Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, ultra loyalist Kash Patel, has signaled he wants to help Trump get revenge on his political opponents, and has even produced a list of targets for the president-elect to get his own back.
In his 2023 book “Government Gangsters,” Patel sets out a vision for cracking down on the “deep state,” the government bureaucracy he sees as “the most dangerous threat to our democracy.”
In the book’s appendix, the 44-year-old former federal prosecutor details a 60-name roster of current and former government officials whom he calls “Members of the Executive Branch Deep State.”
So who makes the cut?
Some familiar names appear on the docket, which has been seized on more widely after being shared on X by Tim Miller, host of “The Bulwark Podcast” and MSNBC analyst.
Trump’s opponents during his three presidential bids ― President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and 2016 Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton – are there. So too are high-profile names in the current administration, such as Attorney General Merrick Garland, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin andNational Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
But Patel soon turns on one-time Trump insiders, such ex-White House communications director and current “The View” host Alyssa Farah Griffin, former national security adviser John Bolton and ex-Trump attorney general Bill Barr. Current FBI Director Christopher Wray, whomTrump appointed in 2017 after firing James Comey (also on the list), is another in Patel’s political crosshair.
Tommy Vietor, a former Barack Obama aide and “Pod Save Save America” co-host, summarized Patel’s “random enemies list” as “basically just Obama staff and Republicans who were mean to Trump,” adding that “Patel doesn’t have an actual vision for reforming the FBI or cutting down the size of the intelligence community.”
Here are some other standout names:
John Brennan – Former CIA director under President Barack Obama
John Carlin – Former Justice Department national security division head under Trump
Mark Esper – Former defense secretary under Trump
Stephanie Grisham – Ex-White House press secretary under Trump
Gina Haspel – Former CIA director under Trump
Fiona Hill – Former National Security Council senior director
Cassidy Hutchinson – Former assistant to Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows
Retired Gen. Mark Milley – Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Robert Mueller – Former FBI director and Russia election interference special counsel
John Podesta – Former Obama adviser
Susan Rice – Former Obama national security adviser
Rod Rosenstein – Former deputy attorney general under Trump
Adam Schiff – Democrat Senator and former House Intelligence Committee chairman