Trump announces loyalist Kash Patel as choice to lead FBI

Former Chief of Staff to the U.S. Secretary of Defense Kash Patel speaks during a campaign rally for U.S. Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump at Findlay Toyota Center on October 13, 2024 in Prescott Valley, Arizona. FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON — US President-elect Donald Trump aims to make loyalist Kash Patel the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he said on Saturday, in a move that would mean replacing the agency’s current leader.

The incoming president announced the former advisor and Pentagon official, who is known for his views blasting the so-called government “deep state,” as his choice for the post on his Truth Social network.

Hard-liner Republicans have for years insisted that a supposed “deep state” of allegedly biased government bureaucrats has worked to stifle Trump from behind the scenes.

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The FBI’s current director, Christopher Wray, was appointed to a 10-year term in 2017, meaning he would either need to step down or be fired.

The FBI under Wray — who Trump appointed — has investigated the incoming president.

“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 wrote in the post.

Patel, the son of Indian immigrants and author of a book about the “deep state,” served in several high-level posts during Trump’s first term, including as a national security advisor and as chief of staff to the acting defense secretary.

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“Kash did an incredible job during my First Term,” Trump said, adding that he would work to “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.”

Separately, Trump nominated Chad Chronister, a Florida sheriff, as administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

“Chad will work with our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to secure the Border, stop the flow of Fentanyl, and other Illegal Drugs, across the Southern Border, and SAVE LIVES,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Bondi, a staunch Trump ally and former Florida attorney general, is the president-elect’s pick to lead the Department of Justice.