Who is Kash Patel? Donald Trump’s Potential Pick for FBI Director

Kash Patel, a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump, is reportedly being considered as the next director of the FBI, after spending time as an adviser during the first Trump administration.
A former defense attorney, federal prosecutor and national security official, Patel, 44, has promised to remove those disloyal to Trump while pushing ideas around the “deep state.”
His name is being floated as the next director of the FBI, with a former special agent warning that Patel he could do “massive damage” to the agency.
“Putting someone like Kash Patel in the position of director of the FBI is, I believe, extremely, extremely dangerous because you just alluded to that his resume isn’t traditional,” former FBI Special Agent Daniel Brunner told CNN on Sunday. “There is nothing on his resume other than three years as a line U.S. attorney at the DOJ.”
Patel started his professional career as a public defender in Miami, spending nine years in local and federal courts before joining the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
Three years later, he was hired as senior counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, led by Trump ally Representative Devin Nunes, who charged Patel with running the committee’s investigation into Russia’s alleged involvement in the 2016 campaign.
A memo that Patel helped to write, detailing alleged failings by the DOJ in its investigation into Trump’s campaign, later caught Trump’s attention and Patel ended up working on the National Security Council.
Patel was on the board of Trump Media and Technology Group, the company that owns Truth Social. According to the Associated Press, he held a consulting contract worth $120,000 a year, while Trump’s leadership PAC paid him more than $300,000 since the start of last year.
Patel also runs The Kash Foundation, a nonprofit claiming to support whistleblowers, law enforcement and education in “areas the mainstream media refuses to cover.” It started as an organization funding defamation lawsuits.
Patel has written books since Trump was last in office, including Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy, a memoir, along with children’s books that included Hillary Clinton as a villain going after “King Donald.”
Some estimates put his net worth at about $30 million from his work and stocks held in companies including Tesla.
A Kash Foundation spokesperson told Newsweek there had been no confirmation of a role in the administration “beyond unfounded rumors circulating.”
In order to install Patel as FBI director, Trump would have to fire Christopher Wray, whom he appointed during his previous term in the White House after removing James Comey, or Wray would need to resign.
The President-elect began to sour on Wray late in his term, with the negative view deepening following the FBI’s raid of his Mar-a-Lago home on August 8, 2022.
If Trump removes Wray, it would cut short his 10-year term by about two years.
Newsweek reached out the Trump-Vance transition team for comment via email Monday afternoon.
The FBI director counts as an official in the executive branch of the U.S. government, reporting to the attorney general.
Whoever holds the office is responsible for the day-to-day workings of the agency, which is part of the Department of Justice.
The director has to make sure the cases and operations are handled correctly while also ensuring field offices are staffed with qualified agents.
The role is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, similar to Cabinet nominations.