President-elect Donald Trump said he will nominate Kash Patel as FBI director, turning to a powerful ally to overthrow the top US law enforcement agency and eliminate “conspirators” in the government .
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| Mr. Kash Patel. (Source: AP) |
This is the latest "bombshell" that Mr. Trump has thrown at the Washington establishment and is a test of how far the Senate Republicans will go in approving his nominees.
The selection fits with Trump’s view that the government’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies need a radical overhaul and his desire to retaliate against his enemies. It suggests that Trump, still angry about years of federal investigations that overshadowed his first administration and led to his indictment, is moving to put close allies of the FBI and Justice Department ahead of those he believes will protect him rather than oversee him.
The decision sets up a potentially explosive fight in the Senate, coming shortly after his first pick to lead the Justice Department, Matt Gaetz, withdrew his nomination amid scrutiny over sexual misconduct allegations.
Mr Patel is a little-known figure, but his nomination is still expected to send shockwaves. He has endorsed Mr Trump’s rhetoric about a “deep state”, called for a “total cleanup” of government employees who are disloyal to Mr Trump and called journalists traitors, promising to try to prosecute some reporters.
But the president-elect has also raised the prospect of pushing through his picks without Senate approval by using a congressional loophole that allows him to make appointments when the Senate is not in session.
On the social network Truth Social, Mr. Trump evaluated Mr. Patel as an excellent lawyer and investigator who has devoted his career to exposing corruption, protecting justice and the American people, for “America first”. The President-elect believes that Mr. Patel will continue the success of Mr. Trump’s first term administration, to continue efforts to end the rising crime in the US, suppress cross-border drug and human trafficking.
During Mr Trump’s first term, Mr Patel served as an adviser to both the director of national intelligence and the secretary of defence, during which time he took a hard line on the FBI’s role in intelligence gathering.
The FBI Director position requires Senate confirmation. By law, an FBI Director’s term lasts 10 years, to keep the agency free from political influence. The current FBI Director is Christopher Wray, who was appointed in 2017.
In addition, Mr. Trump nominated Chad Chronister, sheriff of Hillsborough County, Florida, to head the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The DEA is a federal law enforcement agency under the US Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug trafficking and use in the country.
Trump’s nominees will have allies in the Republican-controlled Senate next year, but his picks are far from certain. With a slim majority, Republicans can afford to lose only a few to Democratic opposition.
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