In response to Donald Trump tapping Kash Patel as FBI Director, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“Donald Trump is dead set on defunding federal law enforcement and subverting our justice system to exact his agenda of revenge and retribution – which is why he wants an unfit MAGA loyalist like Kash Patel to run the FBI. Just like so many of Trump’s Project 2025-linked picks, Patel is as dangerous as he is unqualified. Our law enforcement deserves better than an ill-equipped MAGA flunky who will put allegiance to Trump over the safety and security of the American people.”

NEW: Donald Trump picked Project 2025-linked MAGA loyalist Kash Patel to be his FBI Director. 

Taylor Popielarz, Spectrum News: “President-elect Trump nominates Kash Patel to be FBI Director, meaning he is looking to push current Director Chris Wray out before the completion of his 10-year term.”

CNN: “Patel, a longtime Trump loyalist, is currently a fellow at the Center for Renewing America, a conservative think tank that is working closely with the Trump campaign on preparations for a second-term agenda.”

Center for Renewing America: “Author: Kash Patel” 

Project 2025: The Center For Renewing America Was A Member Of Project 2025’s Advisory Board

Patel is unfit, unqualified, and a “frightening” extremist who would focus on Trump’s revenge and retribution while stacking the FBI with loyalists like him instead of keeping Americans safe. 

CNN: “Even among Trump loyalists, Patel is widely viewed as a controversial figure and relentless self-promoter whose value largely derives from a shared disdain for the so-called deep state. 

“‘Kash is frightening at the bureau,’ one source familiar with internal deliberations about the role of FBI director.”

CNN: “‘It’s inconceivable to me that an outsider with no experience in the organization, no knowledge of the work and the scope of authority that’s involved there could perform adequately,’ [said Former Deputy FBI Director) McCabe […]”

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on CNN: “No part of the FBI’s mission is safe with Kash Patel in any position of leadership in the FBI.”

New York Times: “As President Donald J. Trump battled public outrage in the summer of 2019 over his effort to enlist Ukraine in digging up dirt on former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., he summoned a small group of top advisers to the Oval Office. Among them was Charles Kupperman, the deputy national security adviser, who was surprised to see a relatively low-level staff member in one of the four chairs arrayed before the president’s desk: Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel.

“‘He wanted to make Kash a political executioner, to root out and fire individuals on the White House staff who weren’t being as loyal as he thought they should be,’ Mr. Kupperman said in a recent interview.

“Alarmed, Mr. Kupperman pushed back, as did Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, and John Eisenberg, the National Security Council’s legal counsel, who were both there that day. All three said that loyalty tests would create legal and morale problems.

“Eventually Mr. Trump stood down. But Mr. Kupperman today sees the incident as a warning of Mr. Trump’s intention to stock a second administration with people like Mr. Patel: valued more for subservience than expertise, and eager to pursue a vengeful president’s whims.”

Former Trump AG Bill Barr on Patel in the first Trump administration: “Patel had virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency.”

Patel has pushed for gutting the FBI and “clos[ing]” the building during a second Trump administration. 

ABC News: “Last year, as Donald Trump’s reelection bid was underway, he declared that a new book by his fiercely loyal adviser Kash Patel would serve as a ‘blueprint’ for his next administration.

“‘This is the roadmap to end the Deep State’s reign,’ Trump said of the book on his Truth Social media platform.

“Titled ‘Government Gangsters,’ it calls for a ‘comprehensive housecleaning’ of the Justice Department and an eradication of ‘government tyranny’ within the FBI by firing ‘the top ranks’ […]

“Speaking on Thursday’s podcast about FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. — where more than 7,000 agents, analysts, administrative personnel and other employees work — Patel said that the new Trump administration should ‘close that building down.’ 

“‘Open it up the next day as the museum to the Deep State,’ he added. 

“Patel said the FBI should then leave about 50 people from its staff somewhere in Washington to help keep the agency running, and send the thousands of other employees into the field to join the 16,000 employees already there.”

Associated Press: “Patel has been open about what kind of changes he’d pursue if given the chance. His various proposals include reducing the FBI’s footprint in Washington and ‘dramatically’ limiting its authority. He hopes to curb the power of the Justice Department’s Civil Division and jettison a Pentagon office that produces classified assessments of long-term trends and risks, arguing it is just a tool of the ‘deep state.’”

Patel has threatened the free press and has said he would “come after” both the media and Trump’s political opponents. 

ABC News: “‘We will go out and find the conspirators not just in government, but in the media,’ said former Defense Department official Kash Patel during an appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast.

“‘We’re going to come after you whether it’s criminally or civilly,’ Patel said of Trump’s political foes. ‘We’ll figure that out.’”

The Atlantic: “Patel was ultimately denied a role at the pinnacle of the national-security establishment, but Trump has promised to learn from his mistakes. Should he return to the White House, there will be no Milleys, Haspels, or even Barrs to restrain him as he seeks revenge against his political enemies. Instead, there will be Patels—those whose true faith and allegiance belong not to a nation, but to one man.”

Trump wants to defund law enforcement — just like he tried to do every year in office as murder rates skyrocketed — and is pressuring his MAGA minions to do the same. 

Sahil Kapur, NBC News: “Donald Trump pressures Republicans to defund the (federal) police.”

MSNBC: “Trump joins other Republicans in pushing to ‘defund the FBI’”

Jonathan Allen, NBC News: “When Trump was president, he proposed slashing federal funding for local police forces.”

Wall Street Journal: “The [Trump] administration’s 2021 budget, like all its previous budgets, recommended eliminating the Community Relations Services and Community Oriented Policing Services and placing their functions under other parts of the department to ‘improve efficiency.’”

Vox: “Donald Trump is defunding the police”

“President Trump has repeatedly proposed cuts in federal funding for police, criticized landmark legislation that boosted financial support for police departments, and is currently involved in blocking legislation that would greatly reduce pressure on local governments to cut police funding. In layman’s terms, he’s been trying to defund the police.”

Associated Press: “FBI: 2020 homicides up nearly 30%, largest 1-year jump ever”

Philadelphia Inquirer: “The Council on Criminal Justice, a D.C.-based research group, found that homicides in 21 American cities were up 32% between March and October compared with 2019. And some analysts believe 2020 could record the largest-ever single-year increase in murders in the United States.”

REMINDER: Trump has repeatedly threatened violence against his political opponents, vowed to go after the “enemy from within,” and pledged to be a dictator on “day one” of his new administration.

Trump: “I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within … totally destroying our country … [I]n terms of Election Day, I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they’re the big – and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by [the] National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.” 

Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN: “Many people have lost American presidential elections over the last 230 years – Trump is the only one to say about violence if he loses ‘it depends.’”

The Atlantic: “Trump Says He’ll Be a Dictator on ‘Day One’”

Associated Press: “Trump declines to rule out abusing power to seek retribution if he returns to the White House”

The Guardian: “Donald Trump says he will lock up his political enemies if he is president again.”

CNN: “Trump says ‘war hawk’ Liz Cheney should be fired upon in escalation of violent rhetoric against his opponents”

Trump: “Somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that.”