You may recall that Donald Trump wanted to make Kash Patel a deputy director of the FBI (or CIA) during his first term and that William Barr replied, “Over my dead body.” Well, Barr is very much still on this side of the grass and Trump has appointed Patel to take over Christopher Wray’s job. Personally, I hope Wray will find a way to hide precious secrets, or to help key intelligence operatives stay safe, because my sense of this whacko crew coming into power right now, particularly in the intelligence sector, is going to set our intelligence and investigative functions back quite a ways. Patel is not cut from the same bolt of cloth as Robert Mueller or Christopher Wray and that is putting it mildly. A lot of people think the man is mentally unstable and that includes Trump.
Crucial Quote
“A lot of people say he’s crazy,” Trump reportedly said about Patel, according to an anonymous adviser cited by The Atlantic. “I think he’s kind of crazy. But sometimes you need a little crazy.”
The last place you need “crazy” is in government and particularly in intelligence and law enforcement.
Chief Critic
“No part of the FBI’s mission is safe with Kash Patel in any position of leadership in the FBI, and certainly not in the deputy director’s job,” former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe told CNN Thursday, saying the “scope of authority” in that job is “enormous.” “If you enter into that position with nothing more than a desire to disrupt and destroy the organization, there is a lot of damage someone like Kash Patel could do,” McCabe added.
Beyond his extreme loyalty to Trump and desire to clean house at intelligence agencies, outlets including The Atlantic, Times and Post have pointed to multiple particularly controversial moments during Trump’s first term that illustrated why officials had issues with Patel. Former NSC official Fiona Hill testified during Trump’s first impeachment trial that a staffer told her Patel, when he was at the NSC, was privately feeding Trump information about Ukraine and the then-president described him as the council’s “Ukraine director.” Hill said that “alarmed everybody,” because Ukraine was not part of Patel’s remit and he was not on the list to receive materials about it. Officials also raised issues with an instance in which Patel claimed that then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told him the U.S. had received airspace permission from Nigeria as it executed a rescue mission to retrieve an American hostage. That was in fact not true, and the plane had to circle around while officials scrambled to alert Nigerian authorities about their plan, with Pompeo saying he had never spoken with Patel. Patel denied both of those instances to The Atlantic. The Post also reports that Patel pushed officials to declassify information that would harm national security and the military, according to an anonymous senior defense official.
The Post reports Patel was focused on getting rid of officials within intelligence agencies and helping carry out the Trump team’s plan to “restrict the intelligence agencies’ power,” butting heads with top officials in the first Trump administration who weren’t always willing to side with the then-president’s more extreme views and believed Patel did not have sufficient experience for his roles.
Trump tried to install Patel to serve as deputy director of the CIA or FBI in the final months of his presidency, according to multiple reports, but backed down after then-CIA Director Gina Haspel and then-Attorney General William Barr threatened to resign over the move, with The Times reporting Barr vowed Patel would help lead the FBI “over my dead body.”
Only two things we can do at this point and going forward this entire four years, particularly the first two: 1. Fight like hell to get ready for 2026; 2. Use the fact that the Senate and House are held by a sliver of a majority. And bear in mind that there are a lot of Republicans who are not signed up for this madhouse carnival ride, but of course they will go along with Trump to the extent that they can do so and not lose all hope of reelection. (Yes, Susan Collins, we’re talking about you.)
It’s going to be tough, but there is truth in the old adage: when the going gets tough the tough get going.
They will ALL bend the knee. Susan Collins is a spineless POS. My opinion. Tyrant wanted to just declassify everything when papers were found at his roach motel. So that is what he will do. His incoming band of thieves, spies, and grifters cannot get security clearances so he will just declassify everything. I hope and pray other countries stop giving the US classified information to protect their sources.
Even Charles Manson appeared sane in some photographs. There has NEVER been a published photo of Kash Patel that shows him as anything but wild-eyed!! Sometimes a book is its cover!!
What’s the procedure for confirmation of the FBI director? Will actual responsible adults get to refuse this appointment or will the wishes of our corrupt criminal pres-elect be enough to get him past whatever barriers should be in place? Will anyone advise and then not consent?