After leaving office, Patel vowed in interviews that if Trump returned to office, he and others would use the government to prosecute political opponents — including politicians and members of the media who he claims, without evidence, helped overturn the presidential election in the USA in 2020.
“We’re going to go after people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig the presidential election,” Patel told Steve Bannon, chief White House strategist during Trump’s first term, on the War Room podcast.
“We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminally or civilly. We’ll figure it out. But yes, we’re putting you all on notice … We’re actually going to use the Constitution to prosecute them for crimes they’ve said we’ve always been guilty of, but never were.”
During his campaign, Trump said he considered Patel’s book, Government Gangsters, a “blueprint” for his next administration.
In a memoir critical of the so-called deep state, Patel calls for a “comprehensive purge” of the FBI by firing “higher-ranking officers.”
In a recent podcast, he said the incoming Trump administration intends to keep about 50 FBI employees in Washington, with the rest of the workforce deployed locally. They’re essentially going to “close that building down,” he said, referring to FBI headquarters.
“Open it the next day as a deep state museum,” he added.
The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.
Grenell and other former Trump administration officials who worked with Patel praised his nomination and described him as a hard-working public servant.
“I have no doubt that Cash Patel will inspire our FBI agents who want to fight crime, destroy cartels, catch spies and imprison gangsters, thugs, con artists and traffickers,” said Robert O’Brien, Trump’s last national adviser. safety. on X.
Few, however, mentioned current FBI Director Christopher Wray, who was appointed by Trump after the then-president fired the agency’s last head, James Comey, or that he still has three years left on his term.
Ultimately, the Senate will decide who will vote on whether Patel is confirmed.
While most senators have remained relatively quiet about Patel, and some Republicans have praised the choice, there is some skepticism.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, seemed to cast some doubt that he would get the necessary votes.
“I think the president picked a very good person to be the director of the FBI when he did it in his first term,” Round said on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday.
“We’ll see what his (Trump’s) process is and if he really stands out,” Rounds said of Patel. “We’re still going through the process, and that process includes advice and consent, which for the Senate sometimes means advice or consent.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, a Democrat who will soon hand over the gavel to Republicans, stressed that Trump knows Wray’s term is not yet over and urged his colleagues to block Patel’s confirmation.
“Now the president-elect wants to replace his own appointee with an unqualified loyalist,” Durbin said in a statement. “The Senate must reject this unprecedented attempt to make the FBI a weapon for Donald Trump’s promised campaign of retribution.”
