Tuesday, July 7, 2026

Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump : Haberman, Maggie, Swan, Jonathan: Amazon.com.au: Books

Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump : Haberman, Maggie, Swan, Jonathan: 2026





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Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump
by Maggie Haberman (Author), Jonathan Swan (Author) Format: Paperback
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars (454)

A riveting, intimate and revelatory account of the most radical and consequential presidency of our time.

From the two reporters who have covered him more closely than perhaps anyone else over the past decade comes this definitive portrait of Donald Trump in the White House. Regime Change covers the first year of Trump’s second presidency – a term liberated from every constraint that defined his first. The generals who once told him ‘no’ are gone, and the lawyers who remain have learned to pick their battles. His administration has flouted court orders and he has claimed powers that Congress once checked. What remains is a President willing to take enormous risks that have upended global markets and toppled heads of state; an imperial President operating almost entirely on instinct alone.

Based on hundreds of interviews and unprecedented reporting from deep within the administration’s most closely guarded rooms, Regime Change takes the reader inside the Situation Room and into the secret Oval Office deliberations that have launched a new war in the Middle East and seen Trump seal the border, surge National Guard troops into cities, and send immigration agents into deadly clashes with protestors. Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan bring us behind the scenes of a presidency that has transformed the culture, turned the Justice Department into an agent of retribution against the President’s enemies and the office itself into a brazen vehicle for profit. They reveal a second term propelled by a historical irony that Trump himself has come to understand: that the indictments, the convictions, the assassination attempts and four years of exile made him not weaker but far more powerful, more vengeful and more willing to gamble than any President in modern history.

This is the story of how Trump has used that power, who has tried to stop him, and why nearly all of them have failed. It is also the story of something American journalists are more accustomed to chronicling in distant capitals than in their own: a President who has fundamentally altered the nature of the office he holds – and, with it, how the rest of the world understands American power. It is an account of Regime Change right here in America – a landmark real-time history of a modern presidency like no other.

Print length

496 pages



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Product description

About the Author
Maggie Haberman is a White House correspondent for The New York Times. A New York City native, Haberman worked at the New York Post, New York Daily News, and Politico, before joining the Times in 2015. She has covered six US presidential elections and several gubernatorial and New York City mayoral races. She was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for reporting on President Trump’s advisers and their connections to Russia. In 2021, she was part of a team that was a Pulitzer finalist for coverage of President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus. She has received the White House Correspondents’ Association’s Aldo Beckman Award, as well as the Newswomen’s Club of New York’s Front Page Award for Journalist of the Year. She is the author of Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America. She lives in New York City with her husband and their three children.

Jonathan Swan is a White House correspondent for The New York Times. Originally from Sydney, Australia, he has reported on Donald Trump since 2015, covering all three of his campaigns and his first term in office. Previously at Axios and The Hill,he won an Emmy Award for his 2020 interview of then-President Trump and received the White House Correspondents’ Association’s Aldo Beckman Award. He began his career as a teenage copy boy at a Sydney newspaper and later covered federal politics in Australia’s capital for The Sydney Morning Herald. He became a US citizen in 2024 and lives in Virginia with his wife and two children, with a third on the way.

Product details
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster Australia
Publication date ‏ : ‎ 24 June 2026
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 496 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1761828770
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From Australia

joy m johnson
5.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading.
Reviewed in Australia on 27 June 2026
Format: Paperback
Very interesting. You get to read the bits that are not on the news.
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From other countries

J. Diehl
5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting Read!
Reviewed in the United States on 4 July 2026
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Ive heard Maggie Haberman on TV and podcasts many times and respect her reporting and writing. Im only about 1/5 through the book so far but its a riveting read! I have to admit its frightening to read about the level of corruption and total disregard for the Constitution and the rule of law! Our country has become unrecognizable and is no longer the shining city on the hill.
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watch dog
5.0 out of 5 stars Great price
Reviewed in Canada on 24 June 2026
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EXCLLENT BOOK
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Cliente
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential to understand the disaster of this presidency
Reviewed in Spain on 26 June 2026
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We all know Donald Trump is dangerous for the democracy, the United States and the world, but with this amazing book we now know why. He is using his power to get him, his family and his friends richer, he doesn't care about American people nor the country. His ego is the most important. The US will need decades to recover from this man.
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Natalie
5.0 out of 5 stars Explosive, emphasised by the deliberate nonchalant style of writing.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 June 2026
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Wow
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royal_guju
5.0 out of 5 stars Book Review of Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump
Reviewed in the United States on 3 July 2026
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In Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump , The New York Times' Maggie Haberman and Axios' Jonathan Swan deliver a chilling, real-time historical chronicle of the early days of Donald Trump's unconstrained second term .

