Trump taps Kash Patel to shake up the FBI

National Catholic Register, Dec 3, 2024 / 11:05 am (CNA).

The announcement of President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to nominate Kash Patel to become the next FBI director shocked the political world over the weekend, teeing up what is sure to be a fierce confirmation battle.

If confirmed, Patel, seen by many as a Trump loyalist bent on vengeance, will head an agency shrouded in controversy, including the targeting of traditional Catholics and pro-life activists in recent years.

Patel, who was born to Gujarati-Indian parents in New York, has served in numerous defense and intelligence roles. A former federal prosecutor, he was senior adviser to the director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term and a U.S. National Security Council official. In November 2020, he was named chief of staff to the acting defense secretary. 

Patel was a strong defender of Trump during the “Russia collusion” controversy that engulfed American politics for the first three years of his presidency. While working as an aide to former Rep. Devin Nunes, R-California, he authored the “Nunes memo” that detailed errors made by the Justice Department in obtaining a FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) warrant to spy on Trump adviser Carter Page.

Some Catholic figures and groups hailed the selection, citing Patel’s eagerness to root out corruption in the FBI. 

“Every intel official in D.C. who lied in court to illegally spy on Trump and Americans is currently panicking frantically right now. Justice is on the way,” the political advocacy group CatholicVote posted on X. 

Conservative Catholic columnist David Marcus of Fox News wrote of the pick: “I feel confident that Kash Patel will not allow the FBI to spy on my Catholic Church. That alone is a massive upgrade.”

Former National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, Patel’s former superior, also hailed the pick. 

“I was able to count on him to get any job done no matter how complex or difficult the task,” he wrote on X. “He handled some of the nation’s most sensitive issues with care and discretion.”

Democrats and “never-Trump” Republicans, however, reacted with horror to the selection.

“[Patel] has no other agenda but revenge,” former Obama administration official Juliette Kayyem told CNN. “I mean, it’s not like he has a theory of law enforcement, a theory of reducing crime or financial crimes. He exists for one reason, and he’s close to Trump for one reason, which is he will be the enforcer of what might be called sort of the revenge tour of this second term.”

Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, called Patel an “unqualified loyalist.”

Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI who was investigated for making false statements during the Russia-collusion investigation, took aim at Patel’s qualifications. 

“It’s a terrible development for the men and women of the FBI and also for the nation that depends on a highly functioning, professional, independent Federal Bureau of Investigation,” McCabe told CNN. “The fact that Kash Patel is profoundly unqualified for this job is not even, like, a matter for debate.”

Following his stint at the Pentagon, Patel remained a pro-Trump voice in the media, often making incendiary statements about seeking retribution against political opponents in government and beyond. 

“Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,” Patel said on a podcast with Stephen Bannon in 2023. “We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminally or civilly — we’ll figure that out. But, yeah, we’re putting you all on notice.”

In 2022, Patel authored a children’s book called “Plot Against the King” that retold the Russia-collusion saga, with Trump cast as a king and Patel himself as “Kash the Distinguished Discoverer.”

Patel also authored the book “Government Gangsters” that argued for firing government employees who undermine Trump’s agenda should he retake the White House.

In February, Patel told the Conservative Political Action Conference: “We’re blessed by God to have Donald Trump be our juggernaut of justice, to be our leader, to be our continued warrior in the arena.” 

Trump’s former attorney general, Bill Barr, a member of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast and a former board member of the Catholic Information Center, wrote in his memoir that Patel had “virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency. … The very idea of moving Patel into a role like this showed a shocking detachment from reality.”

Other prominent Republicans saw the nomination differently. 

“I worked elbow to elbow with Kash,” said former U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy on Fox News. “He’s a former federal prosecutor, a former federal public defender. I think he’s been unfairly maligned. You would not know about FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) abuse, and you would not know about Fusion GPS had it not been for the hard work of a guy named Kash Patel.”

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/260801/trump-taps-kash-patel-to-shake-up-the-fbi