Ex-FBI Deputy Director Sounds Alarm On Trump’s FBI Director Pick

Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe on Saturday issued a dire warning after Donald Trump selected Kash Patel, a fierce loyalist to the president-elect, as his pick to lead the agency.

“The installation, or the nomination I guess we should say at this point of Kash Patel as FBI director, can only possibly be a plan to disrupt, to dismantle, to distract the FBI and to possibly use it as a tool for the president’s political agenda,” said McCabe in an appearance on CNN.

McCabe, a harsh Trump critic since being fired as acting FBI deputy director in his first term, called Trump’s controversial choice a “terrible development” for those working at the agency and for the country who depends on it to be “highly functioning, professional” and “independent.”

“The fact that Kash Patel is profoundly unqualified for this job is not even like a matter for debate,” McCabe said.

McCabe’s reaction arrived after Trump tapped Patel — who previously served as chief of staff to acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — to be his FBI director.

Trump’s move follows reports that he considered firing FBI Director Christopher Wray and ending his 10-year term early to replace him with Patel.

The choice aligns with the president-elect’s affinity for picking loyalists to serve in his cabinet that could go after his perceived foes.

Patel has signaled an interest in upending the FBI and once vowed to shut down the agency’s D.C. headquarters on “day one” to replace it as a museum for the “deep state.”

McCabe, in a CNN appearance prior to Trump’s announcement, warned that “no part” of the agency’s mission would be “safe” under Patel should he take on a leadership position there.

“If you enter into that position with nothing more than a desire to disrupt and destroy the organization, there is a lot of damage someone like Kash Patel could do,” McCabe told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins at the time.

On Saturday, McCabe used Trump’s pick to reflect on J. Edgar Hoover’s controversial tenure as FBI director and noted how the agency — under his leadership — “struck fear in the hearts of Americans across the spectrum.”

“[That’s] because the director operated at the direction of presidents to collect political intelligence and to utilize the legal authorities, the investigative authorities of the FBI to terrorize and intimidate Americans,” he said.

“So the question is, is that where we’re going back to with this nomination? I would argue that Kash Patel would be the perfect person for Donald Trump to nominate if that’s, in fact, his intent for the FBI.”