On Saturday, President-elect Donald J. Trump announced his intention to appoint attorney Kash Patel as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), an decision that has drawn the ire of the Washington establishment.
Patel previously served as a U.S. National Security Council official, senior advisor to the acting Director of National Intelligence, and chief of staff to the acting secretary of defense during the first Trump administration.
Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Intergovernmental Affairs Juliette Kayyem claimed Patel was selected to to pursue Trump’s political enemies.
“[Patel] has no other agenda but revenge,” Kayyem said. “I mean, it‘s not like he has a theory of law enforcement, a theory of reducing crime or financial crimes. He exists for one reason, and he‘s close to Trump for one reason, which is he will be the enforcer of what might be called sort of the revenge tour of this second term. So it‘s not really a matter of, what do I think or what should people think. He is appointed for this purpose.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) joined CNN’s “State of the Union” just hours after the announcenment about Patel to defy claims that the FBI has been politicized against Trump supporters, however.
“I haven‘t seen what the proof is that the FBI has been weaponized against a political party or the Department of Justice,” Raskin said. “Of course, this Department of Justice has brought charges against a Democratic U.S. senator in New Jersey, a Democratic congressman in Texas. And so some people just seem to think that it should go only in one direction. And if it doesn‘t, then somehow it‘s politicized. And I think that‘s what they mean when they talk about politicization in the deep state. I mean, the deep state? Nobody‘s ever defined it. Apparently, it just means anybody who doesn‘t do the will of Donald Trump.”
John Bolton, who served as national security adviser in the first Trump administration, slammed the nomination, comparing it to Joseph Stalin’s secret police chief. “The Senate should reject this nomination 100-0,” he said.
