Kash Patel privately agreed to hire an experienced deputy FBI director. Then Trump picked a loyalist
Members of the FBI Agents Association, a nonprofit that supports and advocates for more than 14,000 active and retired agents, received a memo, obtained by NBC News, that claimed Patel had agreed with the group that, 'the FBI Deputy Director should continue to be an on-board, active Special Agent— as has been the case for 117 years for many compelling reasons, including operational expertise and experience, as well as the trust of our Special Agent population.'
Patel, who was sworn in as head of the federal law enforcement agency last week, is a known Trump loyalist who has no prior experience in the FBI.
His agreement with the FBI Agents Association was seemingly a way to balance his lack of experience with a current Special Agent.
But instead, Trump appointed Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and right-wing podcaster who has previously critcized FBI leadership and often uses derogatory language to describe liberals.
Bongino, who has no experience in the FBI, left the Secret Service in 2011 and has since become a loud advocate for Trump. He echoed Trump's false claims of election fraud after the 2020 presidential election.
Like Patel, Bongino has claimed the FBI has become weaponized and needs to be fixed from the inside out. Bongino has argued the bureau focuses too much on domestic intelligence gathering, despite its purpose being domestic matters.
Now, Patel and Bongino will lead the FBI at a crucial time for the bureau undergoing massive changes. So far, at least six senior FBI officials have been ousted as well as dozens of heads of FBI field offices.
Previous deputy directors have all been active special agents upon designation to deputy director.
That includes Andrew McCabe who served under Trump's first administration, David Bowdich and Paul Abbate who served under former president Joe Biden and the current acting deputy Robert Kissane.
The Independent has asked the FBI Agents Association for comment.
FBIAA did not immediately release a statement about Bongino's appointment but previously congratulated Patel on his confirmation as director.
'As the new leadership team considers and implements reform measures, the FBIAA stands ready to serve as a valuable resource, ensuring that Special Agents can continue safeguarding the American people from emerging threats while upholding the Constitution,' FBIAA said in a statement about Patel.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
12 minutes ago
- New York Post
Former AG Bill Barr shared ‘new' details on Jeffrey Epstein's prosecution, death in House deposition: GOP chairman
WASHINGTON — Former Attorney General Bill Barr shared 'new' details about the sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein — and his death in federal custody before heading to trial — during a deposition with the House Oversight Committee on Monday, according to the panel's chairman. Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) divulged to reporters that Barr's testimony to House lawmakers and committee staff had revealed 'a lot' on odd circumstances surrounding Epstein's federal prosecution and suicide. 'We asked a lot of questions about the, you know, the suicide,' Comer said, noting the 'general consensus' among Barr, FBI Director Kash Patel, independent medical experts and federal investigations is that the disgraced financier took his own life in a Manhattan lockup on Aug. 10, 2019. 5 Former Attorney General Bill Barr shared 'new' details about the sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein — and his death in federal custody before heading to trial — during a deposition with the House Oversight Committee on Monday. AP The Oversight chairman added that he personally had 'no idea' whether Epstein, 66, killed himself. 'There were blind spots in the in the cameras,' Comer said. 'It's unfortunate … there weren't people in there watching because this is such a high-profile case. … I'm very disappointed in the security. 'We've learned some new things pertaining to different aspects of it, but we've got a lot of people to depose, and we'll release all the transcripts once we get through,' he added. 5 Oversight Chairman James Comer added that he personally had 'no idea' whether Epstein, 66, killed himself. AP Barr's testimony also affirmed an FBI-DOJ assessment provided in a memo last month on the absence of any so-called 'client list' that Epstein allegedly kept of rich and powerful associates potentially implicated in his sickening crimes. The former AG also denied having ever discussed the client list with Trump and suggested that if the 45th president had been involved in Epstein's trafficking network, former President Joe Biden's Justice Department would've leaked any association. In addition to Barr, Attorney General Pam Bondi was subpoenaed for records related to the government's prosecutions of Epstein, his now-convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell and a non-prosecution agreement stemming from an earlier state case against the disgraced financier in the mid-2000s. 5 'There were blind spots in the in the cameras,' Comer said. 'It's unfortunate … there weren't people in there watching because this is such a high-profile case. … I'm very disappointed in the security.' CBS 60 MINUTES That agreement was overseen by then-Miami US Attorney Alex Acosta, later Trump's Labor secretary during his first administration, and Democratic lawmakers said that they'd like to issue him a subpoena as well. Reps. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) told reporters that the Oversight panel should seek testimony from Acosta on Epstein's prosecution. 'We have more questions now than we did going in — and we want more answers and more people to talk to,' said Subramanyam. 5 Asked about their newfound focus on Epstein after nearly five years of silence, the Dems noted that Trump had campaigned on the issue of releasing information on the deceased sex criminal to the public. Department of Justice Barr was one of nearly a dozen former federal officials issued a subpoena by the Oversight panel — including former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, attorneys general stretching from Biden's term to the administration of George W. Bush and two former FBI directors. Asked about their newfound focus on Epstein after nearly five years of silence, the Dems noted that Trump had campaigned on the issue of releasing information on the deceased sex criminal to the public. 'Listen, this is a promise, I will tell you, that was not made by Kamala Harris. It's not a promise that was made by Joe Biden. This was a promise that was made by Donald Trump,' Crockett said. 5 'Listen, this is a promise, I will tell you, that was not made by Kamala Harris. It's not a promise that was made by Joe Biden. This was a promise that was made by Donald Trump,' Crockett said. AP 'We'll bring in everyone that we think can add information to the investigation,' added Comer. 'This is a serious investigation. This is a sincere investigation. I hope this will be a bipartisan investigation. I would encourage my Democrat colleagues not to politicize this.'
