U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday night that Kashyap (Kash) Patel, a former Defense Department chief of staff during his first term, will be appointed as the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The announcement, made on Trump’s Truth Social platform, highlighted Patel's legal and investigative experience and his alignment with Trump’s “America First” agenda.
“Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People. He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution,” Trump wrote.
"Kash did an incredible job during my First Term, where he served as Chief of Staff at the Department of Defense, Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council. Kash has also tried over 60 jury trials.
"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."
CNN reported that Patel has been highly critical of the FBI in the past. In a podcast interview in September, Patel called for dismantling the agency’s Washington headquarters and turning it into a “museum of the Deep State.”
He also mocked the FBI during an interview on “The Shawn Ryan Show” in relation to the search warrant executed in 2022 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, which had led to charges against the president-elect for retaining classified documents. A judge later dismissed the charges against Trump.
Patel has publicly praised Israel's intelligence capabilities on numerous occasions and has called for the United States to stand “side by side” with Israel, which he described as “our number one ally.”
Following the “pager” operation in Lebanon, he told Fox News, “What the Israelis did was brilliant... [Hamas] have to be shaking in their boots, they have to be terrified of the fact that the Israelis are so brilliant in pulling this off. This has been planned for such a long time and the Israelis don't play one-dimensional chess."
“I’ve worked with the Israeli intelligence services,” Patel shared. “This is probably, in my estimation, a part of a one, two, three, four, five, six, seven-pronged approach, that they have mapped out every single consequence. And I think Iran is, probably, for the first time in this war finally saying, 'They may have us.'"
Following Iran’s October 1 ballistic missile attack on Israel, Patel placed blame on President Joe Biden, who he said has “allow[ed] Iran back into the international scene and allow[ed] Iran to reenter their nuclear.”
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"The Israelis' capabilities are exquisite, but unfortunately, they cannot, in my opinion, take on Iran, as big of a machine as they have become, alone... We should be side-by-side and that can't happen unless we have an election that changes the commander-in-chief seat, and we are back in power... we will be standing side by side with them, we will shut off the machinery that feeds money into Iran, we will no longer have a hundred hostages still in captivity, Israeli and American and otherwise, [held] by Hamas and Iran's Hezbollah mercenary forces," he told Fox News host Larry Kudlow.
"We need America to wake up and prioritize Israel... We need to bring home Americans and end this war, bring home Israelis and make sure we stand by our number one ally, in Israel—and people need to wake up when it comes to November 5, Donald Trump is the only choice."
Current FBI Director Christopher Wray, who was appointed by Trump in 2017 and has three years remaining in his term, would need to resign or be dismissed to make way for Patel. Trump had previously described Wray as an "impeccably qualified individual" but has since grown critical of him.
Patel has been involved in several controversial incidents, including a statement last year in which he said he would “go after” politicians and journalists perceived as opponents of Trump. During Trump’s first term, senior security officials reportedly viewed Patel with hostility, regarding him as an unstable individual who was excessively eager to please Trump.