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

US President-elect Donald Trump has chosen a former adviser, Kash Patel, to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation, an agency that Patel has often criticized.

A former head of the US defense department in the first Trump administration, Patel was a staunch supporter of the incoming Republican president.

In order for Patel to accept the job, current FBI Director Christopher Wray would have to resign or be fired — although Trump has not asked him to do so in his post.

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

Patel and Chronister join attorney general nominee Pam Bondi to round out Trump’s law enforcement picks.

Also Saturday, Trump announced that he had chosen Charles Kushner to be ambassador to France.

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

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

All three picks will need to be confirmed by a majority vote in the US Senate.

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

“Kash is a brilliant attorney, 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 “a advocate for truth, accountability and the constitution”.

His previous proposals included “dramatically” limiting the FBI’s authority. In his memoir, Government Gangsters, Patel called for the eradication of what he called “government tyranny” within the FBI by firing the “top ranks.”

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

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

In a statement after Trump’s announcement, the FBI said: “Every day, the men and women of the FBI continue to work to protect Americans from an ever-growing array of threats.

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

The son of Indian immigrants, Patel is a former defense attorney and federal prosecutor who caught Trump’s attention after becoming senior adviser to the House Intelligence Committee in 2017.

He was hired by Trump as a national security adviser in 2019 and a year later was named chief of staff to the Pentagon chief.

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

One of the titles, The Plot Against the King, features a villain, Hillary Queenton, trying to dethrone King Donald, who is aided by a wizard named Kash Distinguished Discoverer.

Another villain is called Keeper Komey — a thinly veiled reference to former FBI director James Comey — and his “spy slugs,” according to the book.

Patel has often criticized the so-called “deep state,” which some Americans believe is an unelected bureaucratic machine that secretly runs the country for sinister purposes.

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

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

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

Chronister also comes with extensive law enforcement experience.

He has worked in law enforcement in Florida for 32 years, according to his official bio, and has served as a law enforcement officer in Hillsborough County, Florida, since 2017.

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

“As Administrator of the DEA, 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 am deeply humbled by this opportunity to serve our nation.”