‘Curious if I’m on that list?’: Kash Patel’s potential targets fear his tenure as FBI director

The first signs of alarm came hours after President-elect Donald Trump announced what could prove to be one of his most consequential Cabinet picks.

Less than a day after Trump named Kash Patel as his choice for FBI director, a former federal law enforcement official asked me a question: "curious if I'm on that list?"

He was referring to a list of roughly 60 people who Patel had said were members of the “deep state” in a memoir last year, “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth and the Battle for Our Democracy."

Days later, a former intelligence official reached out to ask the same question. After checking the book, I told them they hadn’t made the list.

But even for those not on the list, their absence hasn’t quelled alarm at a potential Patel tenure as FBI director. A dozen current and former Justice Department, FBI and intelligence officials expressed fears to NBC News that Patel, if confirmed, would use his power as FBI director to criminally investigate Trump’s perceived adversaries, including them.

The choice of Patel, who has used claims of “deep state” conspiracies against Trump to fuel his rise in Trumpworld and apparently gain the president-elect’s trust, signaled to current and former officials, as well as many observers, that Trump’s campaign trail talk about seeking vengeance was more than just that.

On Wednesday, those fears deepened when the head of a Republican-controlled House subcommittee formally requested that the FBI criminally investigate former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., for her work on the House committee that investigated Trump’s actions before and during the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. capitol.

The announcement came ten days after Trump said in an interview with NBC News that members of the Jan. 6 committee were “political thugs and, you know, creeps,” and that, “for what they did, honestly, they should go to jail.”

Cheney dismissed the calls for her to be criminally investigated in a post on Bluesky. She said Trump and his allies were fabricating "lies and defamatory allegations in an attempt to cover up what Donald Trump did... No reputable lawyer, legislator or judge would take this seriously.”

Patel, a 44-year-old lawyer who grew up on Long Island, has worked as a federal public defender in Florida, a Justice Department prosecutor and a congressional staffer. While he was working for former Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., Patel’s standing with Trump and Trump loyalists soared after he wrote a memo accusing FBI officials of political bias and abuse of power during their investigation of possible collusion between Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.

The memo accurately described what were later found to have been abuses by the FBI relating to surveillance of Trump aide Carter Page. But the DOJ inspector general uncovered no evidence of political bias driving the FBI's Russia investigation.

Patel then worked in the White House as a senior director for counter-terrorism before briefly serving in the Pentagon as the Defense Secretary's chief of staff.

Kash Patel on Capitol Hill, on Dec. 11.Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images file

Critics say that Patel does not have managerial experience to run the FBI and that his rise has been primarily fueled by his willingness to spread unproven conspiracy theories that paint Trump as the victim of plots engineered by Democrats. But Patel has so far received strong support from Republican senators in his bid to direct the FBI.

If he gets the job, Patel has made no secret of what his priorities might be, and who could face investigation.

In "Government Gangsters," he describes the “Deep State” as a corrupt cabal of Republican and Democrats, elected officials and civil servants, and senior FBI, DOJ and Pentagon officials who he says have committed crimes against Trump.

“The Deep state is continuing to weaponize the power of the state against internal dissidents,” Patel wrote. “They are the ones who covered up their own crimes. … They are the criminals.” 

Patel’s list of Deep State members ranges from top Trump political adversaries, such as Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton, to lifelong Republicans who served in Trump’s first administration but declined to support his false claims that he won the 2020 election, including former Attorney General Bill Barr and former national security adviser John Bolton.

His definition of the 'deep state' appears to include the organization he hopes to lead. 

“One of the most cunning and powerful arms of the Deep State is the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” he wrote. “The FBI is now the prime functionary of the Deep State.”

The dozen current and former officials who have spoken to NBC News said that the various federal investigations of Trump were fueled by his statements or actions and that they were all conducted properly. They said they do not fear going to jail because they committed no crimes.

Echoing legal experts, they said they expected federal judges, who are lifetime appointees, to throw out meritless charges filed against them. They said they expected juries to throw them out as well — though they do worry about the impact protracted federal investigations could have on their lives and finances.

They contend that Patel is simply accusing anyone who declines to carry out Trump’s wishes, Republican or Democrat, of being corrupt or committing crimes. And some have noted that, by having written this book, Patel has likely made it much easier for anyone on his list to have a case against them dismissed on grounds of vindictive prosecution.

Patel and other pro-Trump Republicans say that Democrats, along with DOJ and FBI officials, have weaponized law enforcement agencies against Trump. They say the criminal investigations into whether Trump cooperated with Russia and paid hush money during the 2016 election, tried to reverse the results of the 2020 election and declined to return classified documents after leaving office were all meritless.

