Trump praises Patel as he blasts ‘very corrupt’ FBI

President Trump on Monday praised his pick to head the FBI, Kash Patel, as “the one guy” to “make the FBI great again,” days after his confirmation hearing.

“Look at what they’ve done in terms of weaponization. Look at what they’ve done to a political opponent. Probably got me elected by what they did,” Trump said of the agency that he called “very corrupt.” 

“I think I was doing well anyway, but they might’ve got me elected. But you know what? We have to have pristine, beautiful, perfect law enforcement. And what we want to do — Kash is the one to do it. He’s the one guy that’s going to do it,” Trump told reporters. “Kash will straighten it out. We have great confidence that we can make the FBI great again.”  

Patel appeared Thursday for his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill, where he faced a grilling from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee over numerous controversial statements and his allegiance to the president.

He’s one of Trump’s most controversial nominees, but appears to have a clearer path to confirmation than Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health secretary and Tulsi Gabbard for national intelligence director.

Last week, a group of former GOP government officials urged senators to reject Patel’s nomination to lead the bureau that’s facing a massive shake-up under Trump.

The Trump administration has already purged a number of FBI officials, removing agents who worked on the Mar-a-Lago documents case and Jan. 6, 2021, investigations. 

“I think the FBI was a very corrupt institution, and I’m a victim of it in a true sense. I was able to beat it, but other people have been treated horribly,” Trump told reporters on Monday.

He’d been asked about new reporting that FBI supervisors have received questionnaires to assess agents’ work on Jan. 6 cases, and whether he believes anyone involved in the investigation should be fired. 

The president said the reputation of both the FBI and DOJ has been “damaged badly” but stressed that Kash will make it “better than it ever was.” 

Rebecca Beitsch contributed.