TOI Correspondent from Washington: Forget motels, fast food franchises, and corner stores. A Patel may soon be running the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), one of the most powerful offices in the United States.
President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday named Kashyap (“Kash) Patel, a middling staffer in his first term, to serve as the next Director of the FBI, calling him “a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People.”
Recognising the “pivotal role” Patel played in uncovering what Trump calls the “Russia Hoax,” the President-elect described his nominee as “an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution,” who would “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… to bring back Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity to the FBI.”
Not everyone, including many Republicans who see him as a conspiracy-peddling MAGA wingnut, shared the glowing sentiments. High-ranking officials in Trump’s first term in the White House who balked at Patel’s rise from an obscure prosecutor bristled at a promotion that was inevitable after Trump’s hand was strengthened by an resounding electoral win, resulting in the MAGA supremo virtually ousting incumbent FBI Director Christopher Fray, who was appointed by Trump himself in his first term and is half-way through his ten year term.
Critics on the moderate spectrum of politics said Patel’s main qualification for the powerful post appeared to be unstinting loyalty to Trump and his pledge to be a hatchet man for the politics of retribution that he has promoted. In one of the oft-quoted interview segments, Patel made no secret of his quest for reprisals against what he calls the “deep state,” including against journalists, telling Trump’s acolyte Steve Bannon in one podcast, “We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminally or civilly — we’ll figure that out.”
So horrified were sections of the media that the Huffington Post reported the story under the headline “Trump names nut for FBI” while one critic called him “a far-right, deranged MAGA loyalist.” Calls went out to moderate Republicans Senators such as Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski to block his confirmation.
The US Senate will have to confirm Patel’s nomination, and as with several other Trump appointments, this one too will be testing the boundaries of acceptance although the MAGA supremo has indicated he will simply get around the confirmation process by making the appointments during recess.
Patel was widely tipped for a top job in the incoming Trump II administration, including as head of CIA and Directorate of National Intelligence, but the residue of his slash-and-burn approach during Trump’s first term still haunts Washington. At one point during Trump One, the then President considered appointing him as Deputy Director of FBI, but balked Attorney General William Barr threatened to resign, reportedly telling White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that Patel would be deputy director “over my dead body.”
