Only two days after election day, 2024, reports were already emanating from the legendary seventh floor of FBI headquarters that shellshocked feds were preparing for the worst.
In an interview on CBS’s “Face The Nation” on Sunday, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said that Kash Patel, President-elect Trump’s pick to serve as FBI director will be confirmed by the Senate.
Patel, author of “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy”, would be the first non-white FBI chief and has laid out some of his plans for an FBI “house cleaning”:
• Cancel plans for an expensive new FBI headquarters and turning the current headquarters into a "museum for the Deep State."
• Move leaders out of Washington and into the field closer to the people they serve.
• Shrink components of the FBI that have little public benefit.
• Hold accountable those officials responsible for the politicization of prior investigations, including termination and prosecutions.
“I regularly used to tell people that the fastest way to move up in the government is to just screw up, and the bigger the screwup, the bigger the promotion,” Patel wrote.
“Every person implicated in your mistakes has an interest in covering up what they did, so they will promote you. That means the people at the very top are usually the most immoral, unethical people in the entire agency.”
Trump's selection of Patel to head up and clean out the bureau not surprisingly sent shockwaves through the D.C. Swamp.
John Bolton compared the nomination to Joseph Stalin's secret police chief: "Fortunately, the FBI is not" Stalin's secret police "The Senate should reject this nomination 100-0."
Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said on NBC that he will vote no, expressing concern that Patel "is going to only care about protecting Republicans."
"Donald Trump told the American public during the campaign that he was going to turn the Department of Justice into a political operation, an arm of the White House, to destroy his political opponents," Murphy said. "Kash Patel's only qualification is because he agrees with Donald Trump that the Department of Justice should serve to punish, lock up, and intimidate Donald Trump's political opponents. And so the cost to the American public is pretty simple."
However the politicization of the FBI has become so pronounced that the incoming administration is reportedly unable to trust its vetting process.
The Washington Times reported earlier this month that a whistleblower at FBI headquarters warned that the bureau’s security clearance division is politicized and can’t be trusted to screen Trump’s nominees for top administration jobs.
A security clearance is required for some Cabinet posts. The process includes an FBI background check. A president can override the process and order a security clearance for nominees, but Trump will not have that power until after he takes the oath of office on Jan. 20.
The whistleblower disclosure sent to the House Judiciary Committee, which the Washington Times reviewed, states that the security clearance process has been “contaminated by the political agendas of [security division] officials and other executives in the FBI.”
The whistleblower said that the security division [SecD] has yanked security clearances of FBI employees for political reasons and that Wray and his deputy Paul Abbate will have access to each background check on Trump's picks.
“Under Wray and Abbate, SecD refused clearances to U.S. military veterans, employees who refused to get Covid shots, employees who attended Trump rallies and employees with conservative Christian beliefs,” the disclosure said. “The same FBI officials will be adjudicating President Trump’s nominees. Deputy Director Abbate and Director Wray will have unfettered access to any information that President Trump’s appointees provide during their security clearance background investigation.”
Cruz said that Wray had the choice of resigning or being fired: "It’s no secret to anybody, including Chris Wray, that he is not going to continue to serve as the head of the FBI under Donald Trump. ... I got to say, all of the weeping and gnashing of teeth, all of the people pulling their hair out, are exactly the people who are dismayed about having a real reformer come into the FBI and clean out the corrupted partisans who sadly have burrowed into senior career positions at the FBI."
Timely: Defund Fake News
Human Events editor Jack Posobiec noted:
Kash Patel would be the first non-white person to become FBI director. …. Kash Patel's involvement in uncovering the "Russiagate hoax" positions him uniquely to address potential political biases within the FBI. As part of the House Intelligence Committee under Representative Devin Nunes, Patel played a significant role in examining the FBI's actions during the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.
His work on the Nunes memo, which criticized the FBI and DOJ for their handling of surveillance on Carter Page, highlighted significant issues regarding the justification for surveillance and the impartiality of the agency's actions. This experience not only provides him with insight into where systemic flaws exist but also gives him the credibility to push for reforms that ensure the FBI's operations are conducted without partisan influence. …. Patel's career trajectory as both a federal prosecutor and a public defender provides him with a comprehensive understanding of the legal landscape from multiple perspectives.
Having served as a federal prosecutor, he understands the operational side of law enforcement, including how investigations are initiated, conducted, and concluded. This role would have given him insight into the FBI's processes and how they interact with the Department of Justice. Moreover, his tenure as a public defender for nearly a decade offers a critical counterbalance. This experience has likely ingrained in him a deep appreciation for civil liberties, the rights of the accused, and the potential for overreach by law enforcement agencies. Understanding the implications of FBI actions on individual rights is crucial for reform, especially in terms of surveillance practices, data handling, and the use of informants. …. Despite being labeled an outsider, Patel's positions within the national security apparatus during the Trump administration, such as his time at the National Security Council and as chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, have given him direct exposure to the workings of various parts of the government's security and intelligence community. … Andy McCabe says Kash Patel is unqualified to be FBI director.
Kash is a former U.S. official, federal prosecutor, and private attorney. Just like: Chris Wray, James Comey, Robert Mueller. … All of the people who endorsed *Kamala Harris* are now saying federal prosecutor and national security official Kash Patel isn't qualified. Fascinating. Neither Mueller, Comey, or Wray worked at the FBI before becoming FBI director either.
I served as Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley’s chief counsel for nominations—the job responsible for the confirmation of the FBI director.
Kash Patel will win Senate confirmation. He’s unquestionably qualified. He’ll bring much-needed reforms to a broken, corrupt FBI. https://t.co/mvtXBEEUFV — 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) December 1, 2024
WHY THE FBI AND DOJ FEAR KASH PATEL. THIS IS OUTSTANDING.pic.twitter.com/EdmZogZU82
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) December 1, 2024
