President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday he wanted former National Security official and loyalist Kash Patel to lead the FBI, signaling an intent to replace the bureau’s current director, Christopher Wray.
Patel, who during Trump’s first term advised both the director of national intelligence and the secretary of defense, has previously called for stripping the FBI of its intelligence-gathering role and purging its ranks of any employee who refuses to support Trump’s agenda.
“The biggest problem the FBI has had, has come out of its intel shops. I’d break that component out of it. I’d shut down the FBI Hoover building on day one and reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state,” Patel said in a September interview on the conservative “Shawn Ryan Show.”
“And I’d take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to chase down criminals. Go be cops. You’re cops. Go be cops.”
With the nomination of Patel, Trump, a Republican, seems to be preparing to oust Wray, a Republican first appointed by Trump. Wray’s 10-year term at the FBI does not expire until 2027.
Asked about Patel’s nomination, which will need Senate confirmation, an FBI spokesperson said on Saturday: “Every day, the men and women of the FBI continue to work to protect Americans from a growing array of threats. Director Wray’s focus remains on the men and women of the FBI, the people we do the work with, and the people we do the work for.”
FBI directors by law are appointed to 10-year terms as a means of insulating the bureau from politics.
Wray, whom Trump tapped after firing James Comey in 2017 for investigating his 2016 campaign, has been a frequent target of Trump supporters’ ire.
During Wray’s tenure, the FBI carried out a court-approved search at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate to look for classified documents. He also has faced criticism for his oversight role of a directive by Attorney General Merrick Garland aimed at working to protect local school boards from violent threats and harassment.
Special Counsel Jack Smith, who led the two federal prosecutions against Trump for his role in subverting the 2020 election and retaining classified documents, asked on November 25 the judges overseeing those cases to dismiss them before Trump takes office on January 20, citing a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president.
Wray had previously signaled no intention of stepping down early and was busy planning events well into his 2025 calendar, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Patel, 44, previously worked as a federal public defender and a federal prosecutor.
He was instrumental in working to lead House Republicans’ probe into the FBI’s 2016 investigation into contacts between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia during his time as an aide to former House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes.
Later, during Trump’s first impeachment trial, ex-National Security Council official Fiona Hill told House investigators she was concerned Patel was secretly serving as a back channel between Trump and Ukraine without authorization.
Patel denied those allegations.
After Trump left office in January 2021, Patel was one of several people Trump designated as a representative for access to his presidential records. He was one of the few former Trump administration officials who claimed, without evidence, that Trump had declassified all of the records in question.
He was later subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury in connection with the probe.
Also Saturday, Trump named Chad Chronister, the sheriff of Hillsborough County, Florida, as his choice for administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency. In that role, Chronister would work closely with Trump’s choice for attorney general, Pam Bondi.
Bondi is from the Tampa area that Chronister serves.
“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,” Trump wrote on his social-media platform Truth Social.
Trump also named real estate mogul Charles Kushner to serve as U.S. ambassador to France. Kushner is the father of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.
“He (Charles Kushner) is a tremendous business leader, philanthropist, & dealmaker, who will be a strong advocate representing our Country & its interests,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social announcing the pick.
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