A Nevadan could be President Donald Trump's FBI director – though he'll have to win Senate confirmation in order to take the reins.
Kash Patel, an outspoken Trump acolyte and the president's pick for the 10-year FBI appointment, is a Las Vegas resident who has taken an active role in Nevada Republican politics.
"He really wove himself into the community," said Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald, who called Patel an "integral part of the Nevada Republican Party."
Patel, 44, has been a frequent face at Republican campaign events over the last couple of years in the Silver State, from advocating for Adam Laxalt in his 2022 Senate bid to supporting GOP candidates in constitutional races.
He participated in the party's state meeting in Stateline last year, attended a Lincoln Day dinner for the Clark County Republican Party and helped with grassroots organizing for the presidential caucus the Nevada GOP held, according to Sigal Chattah, Nevada's RNC national committeewoman.
"He loves Nevada," she said. "He's always been involved since he moved here with the party politics."
Patel has also spoken at party fundraisers, and he helped McDonald with youth get-out-the-vote efforts at high schools and colleges, the Nevada GOP chairman said. At Nevada events, Patel has criticized FBI leadership and promoted claims of the weaponization of intelligence communities.
In a 2023 video he filmed for the ReAwaken America tour, an event that featured speakers including Alex Jones and Mike Lindell that was held in Las Vegas, Patel discussed the "corruption of the deep state" and Hunter Biden. He suggested Congress should impeach people like former Attorney General Merrick Garland and former FBI Director Christopher Wray, and needs to shut off specific routes of funding to the DOJ and the FBI.
"We have to get Congress to give us the ammunition and the receipts of corruption that we now know exists in the FBI, and at DOJ and in the halls of the intelligence community," he said in the video.
At an October 2024 rally in Las Vegas, Patel reiterated his goal of demolishing the "deep state" and removing Diversity, Equality and Inclusion initiatives from the military. He also furthered false claims of a stolen election in 2020 and claimed there was a disinformation campaign on the Jan. 6 insurrection.
From public defender to Defense Department official
Patel was born in New York and began his career as a public defender and went on to serve as a terrorism prosecutor at the Department of Justice and a liason officer with counterterrorism units before joining the National Security Council, where he served several roles including overseing the operations of 17 intelligence community agencies and provided the president's daily briefing, according to a biography on a Department of Defense website. It said he served as chief of staff to Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller.
His nomination has been met with opposition from some Democrats, including Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Il., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"Kash Patel has neither the experience, the temperament, nor the judgment to lead the FBI," Durbin wrote in a statement.
Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto's office said she will review his qualifications as with all other nominees, and a spokesperson for Sen. Jacky Rosen said she opposes Patel's nomination.
Nevada Republican officials, however, have applauded Trump's selection.
Chattah thinks Patel is an "amazing" pick for FBI director due to his experience as both a public defender and a national security prosecutor.
"It's a huge asset just because when you're a prosecutor, your goal is to keep bad guys off the street," she said. "When you're a public defender, your goal is essentially to make sure that the government proves their case beyond a reasonable doubt."
'He's a common man'
McDonald said Patel does not play favorites. If someone is a bad actor, whether they're a Republican or a Democrat, he will prosecute them, he said.
"He's a common man that will represent the working men and women of this nation, and that's what we need right now," he said.
Trump's selection of Patel further shows the role Nevada has taken and sets a "strong precedent" that great candidates are found not just from the coasts of the country, McDonald said.
"I think picking Kash only highlights the importance of allowing Nevada to assume a role on the national stage," McDonald said.
Reprinted with permission from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