The Transformation of the Presidency
The book’s central thesis is a historical irony: the legal indictments, convictions, and assassination attempts failed to weaken Trump, instead rendering him more powerful, vengeful, and emboldened than in his first term . Haberman and Swan document how the presidency has morphed into a fundamentally different, almost imperial institution. Bypassing traditional congressional checks and ignoring court orders, Trump wields unprecedented command over his party in Congress .

The Mechanics of Power
Grounded in over 1,000 interviews, the authors provide a blunt, behind-the-scenes look at an administration defined by improvisational and authoritarian impulses. The text details harrowing moments in the Situation Room—from discussions regarding going to war with Iran to managing the fallout from the Epstein files scandal. Furthermore, Haberman and Swan reveal a darker psychological landscape, noting that Trump draws inspiration and openly compares himself to historical strongmen like Stalin, Mao, Hitler, and Napoleon.

Literary and Narrative Style
Narrative Journalism: Written in a stark, journalistic style, the book reads like a modern political thriller set in distant capitals, applied directly to the American context .

Vignette-Driven Structure: Haberman and Swan masterfully weave macroscopic geopolitical shifts (such as US-Iranian tensions and Venezuelan operations) with bizarre, microscopic details of White House life—such as Trump engaging in petty,competitive battles over bedroom decor with First Lady Melania Trump .
Source-heavy Authority: The book leans heavily on deep-background sources, contemporaneous notes, transcripts, and secret focus-group polling data to corroborate its claims about the administration’s insularity and financial corruption.

The Core Critical Perspective
Ultimately, the authors present Regime Change as a definitive testament to the dangers posed by the new administration . They portray a White House completely stripped of internal guardrails or traditional military and legal advisors willing to say no . The underlying literary exhortation is a warning about the fragility of institutional norms, chronicling how one man’s willingness to break the rules has fundamentally altered the global understanding of American power .
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Reasonable Buyer
4.0 out of 5 stars Important Book
Reviewed in the United States on 5 July 2026
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Very readable, interesting, inside reporting of a truly norm-shattering, horrifying administration.
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Tom Hamel
5.0 out of 5 stars Well researched book; very discouraging reporting
Reviewed in the United States on 29 June 2026
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A terrific and very comprehensive review of the inept administration led by our 47th president. Although many of the well-researched anecdotes were already publicly available, both Haberman and Swan reveal some extraordinary new insights into a terribly corrupt administration. This includes using the WH Situation Room as a crisis center on how to deal with the fact that the president, his family and Mar a Lago appear over 38,000 times in the Epstein files. There are so many descriptions of ineptitude, ego-driven decision making and sycophantic behavior to be exhausting, and I recommend reading the book in spurts. It's really that discouraging to understand how awful our present leadership is. The best review: our virtually illiterate president excoriated Haberman on Truth Social (not her male counterpart, however) for spreading lies. Hilarious response from the liar-in-chief.
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Daniel C.
5.0 out of 5 stars Straight Forward Facts
Reviewed in the United States on 3 July 2026
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I don't normally write reviews on political books. Because after reading them, you just sit back and say, "that's what I figured." But the writing in this book is straight forward. Sure, you can tell the authors are smiling in the background when they state some events or issues. But they are backed by facts and details. Besides, anyone with common sense would too. I found this very refreshing as not all things done by the Trump Administration are written as crazy. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to look deep into the first third of Trump's second term.
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Mia P.
5.0 out of 5 stars An important book about the current American president
Reviewed in the United States on 3 July 2026
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Lots of great information and very well- written.
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Randy Elrod
5.0 out of 5 stars Redefines the Meaning of a "Page Turner"
Reviewed in the United States on 1 July 2026
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I could not help but think while reading this horrifying yet mesmerizing book (the house-fire kind of unable-to-look-away) that the facts are laid out with enough rigor to serve as a litigation guide for prosecutors against the atrocities the Trump administration has committed.

