Trump War Room Fact Sheet: Kash Patel

FACT SHEET: Information on Kash Patel Ahead of Senate Confirmation Hearing for the Position of Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

President Trump has nominated Kash Patel—a political activist with no relevant law enforcement experience—to be the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A fierce Trump loyalist, Patel has pledged to annihilate the so-called “Deep State” (i.e., Trump’s political opponents and civil servants who opposed Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election). His pledge, if put into action, would be an unprecedented, dangerous, and disturbing departure from the FBI’s core mission “to protect the American people and uphold the U.S. Constitution” but in keeping with Trump’s threat of retribution against his perceived enemies.

Lack of Qualifications to Do the Job:

Since 1978, every FBI director has either been a former judge or a Department of Justice official. Kash Patel has never served in either of those capacities. He has also never been an FBI agent.

Former Trump officials and FBI agents have questioned Patel’s qualifications for high-ranking positions in federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr wrote in his memoir that when Patel was allegedly being considered for deputy FBI director in 2020, he told others that Patel’s appointment would happen “over my dead body.”

Former CIA Director Gina Haspel threatened to resign when Patel was under consideration to be her deputy.

Even President Trump’s closest allies agree that the next FBI director should be experienced. Last year, America First Policy Institute—the organization that helped shepherd President Trump’s transition—published an “expert insight” from an ex-FBI agent who called on the president to appoint a former special agent as the Bureau’s next director. Patel has never served as a special agent.

A recent report found that Patel exaggerated his role in the investigation of the 2012 attack in Benghazi, claiming he was “leading the prosecution’s efforts” despite joining the Justice Department after the investigation began and leaving before the first case went to trial.” A spokesperson for the transition claimed Patel won an award for his efforts, but the award was not related to Patel’s work on the Benghazi inquiry, and he was not among the recipients of a Benghazi-related award.

Politicization of the FBI:

In 2023, Kash Patel published his book Government Gangsters, which purported to “pull back the curtain on the Deep State.” Patel’s book includes a list of 60 people whom he deems the “Executive Branch Deep State.” Among those on the list are President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and a number of former Trump administration officials who refused to join Trump in denying the results of the 2020 election. Patel has said that he is on “a mission to annihilate the deep state,” which he has also labeled as “criminals.”

Some individuals on Patel’s enemies list, including Attorney General Bill Barr and CIA Director Gina Haspel, have questioned Patel’s personal qualifications.

Patel stated last year that he would “shut down the FBI Hoover Building on day one and reopen it the next day as a museum of the ‘Deep State.’”

The Hoover Building houses the Bureau’s Counterterrorism Division and “ensur[es] centralization and coordination” of investigations involving multiple agencies and jurisdictions. Recently, the Bureau’s Counterterrorism Division in Washington D.C. coordinated the response to the deadly terrorist attack in New Orleans. It’s unclear who would coordinate these activities if Patel shuttered FBI Headquarters.

January 6th Grift:

Since leaving the last Trump administration, Patel has embarked on a series of business ventures profiting off of the January 6th insurrection and “Deep State” conspiracy theories.

In 2023, Patel was credited as a producer on the song “Justice for All,” which featured incarcerated insurrectionists, including some who assaulted police officers.

Patel authored three children’s books promoting lies about the first Trump presidency and the 2020 election.

Patel is the co-owner of Based Apparel, which markets Trump-themed merchandise for as much as $70.

Patel has claimed that “proceeds” from his business endeavors have benefited January 6th insurrectionists, but there is little to no publicly documented evidence of this happening.

History of Nonprofiteerism And Mismanagement:

Since 2022, Kash Patel has served as the president of the Kash Foundation, a charitable organization that ostensibly provides “financial support” to veterans and law enforcement and grants to "those who have the courage to stand up against government wrongdoing.” Although Patel and his other directors report not collecting a salary, it was recently reported that the group’s most significant expense in 2023 was a payment of more than a quarter million dollars to a company owned by the foundation’s vice president.

In 2023, Patel’s foundation reported giving out collectively $168,000 in direct cash assistance to 50 anonymous individuals. Of the few individuals who have publicly identified themselves as Kash Foundation grantees, several took specific actions that would seem to benefit Patel and President Trump. For example, two self-professed FBI whistleblowers admitted to receiving money from Kash Patel around the same time that they testified to Congress that the FBI had become “weaponized.”

The intermingling of the Kash Foundation and politics has raised questions about whether the organization follows the law and IRS rules governing nonprofits.

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