Trump announces loyalist Kash Patel as choice to lead FBI

US President-elect Donald Trump aims to make loyalist Kash Patel the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he said on Saturday, in a move that would mean replacing the agency's current leader.

Trump announced the former advisor and Pentagon official, who has been critical of the bureau and is known for his controversial views on a so-called government "deep state," as his choice for the post on his Truth Social network.

The FBI's current director, Christopher Wray, was appointed to a 10-year term in 2017, meaning he would either need to step down or be fired. The FBI under Wray -- who Trump appointed -- has investigated the incoming president, sparking Trump's ire.

"Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator and 'America First' fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

A fierce defender of the incoming president, Patel supports the Republican hardliner notion of an anti-Trump "deep state" of allegedly biased government bureaucrats working to stifle Trump from behind the scenes, even having written a book on the subject.

A son of Indian immigrants, Patel served in several high-level posts during Trump's first term including as a national security advisor and as chief of staff to the acting defense secretary.

"Kash did an incredible job during my First Term," Trump said, adding that the nominee would work to "end the growing crime epidemic in America, dismantle the migrant criminal gangs, and stop the evil scourge of human and drug trafficking across the Border."

Wray was tapped by Trump during his first term, replacing an acting director after Trump fired former FBI director James Comey. Comey had angered Trump with an FBI investigation into the president's extensive ties to Russia.

The FBI under Wray went on to investigate Trump himself -- searching his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022 for illegally retained top secret documents.

Trump has long derided the bureau's investigations, including its probes into hundreds of his supporters who violently stormed the US Capitol on 6 January, 2021.

In a statement to CNN, the FBI said that Wray's "focus remains on the men and women of the FBI, the people we do the work with, and the people we do the work for."

Separately, Trump nominated Chad Chronister, a Florida sheriff, as administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which the president-elect erroneously referred to as the Drug Enforcement Agency.

"Chad will work with our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to secure the Border, stop the flow of Fentanyl, and other Illegal Drugs, across the Southern Border, and SAVE LIVES," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Bondi, a staunch Trump ally and former Florida attorney general, is the president-elect's pick to lead the Department of Justice. The FBI is the investigative arm of the Department of Justice, while the DEA also falls under its purview.

The appointments of Bondi and Patel, both close backers, indicate that Trump is interested in lining up closely aligned appointees willing to carry out his vision and policy inclinations.