Trump intends to nominate former aide Kash Patel as FBI director

President-elect Donald Trump announced this on Saturday he plans to name Kash Patel as FBI Director who would replace current FBI Director Chris Wray.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump called Patel “a brilliant lawyer, investigator and ‘America First’ warrior who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending justice and protecting the American people.”

For Patel to take the position, current FBI Director Chris Wray would have to voluntarily leave the post or be fired by Trump if he is to be replaced before his term ends in 2027. A source previously told CBS News that the Trump team was aware of the complexities involved in ousting Wray.

In his post, Trump did not call for Wray to resign.

Trump nominated Wray in 2017 for the 10-year term after firing James Comey.

The 44-year-old Patel served in intelligence and defense roles during Trump’s first term, including chief of staff to the secretary of defense. He was also appointed by Trump to represent the National Archives and Records Administration and testified before a federal grand jury in Classified documents case at Mar-a-Lago.

He is a lawyer and staunch Trump loyalist who rose to prominence as an aide to former Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of California who fought the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The University College London graduate served on Trump’s National Security Council, then as a senior adviser to acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell, and later as chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller.

Patel published a 2023 book titled “Government Gangsters,” which received praise from Trump, in which Patel writes that “the FBI has been so thoroughly compromised that it will remain a threat to the people unless drastic measures are taken.”

“This is the roadmap to end the reign of the Deep State,” Trump said about Truth Social about the book in September 2023.

Wray and FBI leadership became the target of Trump’s continued ire in 2022, when FBI agents executed a court-authorized search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. The search revealed what had been an ongoing federal investigation into Trump’s handling of classified records after he left office.

Special counsel Jack Smith, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, ultimately charged Trump with dozens of counts, including illegal retention of national defense information and obstruction, as a result of the investigation. All charges were dismissed by a federal judge earlier this year. Trump pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.

Earlier this week, a federal appeals court granted Smith’s attempt to end the case, with Smith citing a long-standing Justice Department policy that prohibits the prosecution of a sitting president.

If confirmed by the Senate, Patel would be the third FBI director to work under a Trump administration and would take over the nation’s top federal law enforcement agency amid years of intense criticism from the president-elect and his allies on Capitol Hill. While Wray’s departure from the job was largely expected, Trump’s announcement to replace Wray before his 10-year term ends is sure to reverberate throughout the agency’s congregation. However, presidents have the power to force them out of the role, and many former directors have not served their full terms.

Patel would report directly to the U.S. attorney general — Trump’s current pick for the post is former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi. The president-elect announced his nomination after former congressman Matt Gaetz withdrew his nomination because his confirmation prospects looked dim as a bipartisan group of senators raised concerns about his past conduct and a congressional ethics report. Gaetz – a staunch critic of the Justice Department and the FBI – has denied wrongdoing.

Trump’s picks for attorney general and FBI director are likely to be tasked with potential reforms and mass political overhauls of the agencies that have long been targets of the president-elect.

Wray — a former federal prosecutor and counterterrorism official — was nominated by then-President Trump in 2017. President Biden retained him as FBI director throughout his administration.

While deep distrust of the FBI has been a focal point for Trump and his supporters, Wray spent much of his tenure countering China’s espionage campaigns. He sounded the alarm about foreign efforts to target US infrastructure and warned of aggressive postures from Iran and Russia. The FBI employs about 35,000 people – including thousands of field agents – tasked with enforcing federal law and investigating crimes across the country, including terrorism, espionage and child exploitation.

The last FBI director to serve a full 10-year appointment was Robert Mueller, who was later appointed special counsel during the first Trump administration to investigate Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and allegations of collusion with The Trump campaign. Mueller, and by extension the entire Justice Department and FBI, quickly became a target for Trump and Republicans in Congress.

Trump’s decision to fire then-FBI Director James Comey in 2017 over the investigation into the 2016 election contributed to Mueller’s appointment as special counsel. Comey, who has since become an outspoken critic of the president-elect, found himself at odds with Democrats and Republicans when he left the FBI’s top job. A Justice Department inspector general report released in the years after his firing revealed that Comey “violated Department and FBI policies” when he shared memos he made about his interactions with Trump with a friend.