Trump allies lobby him to fire FBI director early and install loyalist Kash Patel

(CNN) — Donald Trump is weighing a push from right-wing allies to nominate Kash Patel to lead the FBI, one of the clearest indications the president-elect plans to stick by his vow to fire Director Christopher Wray before his 10-year term ends and replace him with a loyalist.

The interest in Patel – after selecting Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general and Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence – speaks to Trump’s urge to fill top law enforcement and intelligence positions with supporters who may be open to carrying out his demands for specific investigations as well as inoculating the president against possible future investigations.

Trump has harbored a bitterness over his experience navigating a special counsel during his first term, followed by the four criminal indictments he faced after leaving office.

The wrangling for premier positions in the next administration has continued at Mar-a-Lago and other names in the mix for the FBI’s top slot include former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, former acting commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection Mark Morgan and Jeff Jensen, a former St. Louis US attorney who led a review of Gen. Mike Flynn’s guilty plea which led to the dismissal of his case.

Even among Trump loyalists, Patel is widely viewed as a controversial figure and relentless self-promoter whose value largely derives from a shared disdain for the so-called deep state. While sources said he’s been lobbying for the FBI position – including speaking to Trump directly about a position in the administration – he also pushed for the role of CIA director, which ultimately went to John Ratcliffe.

Whomever Trump selects, it’s clear the president-elect is exploring the option of cutting Wray’s 10-year term short. Trump nominated Wray in 2017 after firing James Comey, but he began to sour on him before he left office in 2021. Trump’s view of the FBI only worsened after his Mar-a-Lago resort was searched in August 2022, and Trump was later indicted for allegedly retaining classified documents.

The 10-year term is designed to keep the FBI director position insulated from political whims.

“President-Elect Trump is making decisions on who will serve in his second Administration,” said Karoline Leavitt, Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman. “Those decisions will be announced when they are made.”

A spokesperson for Patel declined to comment. Jensen, Rogers and Morgan all declined to comment.

Multiple sources familiar with the Trump transition process have expressed deep concerns about the possibility of Patel being named FBI director, where he would be well-positioned to try to investigate Trump’s political enemies, declassify sensitive information and purge career civil servants.

“Kash is frightening at the bureau,” one source familiar with internal deliberations about the role of FBI director.

Patel has accused law enforcement and intelligence agencies, without evidence, of running an unlawful vengeance campaign against Trump.

“The one thing we learned in the Trump administration the first go around is we got to put in all American patriots top to bottom,” Patel said last year on Steve Bannon’s right-wing podcast. “We got them for law enforcement, we got them for intel collection, we got them for offensive operations, we got them for DOD, CIA, everywhere.”

Patel rose to prominence within Trump’s orbit in 2018 when he served as an aide to Rep. Devin Nunes, who was the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee Nunes at the time. In 2019, Patel went to work for Trump on the National Security Council before becoming chief of staff to the acting defense secretary in Trump’s final months.

When Trump considered firing then-CIA director Gina Haspel after the 2020 election – as he pushed to release more information about the Russia investigation – Patel was floated as a potential replacement. Trump also briefly considered installing Patel as deputy FBI director in the closing weeks of his first administration. The deputy FBI director job is a career position, and not a political appointee, and Attorney General William Barr helped talk Trump out of putting Patel at the bureau.

Amid speculation about his future, Wray has sought to project an air of business as usual. He and staff have continued to plan events on his calendar into early 2025 beyond the inauguration, according to an official briefed on the matter.

That suggests Wray isn’t making plans to leave unless Trump orders otherwise.

Whenever he is asked about the political maelstrom that has surrounded the FBI and its investigation, Wray has stressed that his focus is on the FBI’s work to enforce the law regardless of partisan politics.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Kristen Holmes and Manu Raju contributed to this report.

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