Their common points are obvious: hostility towards traditional elites, loyalty to Donald Trump, lack of scruples, questionable past commitments. But also a lack of qualifications for the chosen position. This presents three of the most sensitive appointments announced by the president-elect, which nevertheless concern the national security of the United States, its commitment with allies, and its authority in the world.
Kash Patel is proposed as future director of the Federal Police (FBI), which he has promised to largely dismantle. Tulsi Gabbard is expected to become director of national intelligence, despite promoting the Kremlin’s arguments in the Ukraine war and the Syrian regime before that. Finally, Pete Hegseth, presenter and commentator on the Fox News channel, surrounded by sex scandals, was chosen as future secretary of defense.
After the forced withdrawal of Matt Gaetz’s candidacy as Minister of Justice, Donald Trump in no way agreed to put forward less abrasive candidates. On the contrary: on November 30, the president-elect confirmed his desire to put an early end to the ten-year mandate of FBI boss Christopher Wray, which runs until 2027 and whom he himself had appointed in 2017. In his place, Donald Trump therefore wants to place a loyalist, Kash Patel, who experienced a lightning rise during his first term, going from the rank of investigator in the House of Representatives to the post of chief of staff at the Pentagon.
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Le promu restore “loyalty, bravery and integrity” at the FBI, Mr. Trump commented. But his real mission letter is not stated like this. At the end of 2023, guest on the podcast of Steve Bannon, former special advisor to the billionaire, Mr. Patel promised ruthless revenge in the event of another victory for Donald Trump in November 2024. “We are going to go out and find the conspirators, not just in the government but in the media”he said about those who helped Joe Biden to “rig the elections”in 2020, mentioning prosecutions “criminal or civil”.
Demolition company
In addition to this witch hunt, Kash Patel promised to send the thousands of agents working in the headquarters in Washington back to the States. When we know the role of the FBI in the fight against terrorism or in the cyber domain, such a demolition undertaking could jeopardize the detection and prevention of threats. But a growing fringe of the Republican Party has for years denounced the excesses of the FBI in terms of surveillance of the population. Having become, according to them, over the years, a thought police, he abuses the exceptional powers received in the post-September 11, 2001 attacks era.
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