The newly elected president of the United States, Donald Trump, has appointed his close ally Kashyap “Kash” Patel as director of the country’s federal police, the FBI.
Trump writes this on the night of Sunday on his own social media, Truth Social.
Kash Patel is a lawyer and has previously stood by Donald Trump in criminal cases and investigations conducted against the ex-president.
When Trump was being investigated for illegally keeping classified documents at his Florida home, Kash Patel refused to testify before the federal grand jury that later indicted the former president.
Patel is also a former official in the House of Representatives, where he worked on the Special Intelligence Committee.
Here he is particularly known for his role in the Republican investigation into the accusations that Donald Trump should have received help from Russia to win the US presidential election in 2016.
Donald Trump writes on Truth Social that Patel “played a crucial role in uncovering the hoax” that Russia should have helped Trump win the election.
“Kash is a strong lawyer who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending justice and protecting the American people,” Trump wrote.
The bond between the two is considered to be so close that several media outlets simply refer to Kash Patel as a “Trumployalist” in headlines. Both the American news agency AP and the news agency AFP have called him that.
With the appointment, Trump can look forward to a close ally at the head of the FBI, which has investigated the former president in a number of cases from his time in office.
In addition to the widely discussed document case, Trump was also indicted after investigation for trying to overturn the US presidential election by trying to send fake electors to Congress.
The FBI also helped investigate the case, where Trump was ultimately convicted of illegal bookkeeping by having booked hush-hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels, with whom Trump had had an affair, as campaign expenses.
The directorship of the FBI is appointed by the President of the United States, but must also be approved by the upper chamber of Congress, the Senate.
The Republicans have a majority in the chamber, but this is not a guarantee that Trump can get his first choice approved.
The president-elect has already been forced to drop his first choice for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, after it became clear that several Republican senators would not approve him for office.
The FBI is responsible for investigating federal crimes in the United States. That is, crimes under US national laws, but not those enacted by the states themselves.
– This version of the FBI is putting an end to the growing crime epidemic, dismantling the gangs and stopping the evil smuggling of people and drugs across the border, writes Trump.
In addition to his career as a lawyer, Patel served as chief of staff at the United States Department of Defense when Trump served as president in his first term between 2017 and 2021.
/ritzau/
Source: www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk
