The New Matt Gaetz

It’s tempting to look at Trump’s announcement that he will appoint Kash Patel to be director of the FBI as just another attempt at trolling. Trump loves drama. Patel comes with a lot of baggage and so many detractors that much of the initial reaction is that he is not confirmable in the Senate.

It’s hard to believe Trump would nominate Patel just to watch him lose in hopes of appointing him to be the deputy director, a position that doesn’t require Senate confirmation. For one thing, the confirmation battle is likely to be bruising, and Patel may end up like Gaetz, making videos on Cameo for $500 a pop. It would be a bad look to lose a second major nominee for the Justice Department. But January, when confirmations start, is a long way off, and there is still the matter of the current Director of the FBI, Chris Wray, who is midway through the 10-year term Trump appointed him to. Wray will have to either resign or be fired before a Patel nomination would be in play. It’s hard to fathom what Trump’s end game—if he has one—is here.

Kash Patel is a former public defender who worked in DOJ’s National Security Division for a time. That means he’s in the category of people who should know better and who understand how the rule of law works. But last year, Patel told Steve Bannon, who has been one of his big supporters, that they could get “rolling on prosecutions” by putting in “all American patriots top to bottom” and find conspirators in government and the media who he says helped President Biden rig elections. He talked about both criminal prosecutions and civil actions against folks he apparently considers enemies.

Trump Attorney General Bill Barr rejected Patel for a possible role as deputy director of the FBI, telling Trump’s then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that Patel would be appointed over “my dead body.”

An article in the Atlantic last summer characterized Patel as someone who was viewed as dangerous in the eyes of other Trump administration officials: “Patel was dangerous, several of them told me, not because of a certain plan he would be poised to carry out if given control of the CIA or FBI, but because he appeared to have no plan at all—his priorities today always subject to a mercurial president’s wishes tomorrow.” It is a lack of judgment coupled with inexperience that creates a perfect storm of susceptibility to Trump’s whims. You wouldn’t take a lawyer with just a few years of experience as a line prosecutor and put them in charge of their division at DOJ, let alone the FBI. But Patel appears to be precisely what Trump wants, a no-questions-asked loyalist.

The Atlantic article is full of insight into Patel, if you find yourself with time to spare Sunday morning. One point among many: the author writes that “many of the nearly forty” of Patel’s former Trump Administration colleagues she spoke with for the piece would only do so if they could remain anonymous because they feared retaliation.

The key, predictably, seems to be Patel’s loyalty to Trump. As the FBI geared up to investigate Trump’s retention of classified documents in 2022, it was Patel who floated the story that he was present when Trump verbally declassified scores of documents before he left the White House. That was the line of defense that Trump ultimately picked up on, despite officials who said they were unaware of any such order.

This, of course, led to Patel becoming a witness. In his first appearance before the grand jury, Patel took the Fifth. Subsequently, DOJ compelled his testimony with a grant of “use immunity,” which meant his testimony couldn’t be used against him, forcing him to testify because he no longer had a Fifth Amendment privilege to assert. Patel made it clear when he appeared before the grand jury this time that his appearance wasn’t voluntary and he had not made a deal with the Justice Department to testify against Trump. He remained a staunch critic of the classified documents case. It was in this maelstrom that Patel was asked on far-right host Benny Johnson’s podcast whether he would agree to be Trump’s FBI Director if Trump won in 2024. Patel responded that he was “all in with the boss.”

Apparently, he still is. In announcing Patel’s selection on Truth Social, Trump acknowledged that Patel is a fervent believer in the “deep state,” writing, “He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution.” Earlier this month, Patel said, “I'd shut down the FBI Hoover Building on day one and reopen the next day as a museum of the deep state. And I'd take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to chase down criminals.” All in all, not a choice designed to inspire confidence that the FBI will be able to focus on its mission or that their new director would have the respect of the men and women the country depends upon to keep them safe.

Trump has thrown down another gauntlet to the Senate. Their answer must be no. Kash Patel cannot be put in charge of the FBI any more than Matt Gaetz could be put in charge of the Justice Department. Once more, we watch to see whether the Senate will do its constitutional duty or whether the Senate will bend the knee.

We’re in this together,

Joyce