Alex Pfeiffer, a Trump transition spokesman, said that Patel would end politically motivated criminal investigations, not launch them. “Kash Patel is going to end the weaponization of law enforcement,” Pfeiffer said. “The FBI will target crime, not individuals with Kash leading the bureau.” 

He added: “Kash Patel has served in key national security positions throughout the government. He is beyond qualified to lead the FBI and will make a fantastic Director.”

Democrats have said that claims that the Justice Department and FBI during the Biden administration have been politically biased are false, citing recent prosecutions of some prominent Democrats, as well as Biden’s son Hunter.

“This Department of Justice has brought charges against a Democratic U.S. senator in New Jersey, a Democratic congressman in Texas,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the Jan. 6 committee, said in a CNN interview earlier this month, referring to Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas.

“I mean, the deep state, nobody’s ever defined it,” Raskin added. “Apparently, it just means anybody who doesn’t do the will of Donald Trump.”

Fear among current and former officials

In interviews with NBC News, multiple people whom Patel declared members of the “deep state” expressed alarm at being publicly labeled as possible criminals by a potential FBI director. All of them said they were not part of the “deep state” and were not part of any secret effort to undermine Trump or any other president.

The former federal law enforcement official who first asked about Patel’s list urged senators to not confirm Patel as FBI director, citing fear that Patel would use the bureau for intimidation and retribution, as longtime bureau director J. Edgar Hoover did. 

“Kash Patel is a political extremist who has no business coming anywhere near the FBI, let alone serving as its director,” said the former official, who asked not to be named because of concerns about potential retaliation. “Under no circumstances should he be confirmed for such a position.”

Rod Rosenstein, who served as deputy attorney general during Trump’s first term and who is on Patel’s list, noted that senior DOJ officials, including the FBI director, are supposed to follow longtime Justice Department procedures that call for the facts and the law to drive criminal investigations, not politics. 

“When I was deputy attorney general, President Trump regularly expressed his opinion about who should be fired or prosecuted,” Rosenstein said. “I didn’t treat his opinions as orders. Lawyers who take leadership positions at the Department of Justice know they need to base prosecution decisions on the facts and the law.”

In addition to his memoir, Patel has written three children’s books in which he appears to portray himself as a truth-seeking wizard — “Kash the Distinguished Discoverer” — who uncovers plots against a character named “King Donald,” who appears to be Trump. The characters plotting against King Donald are “Hillary Queenton,” “Baron Von Biden,” “Comma-la-la” and “the Shifty Knight,” apparent references to Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Adam Schiff.  

In Patel’s third children’s book, “The Plot Against the King 3: The Return of the King,” the Dragon of Jalapenos, an apparent reference to the Department of Justice — indeed the dragon is sometimes just referred to as “DOJ” — is deceived by the “Shifty” Knight into believing that Trump is an enemy.

The dragon tries to eat King Donald, but the Kash character helps rescue him and the dragon learns he has been lied to. The book ends with King Donald riding the Dragon of Jalapenos, chasing Baron Von Biden and Comma-la-la out of the kingdom as the dragon breathes fire at them.

An image of the "Dragon of Jalapenos" from Kash Patel's third children's book, "The Plot Against the King 3: The Return of the King"James Scrawl / Brave Books

A mass exodus from the FBI?

One former FBI official predicted a mass exodus of agents who are eligible for retirement from the bureau if Patel is confirmed.

“I have received calls from lifers who are putting in their papers,” said the former FBI official, who asked not to be named, citing fears of retaliation. “Agents will continue to do their jobs. They will follow the rule of law and the Constitution. It is the circus that they want to avoid.”

A staffer on the Jan. 6 committee defended its work but asked not to be named because he feared being investigated by Patel. The staffer said the panel's work was fully legal and “constitutionally protected Congressional activity” but that they wouldn’t be surprised if they were criminally investigated by Patel regardless.

They said Patel could "launch an investigation just to make our lives miserable,” and added that they believe Trump and Patel are trying to send a message: “If you try to hold Trump accountable for his bad behavior, you’re going to face retribution.”

The former intelligence official said that some members of the intelligence community are concerned about being investigated by a Patel-run FBI and by the GOP-led Congress.

As various individuals are named as potential targets, people are left to wonder, “Where in the hierarchy of retribution are you?” said the former intelligence official.

A former DOJ official who worked in the first Trump administration said that Patel and Pam Bondi, Trump’s current choice for attorney general, in the end would be on a mission impossible if confirmed. He said that Trump will make clear what he wants Bondi and Patel to do and then push them out if they don’t do it.

“If the Attorney General and the FBI Director seem to resist doing what he makes clear he wants, he will attack them publicly in social media posts and through conservative media pundits, to bring pressure on them,” said the official. “We saw that with Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr, and he will do it again. Ultimately, he will fire the Attorney General and the FBI Director or force them out if they don’t do what he wants.”