FBI Nominee Kash Patel, Who Vowed To ‘Come After’ Trump’s Enemies, Disclaims ‘Retributive Actions’
In his 2023 book Government Gangsters, Kash Patel, the president’s nominee for FBI director, describes a “deep state” conspiracy against Donald Trump that he equates with a conspiracy to subvert democracy and the Constitution. “The price of rule by the Deep State is high—nothing less than the end of self-government in America,” he writes. “The Deep State is a cabal of unelected tyrants who think they should determine who the American people can and cannot elect as president, who think they get to decide what the president can and cannot do, and who believe they have the right to choose what the American people can and cannot know.”
The book includes a list of 60 former executive-branch officials who crossed Trump in one way or another, all of whom Patel identifies as members of this cabal. They range from Democrats such as Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton to Trump appointees such as former Attorney General Bill Barr and former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone. The list “is not exhaustive,” Patel notes. “It does not, for example, include other corrupt actors of the first order such as Congressmen Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell.” Nor does it include “the fake news media,” which Patel also portrays as part of this conspiracy.
Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing last week, Patel insisted that his fingering of deep-state conspirators did not amount to an “enemies list,” let alone a litany of suspects he would be inclined to investigate as head of the FBI—a concern that seems plausible in light of Trump’s repeated threats to punish his political opponents. “It’s not an enemies list,” Patel said. “That is a mischaracterization.” He promised “the only thing that will matter if I’m confirmed as a director of the FBI is a de-weaponized, de-politicized system of law enforcement completely devoted to rigorous obedience to the Constitution and a singular standard of justice.”
Patel sang a different tune during a December 2023 podcast interview with former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, who asked Patel if he could promise there would be “serious prosecutions and accountability” for “these deep-staters” in a second Trump term. Absolutely, Patel said: “We will go out and find the conspirators—not just in government, but in the media. Yes, we’re gonna come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. We’re gonna come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out. But yeah, we’re putting all of you on notice. And Steve, this is why they hate us. This is why we’re tyrannical. This is why we’re dictators. Because we’re actually gonna use the Constitution to prosecute them for crimes they said we have always been guilty of but never have.”
If senators thought Patel would follow through on that commitment, at least a few Republicans, perhaps enough to nix his nomination, might be reluctant to confirm him as head of the federal government’s leading law enforcement agency for the next 10 years. So it is not surprising that Patel is keen to pretend that he never said what he said. “I have no interest, no desire, and will not, if confirmed, go backwards,” Patel told the committee. “There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken.”
Patel’s assurances do not necessarily contradict his promise to “come after” the “corrupt actors” (including anti-Trump journalists) and punish them one way or another for their “crimes,” since Patel has always portrayed that mission as consistent with the Constitution and his “singular standard of justice.” In his view, investigating “deep-staters” would not amount to “politicization” of the FBI or retribution against Trump’s enemies; it would be rescuing “self-government” from the “cabal” bent on destroying it.
Patel was similarly slippery when he was asked whether he agrees with Trump that Biden stole the presidency through massive election fraud. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D–Hawaii) noted that “the FBI is the primary agency responsible for investigating election-related crimes,” so “being able to separate fact from conspiracy theories around elections is an important thing for an FBI director.” Given that, Hirono thought it was worth asking Patel a straightforward question about recent history: “Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 presidential election, yes or no?” Patel refused to commit one way or the other. “President Joe Biden’s election was certified, he was sworn in, and he served as the preside
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