Donald Trump’s plan to nominate “deep state” conspiracy theorist Kash Patel to head the FBI comes after the agency’s staunch critic has threatened to fire top FBI officials and shut down FBI headquarters. But it faces pushback in Congress as U.S. senators begin to soften their stance. Check their muscles ahead of the contentious confirmation process.
Politicians from both major political parties appeared on Sunday talk shows to express very different views on Patel, whom President Trump announced Saturday as his pick to head the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agency. The move hinges on whether current FBI Director Christopher Wray, who Trump himself appointed to the post in 2017, is fired or resigns.
It’s already clear that Patel’s confirmation in the U.S. Senate is likely to be anything but smooth sailing. Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota suggested Patel could face a tough confirmation battle.
In an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” Mr. Rounds offered sharp praise for the current FBI director. He said Wray, who has three years left on his 10-year term, is a “very good man” and added: “I have no objections to the way he is doing his job.”
The senator also stressed the separation of powers between the president and the Senate, suggesting potential difficulties for Patel. Lowndes said he gave the president “the benefit of the doubt,” but also stressed that “we have a constitutional role to play…that’s the process.”
Other Republican senators also rallied to Patel’s side. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told CBS’ Face the Nation that he believes Patel will be confirmed.
“Mr. Patel is a very strong candidate to take on partisan corruption in the FBI.”
Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee said on NBC’s Meet the Press that he would vote to confirm Patel. “Kash is the best at uncovering what happened to the FBI, and I’m looking forward to watching him unravel it,” he said.
Patel is a Trump supporter and has published a children’s book about King Donald. He has long accused the FBI of being a pillar of what he calls the “deep state” or “corrupt establishment.”
In an interview with Sean Ryan in September, Patel vowed to “shut down” FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., and reopen the building the next day as a “museum of the deep state.”
He has also threatened to use the power of federal law enforcement to go after people he claims are involved in federal corruption, a list of whom he published in his memoir. Joe Biden’s current national security adviser Jake Sullivan is also included on that list, whom Patel called “one of the first-rate corrupt actors.”
Sullivan was asked on ABC’s This Week whether he was personally concerned about Patel’s potential leadership of the FBI, given the threats against him. He declined to comment, saying he would focus on keeping the country safe during the remaining 50 days of his term.
However, he emphasized that Mr. Biden retained Mr. Wray as FBI director even though he took over from Mr. Trump. Sullivan said Wray “was completely insulated from politics and the partisan preferences of the sitting president and left his mark with distinction.” This is a good bipartisan tradition that President Biden has followed. ”
House Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland disputed claims by Trump and Patel that the FBI has been politically weaponized under the Biden administration to go after Republicans. He noted on CNN’s State of the Union that over the past four years, the FBI has prosecuted disgraced Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar.
“I think that’s what they mean when they talk about the deep state, the politicization of those who don’t submit to Donald Trump’s will,” Raskin said.
Axios reported on Sunday that President Trump had originally planned to nominate Patel as deputy director of the FBI, but he was not impressed with Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who nominated him to head the bureau. , he said he changed his mind. Elevating Patel to the number one position would make the move even more politically loaded.
Despite the storm he is stirring up, Trump shows no signs of moderating his leadership choices for the next administration. Over the weekend, Trump selected Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, a convicted felon whom Trump pardoned in 2020, to be the U.S. ambassador to France.
On Sunday, President Trump announced on Truth Social that he had selected Massad Boulos, father-in-law of his daughter Tiffany, to be his senior adviser for Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. Mr. Boulos, a Lebanese billionaire, was active in President Trump’s campaign as a liaison with Arab-American and Muslim leaders.
President Trump also selected Chad Chronister, a Florida county sheriff, to head the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The agency will play a key role in fulfilling President Trump’s pledge to stop the cross-border flow of fentanyl and other drugs into the United States, which has already caused diplomatic tensions with Canada and Mexico. .
Chronister’s father-in-law, Edward DeBartolo, was convicted in 1998 for his role in a gambling fraud case and was pardoned by President Trump three years ago. DeBartolo, the former owner of the San Francisco 49ers, was fined $1 million and suspended for one year by the NFL.