Haberman and Swan report that close to seventy percent of people held in ICE custody had never been convicted of a crime, some waiting months in detention while judges ordered their habeas corpus petitions heard. One official recalled the surreal experience of discussing Trump and abused nipples in the White House Situation Room during an Epstein crisis meeting. And the strike on Iran was "an air and naval campaign against a major regional power, launched without a vote in Congress, without the support of NATO," carried out over private objections from the vice president, the chief of staff, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

This is a documentary account of a presidency at war with its own guardrails.
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TW
3.0 out of 5 stars A Propulsive Read, but Ultimately It's Just a Bag of Chips
Reviewed in the United States on 26 June 2026
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I liked this book even though it is part of the problem.

Essentially, if you are still stuck in the uni-party, you might think these revelations are explosive. But if you’re too addicted to X and podcasts like me, there are no surprises.

Even so, in “Regime Change,” you get lovely characterizations of many people, including Trump, Vance, Rubio, Susie Wiles, Stephen Miller, and many others. And it reads very quickly; the writing is propulsive. Before you know it, you’re on page 50, and you can’t wait to get back to it. It’s like a bag of chips laden with toxic chemicals: you can’t eat just one, and when you finish, you ask, “What is wrong with me on the deepest level that I just consumed a whole bag of poison?”

There are multiple problems.

It was beyond terrible that the authors refer to the geno---- in G-za in quotes, as in “geno----.” Hey, it’s uncontested; look it up. All she really says is that “it shocked the conscience of world.” Talk about minimizing and trivializing! I can’t express how appalling I found this. Just like I found the idea of Trump wanting to take the land and build a French Riviera there, with zero plans for the reduced population to have a good life. Insane; inhumane; revolting.

And there’s lots of contested or false information about Iran, Russia, and other places. For example, she endlessly repeats all of the nonsense about Iran seeking a nuclear weapon, but doesn’t mention that a certain belligerent prime minister has been endlessly saying “They’re two weeks away,” since at least 1996, or that former Iran’s Ayatollah had issued a religious proclamation against building one, because nuclear weapons are inherently evil, because they always k-ll innocent people) and thus can’t be used. The authors of “Regime Change” should read “Going to Tehran.”

The authors also downplay the Epstein Files, which is another Kafkaesque thing to do, because the Epstein Files raise the question of just how many of our leaders are depraved, blackmailed, and/or bribed, controlled, and just how illusionary our whole system is. The truth is: no one ever really gets what they voted for (peace and prosperity). The authors don’t wonder why no one (Democrat, Republican, or Independent) except the neocons ever get what they voted for.

And there’s no sense of just how dire our situation is in America, with most of America being a lot poorer than it was five, ten, fifteen, twenty, or thirty years ago. Our population is physically unhealthy, in debt, anxious, and propagandized. The authors don’t acknowledge any of this.

And there are pointless digs at Alex Jones, MTG, Charlie Kirk, and Candace Owens. I suppose that is to show where the authors’ sympathies lie. But, like everything else in “Regime Change,” the authors’ unquestioned assumptions are presented as facts.

But despite the book doing its best to maintain the illusion that we have any kind of a choice between the two parties, when in fact they are identical on war (they’re in favor) and the economy (give more money to oligarchs, run up the national debt, and gut the middle and lower class), I liked “Regime Change,” regardless of the fact that there are no surprises. It is the junk food that you can’t stop eating, even if it wrecks your metabolism and gives you chronic disease.

You get a picture of Trump as a dark magician, who casts spells on people, who uses: repetition, divide and conquer language, threats, disorientation, distractions, tribalism, and attempting to speak things into existence. Even so, DJT makes impulsive decisions, and gets his news from TV, whose business model isn’t news, but: fear, anger, one-sidedness, fake “debates” (usually two ideologues detached from reality who scream at each other for three minutes before a commercial break for drugs), shallowness, divide & conquer language. Fox, CNN, etc. never met a war they didn’t like, and they never have a robust discussion of how to help our beleaguered population, where—every year—the bottom 80% of the country is worse off than it was before.

