President-elect Donald Trump has selected Kash Patel to serve as FBI director in the latest surprise selection.
This comes a few hours after the Republican nominated the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, Charles Kushner, to serve as ambassador to France.
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Trump's latest bombshell on the establishment in Washington will be a test of how far Senate Republicans will go in confirming his nominees.
“I am proud to announce that Kashyap Kash Patel will be the next Director of the FBI,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday evening.
“Cash is a brilliant attorney, investigator, and America First fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, advocating for justice, and protecting the American people.”
The choice aligns with Trump's view that government law enforcement and intelligence agencies need to be radically transformed — all while maintaining close allies.
It is not currently known whether Patel can be confirmed, even by the Republican-led Senate.
Patel will replace Christopher Wray, who was appointed by Trump in 2017 but quickly fell out of favor with the now president-elect and his associates.
Although the term of office is up to 10 years, Wray's dismissal was not unexpected given Trump's longstanding public criticism of him and the FBI.
Trump appointed Wray to the position in 2017 after firing James B. Comey.
The Republican fired Comey from his position as FBI director as investigations into Trump and his aides intensify.
He has been criticized for the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election regarding alleged collusion with the Republican Party campaign.
This includes after his Florida property was searched for classified documents and two investigations that led to his indictment.
Patel has called for significantly reducing the FBI's presence and suggested closing the bureau's headquarters in Washington.
Instead, he looks forward to reopening it the next day as a museum to the deep state in which Trump targets the federal bureaucracy.
Although the Justice Department in 2021 stopped the practice of secretly seizing reporters' phone records while investigating the leak, Patel is looking to change that.
He said he intends to aggressively pursue government officials who leak information to journalists, and change the law to make it easier to prosecute journalists.
During an interview with Steve Bannon last December, Patel said he and others would go out and find conspirators not just in the government but in the media.
“We will go after people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig the presidential election,” Patel said, referring to the 2020 presidential election when President Joe Biden beat Trump.
“We'll come after you, whether it's criminal or civil. Well, find out. But yeah, we'll alert you all.”
The son of Indian immigrants and a former public defender, Patel spent several years as a prosecutor at the Justice Department before coming to the attention of the Trump administration as a staffer on the House Permanent Intelligence Committee.
Trump also announced on Saturday that he would nominate Sheriff Chad Chronister, the top law enforcement officer in Hillsborough County, Florida, to serve as director of the Drug Enforcement Agency.
“As Administrator of the DEA, Chad will work with our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to secure the border and stop the flow of fentanyl, and other illicit drugs, across the southern border. And save lives,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post announcing the selection.
Trump also announced that he wants his son-in-law Jared Kushner's father, Charles Kushner, to be ambassador to France.
Trump made the announcement in a post on Truth Social, calling Charles Kushner a “tremendous business leader, philanthropist, and deal maker.”
He added: “Congratulations to Charlie, his wonderful wife Cyril, their four children and 14 grandchildren.
He added: “Together, we will strengthen America’s partnership with France, our oldest ally and one of our greatest allies!”
Donald Trump's government choices
In the days following his dominant Election Day victory, President-elect Donald Trump has begun shaping his future administration.
Below is a list of Trump's confirmed Cabinet picks:
- Susie Wells – White House Chief of Staff
- Dr. Mehmet Oz – Director of the Centers for Medicare and Medical Services
- Stephen Miller – Deputy Chief of Staff
- Bill McGinley – White House Counsel
- Tom Homan – “Border Caesar”
- Elise Stefanik – Ambassador to the United Nations
- Lee Zeldin – Director of the Environmental Protection Agency
- Marco Rubio – Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Kristi Noem – Minister of Internal Security
- Mike Huckabee – Ambassador to Israel
- John Ratcliffe -Director of the CIA
- Pete Hegseth – Minister of Defense
- Mike Waltz – National Security Advisor
- Steven Witkoff – Middle East Envoy
- Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy – Government Efficiency Department
- Tim Scott – Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee
- Tulsi Gabbard – Director of National Intelligence
- Matt Gaetz – He was nominated for the position of Attorney General, but later rejected the position
- Pam Bondi – He was nominated for the position of Attorney General just hours after Gates withdrew
- Robert F. kennedy jrSecretary of Health and Human Services
- Jay Clayton – US Attorney for the Southern District of New York
- Doug Burgum – Ministry of Interior
- Todd Blanche – Deputy Public Prosecutor
- Carolyn Leavitt – White House Press Secretary
- Chris Wright – Minister of Energy
- Doug Collins – Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs
- William McGinley – White House Counsel
- Stephen Cheung – White House Communications Director
- WILLIAM OWEN SCHARF – Assistant to the President and White House Secretary of Staff
- Dean John Sawyer – Attorney General of the United States
- Commissioner Brendan Carr – Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
- Linda McMahon: Education Secretary
- Matthew Whittaker – NATO Ambassador
- Scott Besant – Treasurer
- Keith Kellogg – Special envoy to Russia and Ukraine
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