US President-elect Donald Trump nominated his loyalist Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Saturday. Making the announcement, the 78-year-old President-elect called Mr Patel an “America First fighter”.
Here are top 10 points on Kash Patel:
- Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel was born in New York in 1980 to Gujarati parents, who he said grew up in East Africa. He graduated from Garden City High School in Long Island.
- According to his Department of Defense profile, Mr Patel completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Richmond before returning to New York to earn his law degree and a certificate in International Law from the University College London Faculty of Laws in the United Kingdom.
- Raised as a Hindu, Mr Patel said that he always had a “very deep” connection with India.
- Mr Patel began his career as a public defender, trying scores of complex cases ranging from murder to narco-trafficking, to complex financial crimes in jury trials in state and federal courts.
- He served as the former Chief of Staff to the Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller.
- He has worked as the Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism (CT) at the National Security Council (NSC). During this time, Mr Patel oversaw the execution of several of the-then US President Donald Trump’s top priorities, including eliminating ISIS and Al-Qaeda leadership, and the safe repatriation of numerous American hostages.
- Kash Patel emerged as a controversial figure during Trump’s first term in the White House. He was instrumental in leading House Republicans’ probe into the FBI’s 2016 investigation into contacts between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia during his stint as an aide to former House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes.
- During Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, former National Security Council official Fiona Hill had told investigators that she was concerned that Mr Patel was secretly serving as a back channel between Trump and Ukraine without authorisation, reported news agency Reuters. However, Mr Patel had denied the allegations.
- After Trump left office in January 2021, Mr Patel was one of several people the former President designated as a representative for access to his presidential records.
- Mr Patel has also served as the National Security Advisor and Senior Counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI).