Assessing Trump’s Cabinet picks
President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he plans to name Kash Patel as FBI director, who would replace the current FBI chief Chris Wray.
In a post to his Truth Social platform, Trump called Patel “a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People.”
For Patel to take the post, Wray would have to voluntarily vacate the position or be fired by Trump if he is to be replaced before his term ends in 2027. One source previously told CBS News the Trump team was aware of the complexities involved in ousting Wray.
Patel will also have to be confirmed by the Senate. In his social media post, Trump did not call on Wray to resign.
Trump nominated Wray in 2017 for the 10-year term after firing James Comey.
An FBI spokesperson told CBS News in a statement Saturday evening that, “Every day, the men and women of the FBI continue to work to protect Americans from a growing array of threats. 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.”
The 44-year-old Patel served in intelligence and defense roles in Trump’s first term, including chief of staff to the secretary of defense. He was also designated by Trump to be a representative to the National Archives and Records Administration and testified before a federal grand jury in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.
He is an attorney and staunch Trump loyalist who rose to prominence as an aide to former Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of California, fighting the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
He served on Trump’s National Security Council, then as a senior adviser to acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell, and later as chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller.
Patel published a 2023 book titled “Government Gangsters,” which received praise from Trump and in which Patel writes that the “FBI has become so thoroughly compromised that it will remain a threat to the people unless drastic measures are taken.”
“This is the roadmap to end the Deep State’s reign,” Trump said on Truth Social about the book in September 2023.
Patel, who was born in Long Island, New York, did his undergraduate work at Richmond University and earned his law degree from Pace University, as well as a certificate of international law from University of College London. He served as a county and federal public defender in Florida from 2005 to 2013 before joining the Justice Department as a trial attorney.
Speaking on Steve Bannon’s podcast in December 2023, Patel said that he and other Trump loyalists “will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media.”
“We’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,” Patel said to Bannon, the former White House chief strategist in Trump’s first term, repeating false claims often stated, without evidence, by many Republican leaders of voter fraud in the 2020 election. “We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminally or civilly. We’ll figure that out. But yeah, we’re putting you all on notice…We’re actually going to use the Constitution to prosecute them for crimes they said we have always been guilty of but never have.”
Wray and the FBI’s leadership became targets of Trump’s enduring ire in 2022, when FBI agents executed a court-authorized search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. The search exposed what had been an ongoing federal probe into Trump’s handling of classified records after he left office.
Special counsel Jack Smith, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, ultimately charged Trump with dozens of counts, including the illegal retention of national defense information and obstruction, as a result of the investigation. All the charges were dismissed by a federal judge earlier this year. Trump pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
Earlier this week, a federal appeals court granted Smith’s bid to end the case, with Smith citing a longstanding Justice Department policy that forbids the prosecution of a sitting president.
If confirmed by the Senate, Patel would be the third FBI director to work under a Trump administration and would take over the nation’s chief federal law enforcement apparatus amid years of intense criticism from Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill. While Wray’s departure from the job was largely expected, Trump’s announcement about replacing Wray before his 10-year term was to end is sure to reverberate throughout the bureau’s rank-and-file. Presidents, however, have the power to force them out of the role and many previous directors have not served their full terms.
Patel would report directly to the attorney general of the United States — Trump’s current pick for the post is former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. The president-elect announced her nomination after former Congressman Matt Gaetz withdrew his nomination because his confirmation prospects looked dim as a bipartisan group of senators raised concerns about his past conduct and a Congressional ethics report. Gaetz — a staunch critic of the Justice Department and FBI — has denied wrongdoing.
Trump’s pick for Attorney General and FBI Director are likely to be tasked with potential reforms and mass policy overhauls of the agencies that have long been targets of the president-elect.
Wray — a former federal prosecutor and counterterrorism official — was nominated by then-President Trump in 2017. President Biden retained him as FBI director throughout his administration.
While deep distrust of the FBI has been the focal point of Trump and his supporters, Wray spent much of his tenure on countering China’s espionage campaigns. He sounded the alarm on foreign efforts to target American infrastructure and warned of aggressive posturing by Iran and Russia. The FBI employs about 35,000 people — including thousands of field agents — tasked with enforcing federal law and investigating crimes across the country, including terrorism, espionage, and child exploitation.
The last FBI director to serve a full 10-year appointment was Robert Mueller, who was later named special counsel during the first Trump administration to investigate Russia’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election and allegations of collusion with the Trump campaign. Mueller, and by extension the entire Justice Department and FBI, quickly became a target for Trump and Republicans in Congress.
Trump’s decision to fire then-FBI Director James Comey in 2017 because of the investigation into the 2016 election contributed to Mueller’s appointment as special counsel. Comey, who has since become an outspoken critic of the president-elect, found himself at odds with Democrats and Republicans upon his departure from the FBI’s top job. A Justice Department Inspector General Report released in the years after his firing revealed Comey “violated Department and FBI policies” when he shared with a friend memos he made about his interactions with Trump.
Robert Legare is a CBS News multiplatform reporter and producer covering the Justice Department, federal courts and investigations. He was previously an associate producer for the “CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell.”
