President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he plans to replace FBI director Christopher Wray with Kash Patel, former chief of staff to the acting secretary of Defense.
Why it matters: Trump’s decision to name a hardline loyalist to the key position — which requires Senate confirmation — amounts to a massive middle finger to the intelligence community, a longtime Trump nemesis.
What they’re saying: “I am proud to announce that Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel will serve as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Trump said in the announcement.
- “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 added.
- “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.
The big picture: Patel has echoed Trump’s rhetoric of cleansing out the so-called “Deep State” and made similarly drastic proposals for the FBI.
- “I’d shut down the FBI Hoover Building on day one and reopen the next day as a museum of the deep state. And I’d take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to chase down criminals,” he said earlier this month.
How it happened: Patel has been the top choice for FBI director for Steve Bannon and his allies, who for weeks have been lobbying Trump to pick Patel despite his tough road to Senate confirmation.
- Patel served in Trump’s National Security Council during his first term, as an adviser to the acting director of national intelligence and as chief of staff to former Defense Secretary Chris Miller.
Patel, the child of Indian immigrants and a former public defender, spent several years as a Justice Department prosecutor before catching the Trump administration’s attention as a staffer for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, AP notes.
Go deeper: Trump calls on FBI head to resign for comment on Biden’s competency
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