Donald Trump picks Kash Patel for FBI, Chad Chronister for DEA

US President-elect Donald Trump has chosen his former deputy, Kash Patel, to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which Patel has frequently criticized.

Patel, a former chief of staff at the US defense department in the first Trump administration, has been a staunch supporter of the incoming Republican president.

For Patel to accept the job, current FBI director Christopher Wray would have to resign or be fired; However, Trump did not make such a call to Patel in his post.

Separately, Trump said he plans to nominate Chad Chronister, the sheriff of Florida’s Hillsborough County, to head the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Patel and Chronister join Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi in filling out Trump’s law enforcement picks.

Also on Saturday, Trump Announced that he chose Charles Kushner He will be ambassador to France.

Mr. Kushner is a real estate developer and the father of his daughter, Ivanka Trump’s husband, Jared Kushner.

The nomination appears to be the first administration position Trump has officially offered to a relative since his re-election.

All three options would need to be approved by a majority vote in the U.S. Senate.

Patel is a Trump loyalist and shares the president-elect’s skepticism of government institutions.

“Kash is a great lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ warrior who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending justice, and protecting the American people,” Trump said in a post on social media platform Truth Social, adding that Patel is “the one.” We stand for truth, accountability and the constitution.”

His past proposals have included “significantly” limiting the FBI’s authority. In his memoir Government Gangsters, Patel called for the elimination of what he called “government tyranny” within the FBI by firing the “upper echelons.”

Patel will replace current FBI director Christopher Wray, who Trump appointed to a 10-year term in 2017.

But Wray fell out of favor with the president-elect when the FBI assisted in a federal investigation into Trump’s handling of secret records. a case that has since been dropped.

In a statement following Trump’s announcement, the FBI said: “The men and women of the FBI continue to work every day to protect Americans from ever-increasing threats.

“Director Wray’s focus remains on the men and women of the FBI, the people we do business with, and the people for whom we do this work.”

The son of Indian immigrants, Patel is a former defense attorney and federal prosecutor who came to Trump’s attention after becoming senior counsel to the House intelligence committee in 2017.

He was hired by Trump as a national security aide in 2019 and was appointed the Pentagon’s chief of staff a year later.

In addition to his 2023 memoir, he also published two pro-Trump children’s books.

One of the titles, Plot Against the King, follows villain Hillary Queenton as she attempts to dethrone King Donald, aided by a wizard named Kash, the Elite Explorer.

According to the book’s blurb, another villain is named Guardian Comey and his “espionage slugs,” a thinly veiled reference to former FBI Director James Comey.

Patel frequently rails against the so-called “deep state,” which some Americans believe is an unelected bureaucratic machine that secretly runs the country for nefarious purposes.

Patel also condemned the media, which he called “the most powerful enemy the United States has ever seen.”

He also sits on the board of Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns the new president’s social media platform, Truth Social.

Patel reportedly has a consulting contract with the company that pays him at least $120,000 a year.

Chronister also has a long history in law enforcement.

He has worked in law enforcement in Florida for 32 years, according to his official biography, and has served as the top law enforcement official in Florida’s Hillsborough County since 2017.

Trump praised Chronister’s experience on social media and reiterated his focus on drugs and the US border.

“As DEA Administrator, Chad will work with our great Attorney General Pam Bondi to secure the border, stop the flow of fentanyl and other illegal drugs across the southern border, and SAVE LIVES,” Trump wrote.

Writing on social media, Chronister said it was “the honor of a lifetime” to be nominated by Trump.

“I was deeply touched by the opportunity to serve our nation.”