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WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump has selected Kash Patel to lead the FBI, closing one of the last remaining presidentially appointed positions available two months before taking office — and putting current bureau boss Christopher Wray’s tenure on the chopping block before his term expires.
“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 on Truth Social Saturday night.
“He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution,” he continued.
“This FBI will end the growing crime epidemic in America, dismantle the migrant criminal gangs, and stop the evil scourge of human and drug trafficking across the Border. Kash will work under our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to bring back Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity to the FBI.”
The announcement comes after Trump spent years at odds with Wray, who he nominated to head the bureau in August 2017 after firing James Comey.
Wray invoked the president-elect’s wrath over what Trump, 78, viewed as political investigations against him, including the Mar-a-Lago raid, which he was later indicted for allegedly retaining classified documents, and then questioning whether Trump had been struck by a bullet at the Butler, Pa., rally where a would-be assassin shot him in the ear.
Trump claimed the FBI director’s remarks proved that “he knows nothing about the terrorists and other criminals pouring into our Country at record levels.”
The once and future president has also accused Wray of “lying to Congress” about his awareness of President Joe Biden’s cognitive and physical decline.
Wray, whose 10-year term doesn’t expire until 2027, would need to resign or be fired to create a vacancy for Patel to fill.
“Every day, the men and women of the FBI continue to work to protect Americans from a growing array of threats,” the FBI said in a statement to CBS.
“Director Wray’s focus remains on the men and women of the FBI, the people we do the work with, and the people we do the work for.”
Longtime loyalist
Patel brings a wealth of experience as a former public defender and later attorney for the US Justice Department’s national security division and served in multiple intelligence and national security roles in the president-elect’s first administration.
He’d been considered a frontrunner among the MAGA camp, who hope he can shake up the bureau and reverse its record of targeting conservatives in the Trump era.
The New York native is known for his deep loyalty to Trump — which has made him a target of the left despite serving as a National Security Council official, senior adviser to the acting Director of National Intelligence, and later, chief of staff to the acting United States secretary of defense.
Patel, who will have to earn Senate confirmation to become FBI director, was one of the leading Republicans who opposed the investigation into Trump and Russian interference in 2016, long opposing government overreach in how its federal agents surveil Republicans.
He has written about the need to dismantle the Justice Department and do an overhaul of the intelligence agencies, including the FBI, by firing their “top ranks” and prosecuting “to the fullest extent of the law” anyone who “in any way abused their authority for political ends.”
“[T]he FBI has become so thoroughly compromised that it will remain a threat to the people unless drastic measures are taken,” Patel wrote in his book, “Government Gangsters,” which Trump lauded as a “blueprint” for his next term.
Speaking on his podcast Thursday, Patel said Trump “can expose the documents that these folks have written for decades, allowing [their] corrupt activities.
“He’s going to come in there and maybe give them the Epstein list, and maybe the P. Diddy list,” Patel added, referring to Jeffrey Epstein’s sinister sex trafficking ring and disgraced music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is charged in a sweeping racketeering and sex trafficking indictment.
That loyalty has enraged Democrats, with countless talking heads appearing on left-leaning networks to disparage him.
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe cautioned against Patel, claiming on CNN Thursday that “no part of the FBI’s mission is safe with Kash Patel in any position of leadership in the FBI.”
“It’s inconceivable to me that an outsider with no experience in the organization, no knowledge of the work and the scope of authority that’s involved there could perform adequately,” seethed McCabe, who Trump boldly canned from his position just 26 hours before his 2018 retirement.
McCabe butted heads with the 45th president over the FBI’s Trump-Russia collusion probe, pursued the debunked Steele dossier and was fired as acting director of the bureau for leaking sensitive case information to a journalist.
Those warnings initially caused some concern over his confirmability in media reports, but Patel’s supporters point to his long list of credentials within the Justice Department and national security realm as proof that he is best suited for the job.
“Despite media reports that there are concerns on confirmation, he’s accomplished in counterterrorism, defense, intelligence and the law,” one source close to the transition team told The Post. “Just look at his resume; this is pretty solid person for this job.”
Patel won the early support of Trump confidant and soon-to-be co-head of the new administration’s Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk, who issued his support in a post to X said that suggested Patel for the role after he suggested there should be a full-time “declassification office” to increase transparency in the federal government.
“Good idea,” replied the Tesla, SpaceX and X owner.
Still, the pick of the sometimes controversial figure may send shockwaves through Washington, which last week seethed at Trump’s selection of former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for attorney general before removing himself from consideration following meetings on Capitol Hill.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and former acting director of national intelligence Richard Grenell had also been considered for the FBI director slot.
The Post has reached out to the Trump-Vance transition team for comment.
