Trump picked Patel for FBI after some aides warned it could backfire

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Some of President-elect Donald Trump’s top advisers in recent weeks warned him it would be problematic to nominate Kash Patel, one of his most loyal foot soldiers, to lead the FBI, even as it became increasingly clear Trump was leaning in that direction. They cautioned that Patel not only lacked the right experience, but they feared his embrace of controversial theories could hurt his chances at Senate confirmation, people familiar with the discussions said.

The team had already been through the wringer with Trump’s first choice to lead the Justice Department, former congressman Matt Gaetz, who withdrew from consideration last month after Senate Republican pushback. Some of Trump’s advisers felt that there were more qualified, less inflammatory options than Patel to lead the nation’s premier law enforcement agency, the people said. Trump ignored those aides and chose Patel anyway in a Saturday night decision that sent shock waves through the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Trump now hopes to install the bombastic, hard-line critic of the bureau as its leader, the latest step in his long promised plans to remake the nation’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies more fully into an arm of his agenda. The announcement not only signaled that he would oust the current FBI director, Christopher Wray, but that he would seek to empower a polarizing figure—even within Republican circles—and dare the Senate to defy him. Less than 24 hours after Trump announced his nomination of Patel, there were early signs that winning Senate approval could be a challenge.