Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe Claims Trump Plans to ‘Dismantle’ FBI With Kash Patel As Director

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe claimed that President-elect Donald Trump’s appointment of Kash Patel to lead the FBI is apart of his plan to destroy the agency.

On Saturday, Trump announced on Truth Social that Patel will serve as the director of the FBI for his incoming administration. Patel previously served during Trump’s first-term as a U.S. National Security Council official and chief of staff to the acting secretary of defense.

Patel is widely seen as a Trump loyalist who has previously vowed to fire FBI leadership and shut down the agency’s DC office. The Trump nominee has expressed interest in targeting and prosecuting journalists for helping President Joe Biden “rig presidential elections.”

During a CNN panel on Saturday evening, McCabe reacted to the news by noting that Patel is “profoundly unqualified” for the job.

It’s a terrible development for the men and women of the FBI and also for the nation that depends on a highly functioning, professional, independent Federal Bureau of Investigation. The fact that Kash Patel is profoundly unqualified for this job is not even like a matter for debate. So I think what we should really be thinking about right now is what does this signal in terms of Donald Trump’s intent for the FBI. The installation or the nomination, I guess we should say, at this point of Kash Patel, the FBI director, can only possibly be a plan to disrupt, to dismantle, to distract the FBI, and to possibly use it as a tool for the president’s political agenda. And, you know, as an organization, we know what that looks like.

This country has been there before, right? The pre Watergate FBI, the J. Edgar Hoover FBI, struck fear in the hearts of Americans across the spectrum of politicians, people in entertainment, people in the civil rights community. Because the director operated at the direction of presidents to collect political intelligence and to utilize the legal authorities, the investigative authorities of the FBI to terrorize and intimidate Americans. So the question is, is that where we’re going back to with this nomination? I would argue that Kash Patel would be the perfect person for Donald Trump to nominate if that’s, in fact, his intent for the FBI.

Watch the clip above via CNN.