Trump, of course, is obsessed with power, money, fame, and sex. It appears that he has no personal life. He used to inspire half of the population, and he reached out to independents, many minorities, and many others in 2024, but now he appears utterly detached from anyone but his owners.

Does Trump really have any control? This is the problem with the book not getting into the Epstein, JFK, RFK, MLK, or 9/11 Files. Who among our “leaders” is free of bribes or blackmail? There is no discussion of how people like Miriam Adelson donated almost a quarter of billion dollars to Trump. Who owns Trump?

Another good thing to add would be: what atrocious negotiators all of our politicians are, with Trump being Exhibit A. They are good at bullying people, but when they run into peers like Vladimir Putin, Xi, the Iranians, or even the pope (who won’t deviate from his emphasis on human dignity, regardless who criticizes him), they only respond by trying to hit people harder by talking trash, imposing sanctions, k-lling the negotiators, or bombing someone. If any normal person behaved this way in his or her relationships, he or she would go to prison. But we accept this no-compromise belligerence from our “leaders” as though this were sane. It isn’t, and it probably explains why we’re in a constant state of war, and every year, individuals and the nation go deeper into debt, and are mentally and physically getting more unhealthy.

Even so, I couldn’t stop reading “Regime Change.” It really is propulsive, and has excellent backstories on important people. But now, hungover from consuming that whole bag of toxic chips, I need a serious detox. I wonder: why do I bother “staying informed” when it’s just the same old thing?
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dpd
4.0 out of 5 stars An important book but much too weedy
Reviewed in the United States on 4 July 2026
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While I think this is an important book, I think it’s way too “weedy.” It could have been trimmed to about 350 pages if much of the unneeded detail were eliminated. Things like the menu for meals at the White House. Or where every person was seated at meetings. My guess is this was Haberman and Swan’s way to saying to Trump, “See how many of your ’loyal’ people leaked information to us, Mr. President?” With each Trump book that comes out, I swear it will be my last because they wear me out. I’ve decided I can’t read them at night before I go to bed because I’m just too riled to get to sleep. But, I do as I did with “Regime Change”: I order my Kindle copy right after it’s released. The saddest part of this sad story that the two respected journalists lay out here isn’t so much in the further completion of the picture of what an inept, immoral, and corrupt man the president is. The saddest part of “Regime Change” is that the very people who should read it and need to read it won’t.” Thank goodness for term limits, though.
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babachf
5.0 out of 5 stars Insight into the facile and fact free Trump Administration
Reviewed in the United States on 28 June 2026
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The book fills gaps unknown to the public about the ultra-secretive mercurial and unprincipled decision-making process of the Trump administration. It exposes the arrogance and intellectual sloth that is the Trump brand and the problem for our Republic. We're taken inside of the fawning court of jesters and strap hangers. It is a must read for anyone wanting to understand how misguided and muddle minded Trump's administration is. For example, appointments of cabinet heads was based on their appearance and most importantly loyalty to the leader of MAGA. Competence and experience was irrelevant. We learn how Trump transformed American political culture with his extremism and dishonesty, how his family makes money off of his presidency, and how the GOP morally collapsed with its Faustian bargain. I highly recommend it and hope it's in every library in the US to educate the bamboozled who still believe Trump is operating in good faith and cares about the American people who wear the MAGA hat.
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barnaclebob
4.0 out of 5 stars Could Have Brought In Big Picture Narratives
Reviewed in the United States on 5 July 2026
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The reporters/ authors could have done more to associate the meetings and convesations they "uncovered" with widely known events at or around that time to bring in stark relief the corrupt nature of the regime. Example: much is made of Trump's meeting with the oil company executives principally on the topic of Venezula, but the previous statement by Trump if those executives would contribute one billion dollars to his reelection campaign and then his inauguration fund, he would take care of them by doing away with environmental regulations, is not brought to bear on Trump's meeting with them. As it turns out, funds collectively in the hundreds of millions of dollars were forthcoming from oil industry executives on the promise of Trump's "pay for play" approach to governing. Bringing in the 'big picture" by referencing Trump's promise to them would make for more compelling reporting.
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Ava Courtney Sylvester
4.0 out of 5 stars The first real inside look at the second Trump term
Reviewed in the United States on 25 June 2026
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Unlike the first term, where insiders leaked details on a weekly, if not daily, basis and tell-all books were emerging consistently, the second Trump term has been remarkably tighter-lipped. This is the first real insider account of the second term, and it’s an indispensable read, filled with fascinating details from thousands of interviews.

