The FBI is in desperate need of fundamental reform. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to run the bureau, Kash Patel, promises to attempt that. But Patel has also said the Trump administration should go after political enemies, President Joe Biden’s allies. Senators should, therefore, give this nomination the closest possible scrutiny and establish that despite some fiery past rhetoric, Patel understands, appreciates, and respects the difference between reform and retribution before he is confirmed.
Patel is a lawyer by trade who spent eight years as a public defender in Miami before moving to the Department of Justice’s National Security Division. He first rose to fame in the conservative movement when he co-authored the Nunes memo, named after then-House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes, which correctly alleged that FBI personnel deviated from FBI rules to use faked and unverified information to obtain a warrant to spy on Trump’s presidential campaign.
From there, Patel was awarded a position on Trump’s National Security Council and then moved to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence before being promoted again to be chief of staff to acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller.
The abuses uncovered by Patel are not the only failures the FBI has experienced on Director Christopher Wray’s watch. FBI agents repeatedly failed to follow through on credible tips that Hunter Biden and the Biden family committed federal crimes while enriching themselves with foreign money. Hunter Biden’s former business associate Tony Bobulinski provided agents with “thousands of documents, pictures, and text messages” establishing Biden crimes. The bureau didn’t follow through. It has also targeted pro-life activists, arresting fathers in front of their children when they posed no threat to public safety.
Wray has failed to supply the transparency House Republicans have demanded from the agency, and he should resign. Indeed, he has been obstructive, probably to protect the agency from unwelcome but highly necessary scrutiny. Under Article II of the Constitution, Trump has every right to fire Wray and replace him with a new director. Patel’s resume on paper makes him a credible outsider candidate to come in and rebuild the FBI’s culture from the bottom up. The Senate, however, must be allowed to deliberate, weigh the clear pros and cons, and determine his suitability without prejudice.
Concerns about Patel’s past statements are reasonable. Most prominently, while on former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s podcast, Patel said, “We will go out and find the conspirators not just in government but in the media. Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminally or civilly.”
That would be a chilling statement from any member of any administration, but coming from an FBI director, it is particularly troubling. The Senate must be satisfied that revenge will not animate Patel if he is to run the agency. In the same podcast, Patel said he would be sure to follow “the facts and the law,” which is more reassuring, and senators should be prepared to ask Patel which specific fact and which specific laws he thinks were broken.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
More encouraging was Patel’s statement after securing Trump’s nomination. “Together, we will restore integrity, accountability, and equal justice to our justice system and return the FBI to its rightful mission: protecting the American people.”
If Patel can show senators he is interested in reform, not retribution, and if he is confirmed, he should determinedly keep his promise. Voters do not want to see Joe Biden and his allies persecuted in a tit-for-tat fashion. The nation wants to see crime lowered, criminal migrant gangs arrested and deported, and drug traffickers arrested and brought to justice. That should be the focus of the FBI, and the Senate should determine whether Patel intends to make it so.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
