Kash Patel is vying with one of Donald Trump's other insiders for the CIA deputy director post.
Patel became a Trump ally when he coordinated with former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) to fight back against special counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated Russian efforts to meddle in the 2016 election. Patel pressed to have all of the information around the Russia probe declassified, thinking it would expose wrongdoing in the intelligence community, CNN reported in 2020.
Patel is fighting with Cliff Sims, Trump's former deputy director of National Intelligence for Strategy and Communications, over the post, Politico reported Tuesday. The report characterized the position as "one of the most sought-after national security posts."
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Patel was teased as a possible pick to head the FBI, but it never happened. One of his more controversial positions involves jailing journalists, something he proposed to Steve Bannon last year.
Trump insiders told Politico that both men are "angering others who feel they're using their roles on the transition to undermine any would-be contenders."
The post "wields enormous influence inside the U.S. intelligence community," reported Politico.
"The frustration toward Sims ... and Patel, the firebrand former House Intelligence Committee staffer and Pentagon official, stems from the fact that both are helping the transition interview candidates for the CIA role," the report said, citing those in the transition.
“The issue that a lot of us have is that these people are involved in staffing national security jobs, and at the same time, they’re also promoting themselves for the same roles,” said one of the individuals who spoke to Politico.
Patel is known for "fighting dirty," so there's a concern that he's leaking damaging stories about Sims. After leaving the White House, Trump was furious with Sims when he published a tell-all memoir in 2019. At this point, however, many former officials have published memoirs about their political lives and their work with Trump.
At the time, White House officials described Trump as “very p---ed off” and “really hopping mad” after reading excerpts of the tell-all book.
The current deputy, David S. Cohen, helped craft Title III of the USA PATRIOT Act, which dealt with money laundering. He then went on to work as the assistant secretary for Terrorist Financing at the Treasury Department, the under-secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Neither Sims nor Patel has any experience working on domestic or global terrorism. Trump's previous appointees during his first administration had experience working in the CIA.
Transition spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, refused to comment about the two men, saying only that “remaining decisions will continue to be announced" when made.
