PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump has picked Kash Patel to serve as FBI director in the latest bombshell pick.
It comes a mere few hours after the Republican nominated his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s dad, Charles Kushner, to serve as ambassador to France.
Donald Trump’s recent surprising announcement challenges Senate Republicans to demonstrate the extent of their support for his nominees in Washington.
Trump posted to Truth Social on Saturday night: “I am proud to announce that Kashyap Kash Patel will serve as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and America First fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People.”
The selection keeps with Trump’s view that the government’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies require radical change – all while keeping close allies.
It’s not currently known whether Patel could be confirmed – even by a Republican-led Senate.
Patel would replace Christopher Wray, who was appointed by Trump in 2017 but quickly fell out of favor with the now-President-elect and his pals.
Though the position carries a 10-year term, Wray’s removal was not unexpected given Trumps long-running public criticism of him and the FBI.
Trump appointed Wray to the post in 2017 after firing James B. Comey.
The Republican dismissed Comey in the same role as FBI director as investigations of Trump and his associates ramped up.
He was slammed for the FBI’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 elections as it related to alleged collusion with the Republican’s campaign.
This includes after a search of his Florida’s property for classified documents and two investigations that resulted in his indictment.
Patel has called for dramatically reducing the FBI’s footprint and has suggested closing down the bureau’s headquarters in Washington.
Instead he looks to reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state Trump’s pejorative catch-all for the federal bureaucracy.
And despite the Justice Department in 2021 halted the practice of secretly seizing reporters’ phone records during leak investigation – Patel looks to change this.
He has said he intends to aggressively hunt down government officials who leak information to reporters and change the law to make it easier to sue journalists.
During an interview with Steve Bannon last December, Patel said he and others will go out and find the conspirators not just in government but in the media.
Patel said, referring to the 2020 presidential election when President Joe Biden beat Trump: “We’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections.
“We’re going to come after you, whether its criminally or civilly. Well figure that out. But yeah, were putting you all on notice.”
The child of Indian immigrants and a former public defender, Patel spent several years as a Justice Department prosecutor before catching the Trump administration’s attention as a staffer for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Trump also announced Saturday that he will nominate Sheriff Chad Chronister, the top law enforcement officer in Hillsborough County, Florida, to serve as the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency.
Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social announcing the pick: “As DEA Administrator, 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.”
And Trump also announced that he wants his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s dad, Charles Kushner, to serve as ambassador to France.
Trump made the announcement in a gushing Truth Social post, calling Charles Kushner a “tremendous business leader, philanthropist, and dealmaker.”
He added: “Congratulations to Charlie, his wonderful wife Seryl, their 4 children, and 14 grandchildren.
“Together, we will strengthen America’s partnership with France, our oldest Ally, and one of our greatest!”
Donald Trump’s Cabinet Picks
In the days following his dominant Election Day victory, President-elect Donald Trump has begun carving out his future administation.
Here’s a list of Trump’s confirmed cabinet picks:
- Susie Wiles – White House Chief of Staff
- Dr. Mehmet Oz – Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Stephen Miller – Deputy Chief of Staff
- Bill McGinley – White House counsel
- Tom Homan – “Border Czar”
- Elise Stefanik – Ambassador to the United Nations
- Lee Zeldin – Environmental Protection Agency administrator
- Marco Rubio – Secretary of State
- Kristi Noem – Homeland Security Secretary
- Mike Huckabee – Ambassador to Israel
- John Ratcliffe – CIA director
- Pete Hegseth – Secretary of Defense
- Mike Waltz – National Security Advisor
- Steven Witkoff – Middle East envoy
- Elon Musk & Vivek Ramaswamy – Department of Government Efficiency
- Tim Scott – Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee
- Tulsi Gabbard – Director of National Intelligence
- Matt Gaetz – nominated for Attorney General but later refused the position
- Pam Bondi – nominated for Attorney general just hours after Gaetz’s withdrawal
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services
- Jay Clayton – US Attorney for the Southern District of New York
- Doug Burgum – Department of Interior
- Todd Blanche – Deputy Attorney General
- Karoline Leavitt – White House Press Secretary
- Chris Wright – Energy Secretary
- Doug Collins – Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs
- William McGinley – White House Counsel
- Steven Cheung – White House Communications Director
- William Owen Scharf – Assistant to the President and White House Staff Secretary
- Dean John Sauer – Solicitor General of the US
- Commissioner Brendan Carr – Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
- Linda McMahon: Education Secretary
- Matthew Whitaker – NATO ambassador
- Scott Bessent – Treasury Secretary
- Keith Kellogg – Special envoy to Russia, Ukraine