Until this book, I didn’t know that Elon Musk camped out in his DOGE-era office in a sleeping bag with his only brought-in belongings a gaming PC and monitor, nor did I know the reactions of other staffers to the “move fast and break things” ethos Musk brought to DOGE cuts. I’d never heard how Benjamin Netanyahu gifted his way back into Trump’s good graces or the grisly, golden gift he presented Trump with. And I definitely had no idea Stephen Miller was so heavily involved in writing policy, going so far as to suggest he could grant oil CEOs the authority to bypass the laws of physics if it only meant they’d drill during the Trump term.

This account is by no means a hit piece; it’s just as prone to point out failings and oversights in the Obama and Biden administrations, such as Obama hiring Homan and deporting people en masse. The book’s subject focuses on the second Trump term, of course, so the criticism of other administrators is provided as context.

Altogether, this book is an essential read to better understand what’s going on and to better appreciate the key players of this second term, from billionaire real estate buddies brokering peace deals to a four-year-old sitting in on top-level meetings.
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Hwy 98 Garage
5.0 out of 5 stars All the details we wanted to know are there. Stop wondering. Buy the book.
Reviewed in the United States on 28 June 2026
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Note the one bad review this book has was given on the exact same day the book was released, leading me to believe there is no way they read a 400 page book in a few hours. MAGA hates it, but Democracy lovers LOVE it. I'm not as eloquent a writer as I once was, so I will simply say this won't just be the book of the Year in America, the whole world is reading this book. Friends, to make sure they aren't revealed as enablers. The rest of the world, to figure how Trumps weak points and how to take him down.
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Austin Transplant
5.0 out of 5 stars The Cover is Trump Garish Gold
Reviewed in the United States on 24 June 2026
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While I have not had time to read the actual book yet (it arrived today), I did watch the engaging interview conducted by John Stewart on The Daily Show with the authors. These two journalists (as well as one of my favorite interviewers) are talented, professional, pragmatic, and relentless, and instead of being derided by the president of the United States, they should be celebrated. I love the title, and the cover is Trump Garish Gold! What more could be wish for! Can't wait to read it.
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Marilyn Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars outstanding
Reviewed in the United States on 1 July 2026
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This book is truly a masterpiece on the backstories that we only hear what is reported for the masses. This gives a peek into a distressing time, a man, driven by ego using corruption like anyone else would use their integrity. Stunning portrayal of a sad state of our union. And, of the man and his enablers in the Cabinet and in the Congress should be held accountable for all of the grifting of America. Shame on all of them. Thank you to the brave journalists and their contacts to get this regimes work documented.
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Kyle
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read!
Reviewed in the United States on 5 July 2026
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Amazing read! Really dives into the mind set and craziness that is the current Trump administration’s second term in office. These journalists really got in depth and in deep with some of the key players which really gives you a fascinating perspective…also a scary perspective. What is America coming to?!?!….happy 250th
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Polymath
3.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting but Pervasive Partisan Bias
Reviewed in the United States on 29 June 2026
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I was enticed by some of the published snippets- eg the funny/frightening one in the Epilogue about the “historian” cited to the authors by Trump who had written that Trump was the most powerful leader ever and the historian turned out to be Gary Player’s caddy!
The authors did a great job of amassing interesting insider information like this.
BUT the authors’ strong cognitive bias in favor of what I would call the accepted NYTimes narrative somewhat spoiled the book for me because it made me question what they left out in service of their preferred narrative, either deliberately or through strong cognitive bias.
Virtually every action of Trump (and many of his advisors) is portrayed in the worst possible light with scarcely a mention of any other interpretations or context that could possibly put them in a different light.
I could give many examples but I’ll give two which are representative.
1. The authors discuss some of Trump’s more questionable pardons and his cavalier comments about the pardons without mentioning the flood of pardons under Biden, the auto-pen pardons etc or going back a few years Clinton’s egregious pardon of Marc Rich. The authors strongly imply that Trump broke a previously sacrosanct presidential tradition.
2. Trump’s convictions for fraud for overstating the value of assets on a fully repaid bank loan was treated as a serious apolitical trial based on well substantiated facts (the judge accepting a ludicrous $18M valuation of Mar-a-Lago was not mentioned). Trump’s complaining about this and related matters is treated as just more typical Trump BS. In fact respected non-partisan observers eg eminent law Professor Turley have written that this trial was a farce that never should have happened.
So when you read sections like these you have to wonder about the reliability of the authors’ accounts of other more significant, far less public matters, e.g., discussions of Trump’s team leading up to latest Iran war.
And this is a shame because the book had the potential to be not just an interesting but an important book.
As it stands it will likely just be viewed through partisan lenses.
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J A Blecher
4.0 out of 5 stars interesting
Reviewed in the United States on 30 June 2026
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I never doubted Trump’s dangerous, egotistical persona. Details were laid out well. In the end, my opinions were validated. Am very sad we have had this person as our leader. Can’t think of one redeeming quality. Did I learn anything? Only he is worse than thought. He does seem to win at everything with no consequence. Was a little surprised at portrait of Vance. He actually scares me more than Trump. Hypocritical Christian who sold his soul to power.
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John Bordeaux
5.0 out of 5 stars History in real time
Reviewed in the United States on 2 July 2026
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This surpasses the usual real-time journalism evidenced by Woodward - this tome will stand the test of time. Generations will learn about the absurd and dangerous times we brought upon ourselves from this tireless accounting of the most dangerous administration in U.S. history.
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Gregory Opritza
5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible read
Reviewed in the United States on 2 July 2026
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Astounding inside view of this wild time in history. Very readable and engrossing. Highly recommend. Anyone with an interest in the events of the Trump administration should read it.
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KLQ
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read
Reviewed in the United States on 3 July 2026
