Trump names Indian-American Kash Patel as FBI chief

Highlights

US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Indian-American Pentagon official Kashyap (Kash) Patel as FBI director.

Washington: US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Indian-American Pentagon official Kashyap (Kash) Patel as FBI director. Patel, a Trump loyalist, has been a vocal advocate of dismantling what he refers to as the ‘deep state’ within the US government.

"Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and 'America First' fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform. President-elect Trump praised Patel's contributions during his first term, claiming that he played a crucial role in exposing the "Russia Hoax." Patel's nomination also signals Trump's dissatisfaction with the current FBI leadership under Christopher Wray, whom he had appointed in 2017.

Trump has openly criticised Wray's handling of the FBI, particularly its investigations involving Trump himself. Under Wray's tenure, the FBI conducted a court-approved search at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in connection with classified documents, a move that enraged the former president and his allies.

Patel, 44, has made no secret of his desire to overhaul the FBI. In an interview with the conservative Shawn Ryan Show, Patel proposed radical changes, including dismantling the FBI's intelligence-gathering operations and repurposing its headquarters. "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 declared. "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 would work under Trump's proposed Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to restore what Trump described as the FBI's original ethos: Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity.