US President-elect Donald Trump has picked a former aide, Kash Patel, to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation, an agency Patel has often criticised.
A former US defence department chief of staff in the first Trump administration, Patel has been a steadfast supporter of the incoming Republican president.
- For Patel to take the job, the current FBI dire
ctor Christopher Wray would need to resign or be fired – although Trump did not call on him to do so in his post.
Separately, Trump said he plans to nominate Chad Chronister, sheriff of Florida’s Hillsborough County, as head of the Drug Enforcement Agency.
Patel and Chronister join Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi in filling out Trump’s law enforcement picks.
All three choices will have to be confirmed by a majority vote in the US Senate.
Patel is Trump loyalist who shares the president-elect’s suspicion of government institutions.
“Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending justice, and protecting the American people,” Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media platform, adding that Patel was “an advocate for truth, accountability, and the constitution
