President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Kashyap “Kash” Patel to join his team of non-establishment cabinet and key role appointees.
On Saturday, Patel was nominated for FBI Director.
Trump posted on Truth Social: “This FBI will end the growing crime epidemic in America, dismantle the migrant criminal gangs, and stop the evil scourge of human and drug trafficking across the Border. Kash will work under our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to bring back Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity to the FBI.”
Trump called Patel an “‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People.”
Trump’s relationship with Patel is longstanding. During Trump’s first presidential term, Patel “served as Chief of Staff at the Department of Defense, Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council,” Trump posted.
Trump is carefully selecting people he trusts who not only understand his mission but are also capable of executing it decisively. He is focused on building a team that aligns with his commitment to empowering citizens and restoring their influence in governance.
On October 17, 2016, during a speech on ethics reform, Donald Trump announced, “It is time to drain the swamp in Washington, D.C.”
Although the phrase didn’t originate with Trump, the follow-up appears squarely on his shoulders when he takes office as the 47th President of the United States.
However, one thing Trump has coming into the office before his inauguration in January: hard-earned experience.
As the 45th President, Trump dedicated much of his time to tracing the roots of the swamp to understand its dynamics.
In an October interview with Joe Rogan, Trump said his biggest mistake as the 45th President of the United States was “I picked a few people that I shouldn’t have picked.”
He was put into a position of defense, firing people — “I fired a lot of people,” Trump said.
Trump is now making more strategic choices about the individuals he surrounds himself with, prioritizing trust and shared vision above all else.
Trump has considerable trust in Patel, who has been a vocal and determined critic of the corruption and inefficiencies often found in government bureaucracy.
In 2023, Patel released a book titled “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy.” In this work, Patel explored the significant figures and strategies employed within government, highlighting the need for transparency and reform.
Trump actually wrote a review for the book, stating, “A brilliant roadmap highlighting every corrupt actor, to ultimately return our agencies and departments to work for the American People…we will use this blueprint to help us take back the White House and remove these Gangsters from all of Government!”
As Trump assembles a team to help remove political influence from federal agencies and bureaucracies, he is willing to seek input from those who have already pointed out existing shortcomings.
“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 mentioned in a September interview conducted on the 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,” Patel added.
Although the current FBI Director, Christopher Wray, is serving a 10-year term that does not expire until 2027 and was appointed by Trump, it does not come as a surprise from what Trump learned during his first term that “draining the swamp” includes making changes.
This change, however, is not without criticism.
“What makes the FBI director different from most other nominees is they’re not just appointed for one term of a president, they’re appointed for enough time to last past two terms of a president, because they’re supposed to be insulated from politics,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN’s Kasie Hunt on “State of the Union.”
Yet, despite what Sullivan said, one thing Trump has learned from his first term as President is that politics are often insulated within the government rather than from it.