President-elect Donald Trump’s stunning announcement that he will nominate Kash Patel as FBI Director sets the stage for a new round of turbulence at the law enforcement agency tasked with protecting the homeland and investigating federal crimes.
Patel, staunch Trump ally with plans to shake up the bureau, the study contrasts with the current stingy director, Christopher Wray, who preaches the “keep calm and get on with it” mantra.
By choosing Patel late Saturday over more conventional candidates, the Republican president-elect is once again testing his ability to bend the Senate to his will by confirming some of his more provocative nominees.
What’s going on with the current FBI director?
Wray was appointed director by Trump in 2017, and technically has three years left on his 10-year term.
That time period is intended to ensure that the directors of the nation’s most prominent federal law enforcement agency can act without political influence or pressure. Presidents have usually, but not always, retained the director who was in place at the time they took office, as Democratic President Joe Biden did with Wray.
But it is also the case that all FBI directors serve at the pleasure of the president; indeed, Wray was nominated after Trump fired James Comey, the FBI chief he succeeded in his first term.
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Sunday that the Biden administration “adhered to the long-standing norm that FBI directors serve a full term because the FBI director is a unique player in the American system of government.”
Noting that Trump appointed Wray to the job, Sullivan told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “Joe Biden didn’t fire him. He relied on him to carry out his responsibilities as FBI director and allowed him to serve until the end of his term. … So that’s how we’ve approached things, and we’d like to make sure that the FBI remains an independent institution insulated from politics.”
Trump’s announcement means Wray can resign from the job, in accordance with Trump’s apparent wishes, or wait to be fired when Trump takes office in January. Either way, the selection of a successor is a clear indication that Wray’s days are numbered. If Wray leaves before Patel is confirmed, the acting director position will likely be filled in the interim by the current FBI deputy director.
In a statement Saturday night, the bureau said, “Every day, the men and women of the FBI continue to work to protect Americans from an ever-increasing array of threats. Director Wray’s focus remains on the men and women of the FBI, the people we work with and the people we work for.”
Can Patel be confirmed by the Senate?
Republicans may have won control of the Senate, but his confirmation is not certain.
No doubt there are lawmakers who support Trump’s desire for a radically overhauled FBI, especially in the wake of federal investigations that resulted in two separate indictments of the president-elect, and who share his sense that the federal police force is “weaponized” against conservatives.
But Patel is likely to face deep skepticism during his confirmation hearings on his plans to rid the government of “conspirators” against Trump and his claims that he would close the FBI headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue in the nation’s capital and send thousands of employees who work there to “pursuing criminals” across the country.
And while Trump may have wanted a loyalist willing to retaliate against his perceived opponents, the prospect is likely to surprise senators who believe the FBI and Justice Department should operate without political influence and should not be tasked with carrying out the president’s personal agenda.
Foreshadowing a potentially tough confirmation fight ahead, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, wrote on social media late Saturday: “Kash Patel will be another test of the Senate’s power of advice and consent. Patel needs to prove to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he is properly qualified and that, despite his past statements, he will put our nation’s public safety ahead of a retribution-oriented political agenda.”
Trump also raised the prospect of using vacation dates push their candidates through the Senate.
If Patel is confirmed, can he really do what he said he would do?
Patel has made a number of bold claims about his plans for the federal government, but most of those proposals would require the support and buy-in of other officials and would almost certainly meet with significant resistance. His claim that he would reduce the FBI’s influence and powers runs counter to the approach traditionally taken by the bureau’s leaders, who always say they want more resources — not less.
He talked about trying to rid the government of “conspirators” against Trump and “going after people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig the presidential election,” either criminally or civilly.
According to FBI guidelines, criminal investigations cannot be based on arbitrary or unfounded speculation, but instead must have a legitimate purpose to detect or disrupt criminal activity. And while the FBI conducts investigations, the responsibility for bringing federal charges or suits on behalf of the federal government rests with the Department of Justice. Trump said last week that he intends to nominate the former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi serve as state attorney.
Patel’s proposal to crack down on leaks by government officials to the media is an indication that he wants the Justice Department to reverse its current policy barring the secret seizure of journalists’ phone records in leak investigations. That policy was implemented by Attorney General Merrick Garland after an uproar over revelations that federal prosecutors had obtained subpoenas for reporters’ phone records.
Patel talked about separating the FBI’s intelligence-gathering operations — now a core function of the bureau’s mandate — from its other operations. It’s not clear whether he intends to follow through on that promise or how it would be received at a time when the U.S. faces what officials say is an increased threat from terrorism.
He also says he wants to close the famous FBI headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue and send the employees who work there around the country. It is not clear whether this is a hyperbolic claim that simply reflects disdain for the “deep state” or something he would actually try to implement, but how it would look in practice remains a big question mark.
