting to reporters that Trump was the victim of a 鈥渃onstitutional circus.鈥�
In addition to his 2023 memoir, 鈥淕overnment Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy,鈥� Patel has published two children鈥檚 books that lionize Trump. 鈥淭he Plot Against the King鈥� features a thinly veiled Hillary Clinton as the villain going after 鈥淜ing Donald,鈥� while Kash, a wizard called the Distinguished Discoverer, exposes a nefarious plot.