By ERIC TUCKER
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s stunning announcement that he will nominate Kash Patel as FBI director sets the stage for a fresh round of turbulence at a law enforcement agency tasked with protecting the homeland and investigating federal crimes.
Patel, a steadfast Trump ally with plans to shake up the bureau, is a study in contrasts from the current tight-lipped director, Christopher Wray, who preaches a “keep calm and tackle hard” mantra.
In selecting Patel late Saturday over more conventional contenders, the incoming Republican president is again testing the loyalty of Senate Republicans and their willingness to defy him.
Here’s a look at what happens next:
What happens to the current FBI director?
Wray was appointed director by Trump in 2017 and technically has three years left on his 10-year tenure.
That length of time is meant to ensure that directors of the nation’s most prominent federal law enforcement agency can operate free from political influence or pressure. Presidents have typically but not always retained the director who was in place at the time they took office, as Democratic President Joe Biden has done with Wray.
FILE – FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 24, 2020. (Tom Williams/Pool via AP, File)
But it’s 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 inherited 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 out their full terms because the FBI director is a unique player in the American government system.”
Noting that Trump had named Wray to the job, Sullivan told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “Joe Biden didn’t fire him. He relied upon him to execute his responsibilities as the director of the FBI and allowed him to serve out the fullness of his term. … So that’s how we approached things and we would like to ensure that the FBI remains an independent institution insulated from politics.”
Trump’s announcement means that Wray can either resign from the job, consistent with Trump’s apparent wishes, or wait to be fired once Trump takes office in January. Either way, the selection of a successor is a clear indication that Wray’s days are numbered.
The bureau, in a statement Saturday night, said, “Every day, the men and women of the FBI continue to work to protect Americans from a growing array of threats. Director Wray’s focus remains on the men and women of the FBI, the people we do the work with, and the people we do the work for.”
Can Patel be confirmed by the Senate?
Republicans may have won control of the Senate, but his confirmation is not assured.
There are no doubt lawmakers who support Trump’s desire for a radically overhauled FBI, particularly following federal investigations that resulted in two separate indictments against the president-elect, and who share his sentiment that federal law enforcement has been “weaponized” against conservatives.
Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, in line to be the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman when Republicans take control in January, said in a post on X that Wray “has failed at fundamental duties” and that it was time to “chart a new course 4 TRANSPARENCY +ACCOUNTABILITY at FBI.”
But, he added, Patel “must prove to Congress he will reform & restore public trust in FBI.”
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Patel is likely to face deep skepticism during his confirmation hearings over his stated plans to rid the government of “conspirators” against Trump, and his claims that he would shut down the FBI’s Pennsylvania Avenue headquarters in the nation’s capital and send the thousands of employees who work there to “chase down criminals” across the country.
And while Trump may have wanted a loyalist willing to pursue retribution against his perceived adversaries, that perspective is likely to give pause to senators who believe that the FBI and Justice Department should operate free of political influence and not be tasked with carrying out a president’s personal agenda.
Foreshadowing the potentially bruising confirmation fight ahead, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, who is expected to the the ranking Democrat next year on the Judiciary Committee, called Patel “an unqualified loyalist” and said in a statement that “the Senate should reject this unprecedented effort to weaponize the FBI for the campaign of retribution that Donald Trump has promised.”
Trump has also raised the prospect of using recess appointments to push his nominees through the Senate.
If Patel is confirmed, can he actually do what he’s said he’ll do?
Patel has made a series of brash claims about his plans for the federal government, but most of those proposals would require backing and buy-in from other officials and would almost certainly encounter significant resistance.
His desire, for instance, to reduce the FBI’s footprint and scale back its authority stands in contrast to the tack traditionally taken by leaders of the bureau, who invariably say they want more resources — not less.
He’s mused about trying to rid the government of “conspirators” against Trump and of going “after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,” whether criminally or civilly.
FILE – Pam Bondi, former Florida Attorney General, speaks to reporters outside an election integrity volunteer training, June 18, 2024, in Newtown, Pa. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton, File)
Under the FBI’s own guidelines, criminal investigations can’t be rooted in arbitrary or groundless speculation but instead must have an authorized purpose to detect or interrupt criminal activity. And while the FBI conducts investigations, the responsibility of filing federal charges, or bringing a lawsuit on behalf of the federal government, falls to the Justice Department. Trump said earlier this month that he intended to nominate former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi to serve as attorney general.
Patel proposed crackdown on leaks of information by government officials to the media is an indication that he would want the Justice Department to reverse its current policy generally prohibiting the seizure of reporters’ phone records in leak investigations. That policy was implemented by Attorney General Merrick Garland following an uproar over the revelation that federal prosecutors had secretly obtained subpoenas for journalists’ phone records.
Patel has also talked about disentangling the FBI’s intelligence-gathering activities — now a core function of the bureau’s mandate — from the rest of its law enforcement operations. It’s unclear whether he intends to carry through on that pledge or how it would be greeted at a time when the U.S. is facing what officials say is a heightened threat of terrorism.
And he’s said he thinks the FBI’s storied Pennsylvania Avenue headquarters should be shut down, with the employees who work there dispatched around the country to fight crime. It’s not clear if that’s a hyperbolic claim simply reflecting disdain for the “deep state” or something he’d actually try to implement.