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I have just started this book but find it riveting and very detailed. It is an interesting read and much different than other books about our president and his administration.
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Trojan 75
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read!
Reviewed in the United States on 29 June 2026
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Fabulous reading on what REALLY happens behind closed doors in WDC! Reading of this book makes me anxious for the mid-term elections to start. Excellent reporting...ordered the first day.
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Julie A. Chandler
5.0 out of 5 stars Clarifying
Reviewed in the United States on 28 June 2026
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You know all those news stories that felt like you were being shot with a fire hose? Now you have a look at all the players, the attitudes and situations leading up to the events, and it all comes together. Trump is still a chaos agent flying by the seat of his pants but Haberman and Swan give us a framework to understand what we have been living through. This is an important book and a great read.
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John Ford
5.0 out of 5 stars Left wanting more
Reviewed in the United States on 30 June 2026
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There were chapters in this book that were frighteningly detailed.
And there were many parts that had been previously reported so not earth shattering news. I’ll give it a 5 because the reporting is excellent. But I was left wanting for more details that weren’t common knowledge from previous reports.
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NJST
5.0 out of 5 stars Revelation 47
Reviewed in the United States on 29 June 2026
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Great read! Thanks to the brave authors for shining a light on the dangerous dark forces currently at work in the White House. God help us all.
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Dexters Dog Parlor
5.0 out of 5 stars Fast paced.holds interest
Reviewed in the United States on 30 June 2026
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Book gives great insight into the inner office and helps one to learn names of key people..As a forever Trumper, i smugly enjoyed it.
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J
5.0 out of 5 stars Seems accurate, can't wait for the sequel!
Reviewed in the United States on 27 June 2026
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Got the audible version, seems accurate if you know how narcissists tick, and if you were following the news... can't wait for the sequel!
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Kathy
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book/Bad Amazon
Reviewed in the United States on 27 June 2026
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Great book but buying books at Amazon is not only awful because you hurt book stores (I only buy books on Amazon that are hard to get or sold out at store) but bc the books always arrive with a problem! Some of them come already read, some arrive damaged, and this one arrived with a torn up dust jacket. Going to go to a bookstore from now on and preorder them there! Stars rating is bc of the book itself.
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Craig Brewer
5.0 out of 5 stars Fills In “Between the Lines”
Reviewed in the United States on 27 June 2026
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Excellent rounding out of the reported “news” with revealing the actors involved with specific events and their personal involvement or, capitulation.
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Eagl/t2
4.0 out of 5 stars Will they ban this book?
Reviewed in the United States on 30 June 2026
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You can’t make this stuff up. If you did no one would believe you!
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars an exasperating view of pres djt
Reviewed in the United States on 2 July 2026
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unbelievably great insight to a corrupt administration. Well written and an easy read (although sickening)
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J. Baker
5.0 out of 5 stars Incomparable reporting. A masterpiece.
Reviewed in the United States on 27 June 2026
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The authors give us a seat in the room where a distracted, charming manchild holds court over intimidated acolytes in the pursuit of retribution, acquisition and self-glorification. His consistent disinterest in domestic concerns of the electorate, midterm consequences to his party loyalists, and ongoing policy failures, suggests a president willing and ready to take more risks.
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Brenda R. Moyer
5.0 out of 5 stars A good read.
Reviewed in the United States on 27 June 2026
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We watch the news most of the day so the first 1/3 -1/2 of the book was not informative to me. The rest was excellent.
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sharon donnelly
5.0 out of 5 stars Love it
Reviewed in the United States on 5 July 2026
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LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!
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Deborah
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Reporting!
Reviewed in the United States on 30 June 2026
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Excellent! Wonderful insight and reporting by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. Thank G-d we have them to do this for the rest of us!
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Good quality product and good price.
5.0 out of 5 stars Good quality product
Reviewed in the United States on 1 July 2026
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Good quality product and good price
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Whimzy66
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting reading
Reviewed in the United States on 27 June 2026
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Was the book I wanted to read and it came very fast
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Ric Trigueiro
5.0 out of 5 stars Trump
Reviewed in the United States on 28 June 2026
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Astonishing revelations! Crooked president! Horrifying accusations!
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5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Reporting
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Outstanding.
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exactly as advertised and arrived in a timely fashion
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5.0 out of 5 stars There is no angle to information. Just “telling it” like it was/is.
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Terrific read! One has noted the major outlines of reporting, but behind the scenes writing brings information into perspective.
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5.0 out of 5 stars A Recap of the last 14 Months of Trump 2.0
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Anything to get better ratings than that couch living James Bowmen BS trash he wrote! Oh and EXPOSING the absolute corruption in this gvmnt is astounding!
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5.0 out of 5 stars “
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Maggie Haberman’s, known as the New York Times “Trump whisperer” was the recipient of a whole lot of secrets which she and fellow NYT reporter Jonathan Swan published in their new book, “Regime Change”.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing. Granular detail added to well-known facts, but I learnt very little of significance.
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Trump's second term has, I suspect, been the subject of greater scrutiny than that of any other president.