The Hill
12 minutes ago
- The Hill
House Democrat: DC ‘not the safest place in the world'
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said Sunday that Washington, D.C., is 'not the safest place in the world' amid President Trump's crackdown on crime in the District and pushback from Democrats over the president's actions. 'Both of my children live in Washington, D.C. You know it's not — it's not the safest place in the world,' Smith told NewsNation's Chris Stirewalt on 'The Hill Sunday.' 'And also some of the policies the Democrats advanced around crime over the course of the last 10 or 15 years very clearly did not work. There was not enough transparency and not enough accountability,' he added. Last week, Trump announced he was taking federal control of D.C.'s police department and deploying the National Guard in the city to combat crime. Since then, he has received heavy pushback on his law enforcement moves from Democrats and District residents. On Monday, Mississippi became the fourth Republican -led state to unveil plans to dispatch National Guard troops to D.C. to boost Trump's crackdown on crime in the District. 'I've approved the deployment of approximately 200 Mississippi National Guard Soldiers to Washington, D.C., to support President Trump's effort to return law and order to our nation's capital,' Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) said on the social platform X. Smith said last Tuesday it was 'pretty clear' Trump ''wants his own domestic police force.' 'Look, this president is trampling on basic freedoms of the American people to a degree we — I don't think we've ever seen,' Smith said on CNN. 'You see that with what the ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents are doing, in terms of picking people up off the streets with no evidence, no due process, locking people up.' 'This is happening all across the country,' the Evergreen State Democrat added. 'Look, it's pretty clear the president wants his own domestic police force, and step by step, he's trying to create it, and we should be deeply alarmed by that, regardless of how you feel about crime in Washington, D.C., or any other city.'
The Hill
12 minutes ago
- The Hill
Jeffries: Noem will be among the first ‘hauled up to Congress' if Democrats retake House
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem would be a top oversight target if Democrats retake the House in the midterms. 'It's my expectation that Kristi Noem will be one of the first people hauled up to Congress shortly after the gavels change hands to get a real understanding for the American people as to this conduct that has taken place: the lack of respect for due process, for the rule of law, the unleashing of masked agents on law-abiding immigrant communities, and the disappearing of people in some instances, to other countries without any real evidence that criminal behavior took place,' Jeffries said in an interview with Tim Miller on The Bulwark's podcast. 'All of this is going to require aggressive oversight activity.' Jeffries nodded to a number of controversial actions taken by the Trump administration, from sending Venezuelan migrants to a notorious megaprison in El Salvador to side-stepping due process with actions such as moving to dismiss immigration court cases as a way to initiate expedited removal proceedings and bypassing review by a judge. Masked agents have also been conducting arrests at courthouses and in immigration enforcement actions across the country. Jeffries added that he supported the deportation of immigrants who have been convicted of violent crimes, 'but not law-abiding immigrant families, including in some instances, U.S. citizen children who've been sent overseas to a place that they've never known.' Jeffries said Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who would lead the House Homeland and Judiciary committees if Democrats flipped the House, would likely play a key role in such efforts. 'We'll figure out what the formulation looks like,' he added. While President Biden was in office, House Republicans impeached then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, saying he violated the law, the Secure Fence Act of 2006, by failing to detain every migrant that crossed the border. The Senate swiftly rejected the impeachment.
