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Kash Patel has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as director of the FBI on Thursday in a vote of 51-49. The vote to confirm Patel was mostly along party lines, with all Democrats voting against it and Republican senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine also voting no.
Patel is a member of the board of Trump Media, the company that owns Donald Trump’s Truth Social, and recently received roughly $780,000 worth of stock in the company, according to regulatory filings reviewed by CNBC. The new FBI director is also a far-right extremist who has spread countless conspiracy theories related to QAnon and threatened to jail journalists.
Patel previously referred to those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as “political prisoners,” and was questioned during a confirmation hearing about his connections to something called the Jan 6 Prison Choir. President Trump granted full pardons to the people who violently stormed the Capitol.
Patel seems to believe in the QAnon conspiracy theory, a worldview that asserts the U.S. government and Hollywood are run by a cabal of pedophiles who perform child abuse rituals and drink the blood of kids for something called adrenochrome. And while sexual abuse is rampant in American society, adherents to the conspiracy theory believe all of this with a very ridiculous twist: That Donald Trump is going to save America’s children from these pedophiles.
QAnon was started after someone who claimed to be a government insider started posting on 4chan in late 2017 under the name Q, a reference to a high-level “Q” security clearance. Some posts were vague in the way that supposed psychics phrase things to convince clients they can tell the future. Other posts were more specific but could still be interpreted in several ways, as any holy text can.
Patel has denied promoting QAnon conspiracy theories, but his activity on social media tells a different story. One of Patel’s first posts on Truth Social after the platform launched in early 2022 was, “Having a beer with @q right now,” according to Wired.
Patel has promised to go after Trump’s political enemies, including people like Sen. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California. Billionaire Elon Musk tweeted approvingly of Patel’s attacks on Schiff Thursday, tweeting “Adam Schiff is a criminal.” Musk leads DOGE, the group that’s currently dismantling the U.S. government in an oligarchic coup.
Adam Schiff is a criminal https://t.co/f2tbVUcsXg
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 20, 2025
Patel has also said he’ll go after journalists, though it’s not clear what steps he will take in the days and weeks ahead to do that. Speaking with Steve Bannon in late 2023, Patel insisted that people were lying about the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media,” Patel told Bannon, according to Media Matters for America. “Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections.”
Patel wasn’t sure if he’d find a way to pursue civil or criminal penalties against members of the media.
“We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminal or civilly, we’ll figure that out,” Patel continued. “But yeah, we’re putting you all on notice and Steve, this is why they hate us. This is why we’re tyrannical. This is why we’re dictators because we’re actually going to use the Constitution to prosecute them for crimes they said we have always been guilty of but never have.”
It’s a new era of American fascism and Patel’s confirmation as FBI Director feels like a starting gun. Stay safe out there, folks.
