President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement that he will tap longtime ally Kash Patel to helm the FBI has been met with widespread acclaim among the MAGA faithful — while critics fret he will take a wrecking ball to the bureau.
FBI director Christopher Wray has three years left in his term, but Trump, 78, will have the power to fire him and attempt to replace him with Patel, 44, whom he has floated for other roles in the past.
Patel came on the MAGA movement’s radar during Trump’s first administration when he worked as an aide to former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and probed the government’s actions surrounding the Russian collusion narrative against the 45th and soon-to-be 47th president.
Later, Patel served as a US National Security Council official, senior advisor to the acting Director of National Intelligence and chief of staff to the acting secretary of defense during Trump’s first administration.
Trump supporters lauded the selection of Patel, who has dangled the idea of shuttering the FBI’s headquarters in the Hoover Building 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 acting Director of National 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 showing a clip of Patel railing against the “two-tiered system of justice” based on one’s politics.
Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI, reacted with alarm to Trump’s choice of Patel, calling him unqualified on CNN. Some MAGA faithful were cheered by McCabe’s strong reaction.
“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 National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said.
Several GOP senators heralded Patel, though he seems likely to face a bruising Senate confirmation process if it comes to 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) said.
However, Grassley added a hint 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 should be more of an apolitical figure than he is.
Trump’s former National Security Adviser John Bolton likened his nomination to that of Joseph Stalin’s notorious head of the secret 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 said in a statement.
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 also pointed to former US Attorney General Bill Barr’s past critique of Patel in his 2022 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.”
During Trump’s first term, the president-elect’s allies had mused about Patel for various roles, including FBI director and even as a deputy to the CIA director.
To get confirmed as the full-fledged director of the FBI, Patel will need to clear the Senate. Republicans are set to have a 53-seat majority, meaning he could only afford to lose four votes (the vice president is the tiebreaker).
Trump has suggested he could seek to bypass the Senate confirmation process, but Republican defectors could potentially scuttle that.
The president-elect could also theoretically attempt to sidestep the Senate by making him acting FBI director, which he could do for about 210 days.