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Trump picks controversial fierce loyalist Kash Patel to replace Chris Wray as FBI Chief

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For the second time Donald Trump will fire a FBI chief.

President-elect Donald Trump has announced that he intends to axe FBI Director Chris Wray and replace him with Kash Patel, who has been described alternately by non-MAGAs as a firebrand, fierce loyalist and outright conspiracy-theory believing nutcase and by Trumpistas as someone who indeed was a lawyer, who worked as a prosecutor and defense attorney.

The New York Times:

President-elect Donald J. Trump said on Saturday that he wants to replace Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, with Kash Patel, a hard-line critic of the bureau who has called for shutting down the agency’s Washington headquarters, firing its leadership and bringing the nation’s law enforcement agencies “to heel.”

Mr. Trump’s planned nomination of Mr. Patel has echoes of his failed attempt to place another partisan firebrand, Matt Gaetz, atop the Justice Department as attorney general. It could run into hurdles in the Senate, which will be called on to confirm him, and is sure to send shock waves through the F.B.I., which Mr. Trump and his allies have come to view as part of a “deep state” conspiracy against him.

Mr. Patel has been closely aligned with Mr. Trump’s belief that much of the nation’s law enforcement and national security establishment needs to be purged of bias and held accountable for what they see as unjustified investigations and prosecutions of Mr. Trump and his allies.

Mr. Patel “played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability and the Constitution,” Mr. Trump said in announcing his choice in a social media post.

Mr. Patel, a favorite of Mr. Trump’s political base, has worked as a federal prosecutor and a public defender, but has little of the law enforcement and management experience typical of F.B.I. directors.

He served in a series of administration positions at the tail end of Mr. Trump’s first term, including posts on the National Security Council and in the Pentagon. Before leaving office in early 2021, Mr. Trump floated the idea of making Mr. Patel deputy director of either the C.I.A. or the F.B.I. William P. Barr, the attorney general at the time, wrote in his memoir that Mr. Patel would have become deputy F.B.I. director only “over my dead body.”

The Wall Street Journal:

Donald Trump has chosen Kash Patel to be Federal Bureau of Investigation director, moving to force out the bureau’s current leader, Christopher Wray, before the end of his 10-year term in favor of a fierce loyalist who has promised to upend the nation’s premier law-enforcement agency.

His selection, which could face an uphill confirmation fight next year in the Senate, marks the start of what the president-elect hopes will be a major shake-up of an agency with which he has constantly sparred. Patel has said he would fire its senior leaders and prosecute agents he thinks abused their authority, as part of a far-ranging plan to shrink its size and power.

In a post on Truth Social on Saturday evening, Trump said Patel, 44 years old, has “spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People.” Trump said Patel will “bring back Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity to the FBI.”

Trump late Saturday also announced he wants Hillsborough County, Fla., Sheriff Chad Chronister to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, to replace Anne Milgram, a Biden appointee who was expected to leave at the start of Trump’s term.

The selection of Patel means Trump effectively is firing Wray, whom he appointed during his first term in 2017 after dismissing Wray’s predecessor, James Comey. And it signals other major changes lie ahead for the bureau. The president-elect has threatened to seek retribution against political rivals.

The Huffington Post’s red-colored headline says “TRUMP NAMES NUT FOR FBI.

Look for a stormy confirmation hearing – unless Trump decides to shove the nomination through with a recess appointment.