This book provides a lot of granular detail on issues which have been covered extensively in earlier journalism. Who sat next to whom in the Netanyahu meeting may validate the authenticity of the coverage, but is of little benefit to the analysis.

I persevered through to the end of book, but I wish I had given up earlier.
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The Angry Aardvark
3.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected
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I expected a book that would bring clarity. It did no more than rehash what I have already read.

No offense to the authors is intended.
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2.0 out of 5 stars Nothing more than a salacious timeline
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I am a Haberman fan all day long. But: at the the end of the day: it just a 400 page timeline. And occasionally, some new, salacious bits thrown in. Glad I got it on Prime Day for $16. Best part about it was Maggie walking out on The Daily Show in her red heels.
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1.0 out of 5 stars The authors can't help revealing their prejudices.
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If you are not hardcore left, not hardcore right.... And long for the days when you couldn't see the author's personal views in their reporting.... Skip this one. Trump haters will probably love this and unconditional defenders will hate it. I know of the author and mostly ignore political books but bought this book to get some supposedly behind the scenes facts about who thought what in the decision processes at the top of the government. I couldn't even get through the forwards without tripping over numerous disparaging adjectives and innuendo, presented with one side only.I guess I should be thankful the biases were displayed so blatantly up front. I am so disappointed. I wanted to believe the 'old' reputation NY Times reporters had.... When you could read an article twice and never deduce the author's politics. The funny thing tho is in the forwards you can see they view themselves as facts only reporters.
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1.0 out of 5 stars Not what I was looking for
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Wish I knew how sharp the tone of this book is... wouldn't have bought it. Doesn't take more than a few sentences to figure out who the authors like, and who they don't.
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Monday, July 6, 2026

