Washington- That of President-elect Donald Trump announcement On Saturday, his plan to appoint Kash Patel as FBI director sent shockwaves through Washington over the weekend, sparking outrage among Democrats and even some former Trump officials, while some loyalists insisted the fact that they thought Patel would be confirmed by the Senate.
Patel, a 44-year-old who held intelligence and defense positions during Trump’s first term, is a controversial figure even in Trump’s world, and one former US official described him as “by far the “most dangerous choice” that Trump has made.
“There’s no ‘there’ for him,” the official told CBS News. “He will literally do anything.”
John Bolton, who served as national security adviser in Trump’s first term and Patel’s boss, compared the appointment to that of Joseph Stalin’s secret police chief.
“Fortunately, the FBI is not” Stalin’s secret police, Bolton said. “The Senate should reject this nomination 100-0.”
In response to Bolton’s comments, Vice President-elect JD Vance posted on social media that “John Bolton was wrong about everything, so I guess Kash must be pretty awesome.”
Aside from objections to Patel leading the FBI, current FBI Director Christopher Wray’s 10-year term is not expected to end until 2027. For Patel to become FBI director, Wray would have to resign or be fired by Trump and Patel would. must be confirmed by the Senate. Republicans are expected to hold a 53-47 majority in January, leaving new Majority Leader John Thune with just a few votes to spare.
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Trump called Patel “a brilliant lawyer, investigator and fighter for ‘America First’ who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending justice and protecting the American people” in a social media post Saturday social. And some of his supporters echoed that sentiment, like Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, who said Patel was a “very strong candidate” who he believed would be approved by the Senate.
“I have to say that all the weeping and gnashing of teeth, all the people tearing their hair out, are exactly the people who are dismayed to see a true reformer come into the FBI and clean out the corrupt supporters who have unfortunately buried leadership positions at the FBI,” Cruz said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
Sen. Bill Hagerty, a Republican from Tennessee, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he “encouraged President Trump to bring Kash Patel to the table,” saying Patel “represents the type of change that we need to see within the FBI.”
Other Republicans, like Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, have taken a more cautious approach. Rounds expressed support for Wray, who was appointed by Trump during his first term in 2017.
“I think the president chose a very good man to lead the FBI in his first term,” Rounds said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I have no complaints about the way he is doing his job at the moment.”
Meanwhile, Democrats have been very critical of this choice. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said on NBC that he would vote no, expressing concern that Patel “will only care about protecting Republicans.” And Murphy pledged to help his colleagues and the American public “understand what’s going on here.”
“Donald Trump told the American public during the campaign that he was going to turn the Justice Department into a political operation, an arm of the White House, to destroy his political opponents,” Murphy said. “Kash Patel’s only reservation is that he agrees with Donald Trump that the Justice Department should be used to punish, lock up and intimidate Donald Trump’s political opponents. The cost to the American public is therefore quite simple.”
In recent weeks, Trump’s most controversial picks for his administration’s top posts have come under scrutiny as they prepare for the Senate confirmation process. And a choice, the former representative. Matt Gaetz, has already withdrawn his name from consideration facing headwinds in the Senate.
Sen. Dick Durbin, the current majority whip in the Upper House, urged his Senate colleagues in a statement to reject Trump’s choice of Patel, pointing out that “we already have an FBI director” and blaming the president elected to want to “replace its director”. own appointee with an unqualified loyalist.
“The Senate should reject this unprecedented effort to weaponize the FBI for Donald Trump’s promised campaign of retaliation,” Durbin said.
Margaret Brennan contributed to this report.
