Ascend of a Trump Loyalist: Kash Patel’s Journey to CIA Leadership

Donald Trump loyalist, Kash Patel, has his sights set on leading the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Despite criticism considering him inexperienced, Patel’s rise in the national security domain during the Trump administration is well acknowledged. As Trump looked to Ukrainian assistance during the eventful summer of 2019, his circle of advisors included Charles Kupperman, deputy national security adviser, and Kash Patel himself, a then relatively lower-tier staff member.

Patel, who was freshly shifted from the House Intelligence Committee to the National Security Council staff, had already made his mark by penning the confidential ‘Nunes memo’. This was a strategic move by House Republicans to unravel the investigation of Russian intrusion in the 2016 election led by the Department of Justice. Trump saw potential in Patel’s expertise and suggested discerning another role for him.

According to a recent interview with Kupperman, Trump desired to assign Patel as an oversight figure, striving to identify and dismiss White House staff not aligning with Trump’s loyalty expectations. A discerning Kupperman, White House counsel Pat Cipollone, and John Eisenberg, the National Security Council’s legal counsel, dissuaded this move, citing potential legal and morale issues. Apparently, Trump listened to reason and stepped down.

Trump’s strategy to fill his administration with loyalists like Patel speaks volumes about his master plan. Kupperman’s insights trace this intent to ensure the presence of people who pledge absolute loyalty to Trump, rather than prioritizing sheer expertise. Critics argue that it translates into seeking mechanized obedience. Critics often mock how quickly Patel would have enabled the president’s stance to reclassify thousands of executive jobs, allowing easy dismissals.

Patel, a vibrant former public defender known for his aversion to intelligence agencies, confidently climbed the ladder to influential national security roles during Trump’s reign. Talks suggest that a Trump reelection could see Patel as a potential CIA director, Attorney General, or taking up an impactful role on the National Security Council.

Always the showman, Patel was the opening act to Mr. Trump’s rally in Coachella, California, asserting the need to dismantle the two-tiered justice system exploited by the Deep State, which he views as a detriment to fair governance. Patel hasn’t been shy about his aspiration to cleanse the government and media of ‘conspirators’.

Post-Trump’s election loss in 2020, Patel leveraged his association with the former president to launch several ventures under the ‘K$H’ logo. These include a children’s book series in which Patel is portrayed as a wizard championing ‘King Donald’, and his memoir ‘Government Gangsters’ which in turn inspired a film.

Beyond book sales, Patel’s enterprise Trishul has been securing impressive consulting fees, upwards of $130,000 last year alone. Furthermore, the Kash Foundation, Patel’s nonprofit, provides financial support to a variety of recipients, including the families facing charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. In 2023, the foundation reportedly saw a surge in revenue, increasing from $182,000 in 2022 to $1.3 million, primarily through donations.

Hailing from the affluent village of Garden City on Long Island with his extended Indian immigrant family, Patel found his calling in law inspired by the defense lawyers whose golf bags he carried in his summer job. After graduating from Pace University in 2005, he served as a public defender in Miami-Dade County, then as a federal public defender in the Southern District of Florida.

Despite the odds, by the end of 2013, Patel landed his ‘dream job’ as a terrorism prosecutor in the Justice Department’s National Security Division in Washington. His role was crucial in the prosecution of a Palestinian refugee who pleaded guilty to assisting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

After Trump took office in 2017, Patel transitioned from the Justice Department to become the House Intelligence Committee’s lead investigator, aiming to foil Robert S. Mueller III’s inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election. He challenged the FBI’s wiretapping of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, challenging the FBI’s use of a Democratic-funded dossier compiled by a former British intelligence officer.

In 2018, Patel played a key role in authoring the ‘Nunes memo’, which accused the FBI of wrongdoing in their surveillance procedures. While the Inspector General did find some irregularities, they were different from the accusations in the Nunes memo, which critics wrote off as politically motivated claims. Regardless of that, Patel’s memo was declassified by Trump despite objections, leading to theories that politics was at the root of the Russia investigation.

Although Trump’s plans to raise Patel to the position of deputy director of either the CIA or the FBI were thwarted, Patel carried forward his prosperous journey by joining the Pentagon. Trump’s respect for his abilities was evident when the then-president nominated his loyalist to one of the most vital roles at the Pentagon: the chief of staff to the acting defense secretary.