NEW YORK, December 1. /TASS/. US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Kash Patel, who worked in the Pentagon during his first administration, to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
"I am proud to announce that Kashyap Patel will serve as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending justice, and protecting the American people," Trump wrote on his Truth Social page.
The president-elect pointed out that Patel played a key role in exposing Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election. Trump expressed confidence that under the new director, the FBI would reduce crime, dismantle migrant criminal gangs, and stop drug and human trafficking across the US border.
Patel, 44, is part of Trump's transition team and is involved in discussions about nominees for key positions in the next administration. According to NBC, Patel is the "ultimate Trump loyalist" and is convinced that the 2020 election victory was "stolen" by Democrat Joe Biden. After Trump's defeat, Patel promised to deal with officials and journalists "who lied about American citizens [and] who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections."
Patel previously worked in the White House National Security Council, was an adviser to the acting director of national intelligence, and at the end of President Trump's term headed the office of the US Secretary of Defense. If his nomination is approved by the US Senate, Patel will make radical changes in the work of the bureau, according to the Associated Press news agency. It recalled that earlier Patel advocated purges in the FBI and the US Department of Justice, and also said that the bureau's headquarters in Washington should be closed and turned into a "museum of the deep state.".