Kash Patel, the FBI and Retribution - WSJ Editorial [View all]

(Yes, the WSJ with its shots at Democrats, but coming from here, there is a chance that R senators will listen)

(snip)

While Mr. Patel has experience in intelligence and defense, he hasn’t worked as an FBI agent. The FBI’s main responsibility remains fighting crime, and Mr. Patel’s experience on that score is thin. That’s one reason Bill Barr writes in his memoir that as Attorney General he objected to Mr. Trump’s desire to make Mr. Patel the FBI deputy director in his first term. “Over my dead body” is how Mr. Barr says he put it.

Former national security adviser Robert O’Brien praises Mr. Patel, who worked with him. But it’s notable that John Bolton, Mr. O’Brien’s predecessor, compares Mr. Patel to a Soviet police chief and says the Senate should reject him 100-0. The Senate will have to explore those contrasting views.

The main concern is Mr. Patel’s stated desire to use power in a second Trump term to seek revenge against Mr. Trump’s opponents. Speaking on provocateur Steve Bannon’s podcast in 2023, Mr. Patel said he’d follow “the facts and the law.” But he also said “we will go out and find the conspirators not just in government, but in the media. Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminally or civilly.”

(snip)

Down that road lies no end of political trouble for Republicans and the Trump Presidency, as the effort is sure to backfire. Voters didn’t re-elect Mr. Trump to practice lawfare the way his opponents have. The country wants a bureau it can trust, not a Republican version of the Comey FBI.

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https://www.wsj.com/opinion/kash-patel-the-fbi-and-retribution-politics-policy-nominee-33e9dc8c?st=AkDZhR&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

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