President Donald Trump's move to appoint longtime ally Kash Patel as the new director of the FBI triggered a heated debate between Republicans and Democrats in Washington.
Identified as a staunch Trump loyalist, Mr Patel's outspoken views on the FBI have Democratic lawmakers concerned.
He said some January 6 rioters were "political prisoners," proposing to shut down the FBI's Washington headquarters and turn it into a museum for the so-called deep state.
"I take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to chase down criminals — go be cops," Mr Patel said on a 2024 podcast before being appointed.
But Mr Patel's rise to head of the United States' federal law enforcement agency began from relatively humble beginnings.
Son of immigrants turned Trump loyalist
Born in New York, Kashyap "Kash" Patel is the son of Indian immigrants who migrated to the United States in the 1970s.
Raised Hindu, Mr Patel said his upbringing in the neighbourhood of Queens was typical of most Americans.
"My parents aren't rich or famous. They're just a couple of working-class immigrants from India," Mr Patel wrote in a 2023 book.
"My biggest memories as a kid are going to Disney World and hockey games — pretty much as milquetoast Americana as it can get."
Pursuing law, Mr Patel worked for nine years as a public defender in Florida, before being hired by the Department of Justice as a terrorism prosecutor in 2013.
Over the next several years, Mr Patel continued his rise within the ranks of government intelligence agencies, becoming a key figure in the investigation into Russian influence on the 2016 election.
Mr Patel is thought to have been included within Trump's inner circle of trusted advisers since his first term.
But Mr Patel has remained a close ally of Trump, appearing alongside him on his recent election campaign and collecting tens of thousands of dollars in consulting fees, according to SEC filings.
Following Trump's election win, Mr Patel was selected to replace former FBI director Christopher Wray, who was picked by Trump in 2017 and served for more than seven years.
From children's books to QAnon
In 2022, Mr Patel began releasing a series of children's books titled The Plot Against the King, with thinly veiled allusions to the Trump administration and its critics.
The 44-year-old currently sits on the board of Trump Media Technology Group, the parent company for social media platform Truth Social.
Mr Patel has made public comments on QAnon — an online conspiracy movement whose followers broadly believe Mr Trump is waging a secret war against corrupt and child-abusing elites, including parts of government dubbed the "deep state", and A-list celebrities.
"The Q thing is a movement a lot of people attach themselves to," he said in a 2022 interview.
"I disagree with a lot of what that movement says, but I agree with a lot of what that movement says."
On a podcast in the same year, Mr Patel indicated he had used the conspiracy theory as a promotional tactic.
"I think people are having fun with Q[Anon] … I don’t really follow him," Mr Patel said.
"We try to incorporate it into our overall messaging scheme to capture audiences because whoever that person is has certainly captured a widespread breath of the MAGA and the America First movement."
In a January 30 hearing prior to his confirmation, Mr Patel denied ever embracing the conspiracy theory.
"I have publicly ... rejected outright QAnon baseless conspiracy theories or any other baseless conspiracy theories, they must be addressed head-on with the truth," Mr Patel said.
Mr Patel has been outspoken about the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021 when a mob stormed the building in a bid to overturn Mr Trump's election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Mr Patel has claimed there was a "cover-up" on January 6, seizing on an exchange between Republican Senator Ted Cruz and top FBI official Jill Sanborn in a congressional hearing three years ago.
Senator Cruz asked whether federal agents were embedded in the crowd. "Sir, I can't — I can't answer that," Sanborn said.
"In the aftermath of the riot at the Capitol, the ruling class went far beyond fairness and equality," Mr Patel wrote in 2023.
"January 6th was NOT an insurrection. It was NOT a coup. It was NOT an assault by domestic terrorists on our democracy,
"It was a completely avoidable tragedy and an embarrassment for our nation where the people who broke the law must be prosecuted."
After Mr Trump moved back into the White House last month, the president pardoned almost 1,500 people involved in the insurrection.
Following his confirmation, Mr Patel made a demand for the names of thousands of agents who participated in investigations into January 6.
Mr Patel has also been grilled by Democrats over his stance on whether the 2020 election was stolen, with Senator Peter Welch repeatedly questioning Mr Patel over his refusal to say that Mr Biden won.
Senator Welch: What's so hard about just saying that Biden won the 2020 election, what's hard about that?
Kash Patel: President Biden was certified and sworn in, and he was the president, I don't know how else to say it.
Welch: The other way to say it is, 'he won'.
Patel: He was the president.
Democrats rally against Patel
Democrats have criticised the appointment of Patel, claiming he lacks management experience and calling into question his judgement.
Connecticut Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal said he was sure that this vote would haunt anyone who voted to confirm Mr Patel's appointment.
He challenged his Republican counterparts to think about what they tell would their constituents and families.
"About why you voted for this person who will so completely and utterly disgrace this office and do such grave damage to our nation's justice system," he said.
About a half-dozen Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee gathered outside FBI headquarters this week in a final effort to derail his confirmation.
Senator Adam Schiff of California, who Mr Patel parodied as a villain in his children's book series, said "this is someone we cannot trust".
"This is someone who lacks the character to do this job, someone who lacks the integrity to do this job," he said.
"I cannot imagine a worse choice," Democrat Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois told colleagues before the 51-49 Senate vote in favour of Patel's confirmation.
Republican senator Chuck Grassley backed Mr Patel, and said he would bring accountability to the agency.
"Mr Patel wants to make the FBI accountable once again – get back the reputation that the FBI has had historically for law enforcement," Mr Grassley said.
“He wants to hold the FBI accountable to Congress, to the president and, most importantly, to the people they serve — the American taxpayer.”
New director pledges to reform FBI
Mr Patel has pushed strongly for reform at the FBI.
"The fact is that we need a federal agency that investigates federal crimes, and that agency will always be at risk of having its powers abused," he wrote in 2023.
"We must be constantly on guard, instituting reforms, removing wrongdoers, and erecting guardrails to stop the politicisation of the FBI."
In a post on X, Mr Patel said the American people deserve an FBI that is transparent, accountable, and committed to justice.
"My mission as director is clear: let good cops be cops — and rebuild trust in the FBI," he said.
"Working alongside the dedicated men and women of the Bureau and our partners, we will rebuild an FBI the American people can be proud of."
He also signed off with a warning.
"And to those who seek to harm Americans — consider this your warning. We will hunt you down in every corner of this planet."
