After Missing CIA Top Spot, Kash Patel Likely To Head FBI In New Trump Administration

Last Updated:November 14, 2024, 15:47 IST

Christopher Wray, who is a Donald Trump appointee himself, is preparing for the possibility that he will be replaced after January 20

Kash Patel reportedly lost out to ultra-conservative Texas senator John Ratcliffe in the race to become the director of the CIA. (Image: AP/File)

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has said President-elect Donald Trump’s adviser Kash Patel will likely take over as the director of the FBI after January 20. He suggested that the present chief, who was appointed for a 10-year term, may resign or be asked to leave.

Bannon’s statement comes a day after NBC News reported that Wray, who enjoys leading the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and intended to serve out his term, is preparing for such a possibility. In April, he told the news network that he was “enjoying doing this job".

“As long as I think I can do that in a way that adheres to all those rules and norms, I’d like to keep doing it," he told NBC News.

Trump had appointed Wray in 2017, but much has changed in the seven years since as he has severely criticised his own appointee. This raises the likelihood that Wray’s days are numbered and he will either be replaced or leave on his own to avoid being fired.

ALSO READ | Donald Trump Picks Former US Spy John Ratcliffe As CIA Director, Snubs Kash Patel

Patel, who reportedly lost out to ultra-conservative Texas senator John Ratcliffe in the race to become the director of the Central Intelligence (CIA), is a former Security Council staffer. He is the son of Indian immigrants and author of a book about the so-called “deep state".

In the final months of the previous Trump administration, he held key positions at the Office of the Director of Intelligence and the Defense Department. In his memoir Government Gangsters, he has called for a “comprehensive housecleaning" of the Justice Department and the FBI.

According to a report published by the Associated Press, replacing Wray before the end of his 10-year term — a tenure intended to keep the FBI free from the influence of presidential politics — will be a departure from the norm. Such a move will give Trump a chance to reshape the FBI’s leadership in his own image at a time when he is threatened to pursue his own political adversaries.

What Went Wrong Between Wray and Trump?

When Trump appointed Wray the FBI director in 2017, he had lavished him with praise introducing him as an “impeccably qualified individual" and a “model of integrity". But, it did not take long for the mild-mannered and by-the-book director to provoke Trump’s ire.

The AP report said in 2018, he broke with Trump over the administration’s declassification of information related to FBI surveillance of former campaign aide Carter Page. He later angered Trump over congressional testimony that stressed the election interference threat from Russia at a time when Trump was focused on China, and also described antifa — an umbrella term for leftist militants — as an ideology rather than an organisation, contradicting Trump, who wanted to designate it as a terror group.

When Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, Wray’s job was in a precarious position with the former president refusing to give him a vote of confidence. Donald Trump Jr, Trump’s oldest son, even said Wray was working to “protect corrupt Democrats".

Things further went south after the FBI searched Trump’s Florida home for classified documents, an action that resulted in an indictment on dozens of charges. This past summer, he has faulted the FBI for not immediately confirming he had been struck by a bullet during an assassination bid on him.

“He enjoys the work, he’s committed to the bureau, he’s an outstanding public servant — but I don’t think he’s going to lobby for the job," Gregory Brower, a former FBI official who served as director of congressional affairs until 2018, told the Associated Press about Wray.

“If the new president wants to replace him, then that’s what the new president’s going to do," he added. “Based on what Trump has said in the past, I think it’s likely we’ll see that."

An FBI official, on condition of anonymity, said Wray was continuing to oversee the bureau’s day-to-day operations – including visiting the FBI’s election command post multiple times this week – and was planning with his team to lead the workforce into the next year.

Wray was nominated in June 2017 to replace James Comey, the FBI director Trump inherited from President Barack Obama and then fired amid an investigation into ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign. A well-regarded Republican lawyer who served as a senior Justice Department official in the George W Bush administration, he was recommended to Trump by Chris Christie after representing the then-New Jersey governor in an investigation into the closing of the George Washington Bridge.

(With agency inputs)

Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)

News world After Missing CIA Top Spot, Kash Patel Likely To Head FBI In New Trump Administration