Former National Security Advisor John Bolton called on the Senate to reject President-elect Trump’s nomination of Kash Patel as FBI director, even comparing the move to Josef Stalin’s reign of terror.
Bolton, who served during the first Trump administration, made a statement about the choice to NBC News. “Meet the Press” anchor Kristin Welker shared the comment in a post on X on Sunday morning.
“Trump has nominated Kash Patel as his Lavrenty (sic) Beria,” the statement said. “Fortunately, the FBI is not the NKVD (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs).”
“The Senate should reject this nomination 100-0,” Bolton added.
TRUMP NOMINATES KASH PATEL AS FBI DIRECTOR: ‘LAWYER FOR THE TRUTH’
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton compared Kash Patel to Lavrentiy Beria, who headed the Soviet secret police under Stalin. (Getty Images/Reuters)
Bolton’s statement referred to Lavrentiy Beria, who was the head of the Soviet secret police under Stalin. Beria is one of the most infamous figures in Russian history, having organized and implemented widespread surveillance, repression, ethnic cleansing and terror during Stalin’s rule.
The prospect of an outsider taking charge of the FBI sent shock waves through Washington this weekend. The nomination was announced on Saturday evening by Trump, who called Patel a “brilliant lawyer, researcher and ‘America First’ fighter.”
During the first Trump administration, Patel served as senior director of counterterrorism at the National Security Council. He is seen as a Trump loyalist who, if confirmed, will implement drastic reforms within the FBI.
NEW YORK JUDGE GRANTS TRUMP REQUEST TO FILE MOTION TO DISMISS CHARGES, CANCELS CAUSE INDEFINITELY
Kash Patel is followed by reporters as he leaves a deposition meeting with the House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)
Patel said in a September interview with ‘The Shawn Ryan Show’ that he would ‘close the show’ FBI Hoover Building on the first day and reopened the next day as a museum of the deep state.” He also wrote a book titled “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy.”
Patel is not the first Trump pick that Bolton has rejected. During a “Meet the Press NOW” episode in November, Bolton said Trump’s now-withdrawn nomination of Matt Gaetz as U.S. attorney general was “the worst nomination for a Cabinet position in American history.”
The appointment of Kash Patel, a staunch supporter of newly-elected President Trump, drew strong reactions from conservatives and liberals on Saturday. (Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“The new Senate leadership should tell the president-elect that he is endangering Republican senators by forcing a vote in favor of Gaetz’s nomination. “The leadership should insist that this nomination be withdrawn,” Bolton said at the time.