Kash Patel - Wikipedia 카슈 파텔

Kash Patel - Wikipedia


카슈 파텔(Kashyap Pramod Vinod Patel, 1980년 2월 25일 ~ )은 미국의 변호사, 전직 연방검사이며 현재 연방수사국의 국장으로 임명되었다. 공화당 (미국) 소속이며 도널드 트럼프의 최측근으로 알려져 있다. 그는 트럼프 행정부 1기 동안 국가안보회의와 국방부에서 근무했으며, 특히 국방부 장관 비서실장을 역임하였다.

2020년에는 백악관 대테러 담당 부보좌관으로, 시리아를 방문하여 실종된 미국인의 귀환을 위한 협상을 진행한 바가 있다.

정치적 편향성과 논란

파텔은 연방수사국과 정보기관이 트럼프를 부당하게 조사했다고 주장하며 연방수사국의 개혁을 강하게 주장하였다. 하지만 연방 수사국은 전통적으로 독립성을 유지해야 하는 기관으로, 특정 대통령의 측근이 국장이 되는 것을 경계한다.

음모론 옹호론자

파텔은 몇가지 음모론에 대한 지지자로, 특히, 딥스테이트 음모론과, 2020년도 부정선거조작론, 코비드 19 백신 음모론, 1월 6일 국회의사당 난입사건의 FBI 관여에 대하여 신뢰하고 있다.

==

カシュ・パテル

카슈 파텔 (1980년 2월 25일 -)은 미국 변호사.

2025년 2월 20일부터 연방수사국 (FBI)의 제9대 장관을 맡고 있으며, 2025년 2월부터 4월까지 폭발물 단속국 (ATF)의 장관대행 [ 1 ] , 2020년 11월부터 2021년까지 국방장관 의 주석보좌관을 맡았다.

어린 시절부터 근금이 들어간 아이스하키 선수이다. [ 2 ]

경력

뉴욕에서 태어나 2002년 리치몬드대학에서 형사사법과 역사학을 전공하고 졸업한 뒤 페이스대학 로스쿨에 진학, 법무박사 학위(JD)를 취득했다 [ 3 ] . 또한 영국의 유니버시티 칼리지 런던의 법학부로부터 국제법의 자격을 얻고 있다.

2005년 부터 플로리다주 마이애미-데드군의 공선변호인을 맡은 후 플로리다주 남부 연방재판 공선변호인을 맡았다. 여기서 파텔은 살인, 약물범죄부터 금융범죄에 이르기까지의 경험을 쌓았다.

2012년부터 2017년에 걸쳐 사법성 직원을 맡았다. 특히 2014년부터는 오바마 정권 하에서 국제안전보장에 관한 수사를 담당하고, 알카에다, ISIS 등의 테러조직과 전쟁의 화종이 될 가능성이 있는 사건의 수사에 관한 경험을 쌓았다.

그 후 그는 국방부를 떠나 하원정보특별위원회의 위원장인 데빈눈즈의 상급보좌관으로 취임했다. 파텔은 도널드 트럼프의 측근과 러시아 당국자와의 관계에 관한 FBI 수사에서 FBI 직원이 권한을 남용했다고 주장하는 누누스 각서의 주요 집필자였다.

2019년 2월, 파텔은 국가안전보장회의 국제기구·동맹국에 합류했다. 2020년에는 국가정보장관 수석 부장관으로 취임했지만 5월 국가안전보장회의로 복귀했다. 11월 도널드 트럼프 대통령이 마크 에스퍼 국방장관을 해임한 후, 파텔은 크리스토퍼 C. 미러 국방장관의 수석보좌관으로 임명되었다.

2021년 1월 트럼프가 대통령직을 퇴임한 후, 파텔은 트럼프와의 관계를 이용해 여러 사업을 추진해 여러 팟캐스트 프로그램에 정기적으로 출연했다. 2022년 4월, 그는 트럼프 미디어 & 테크놀로지 그룹의 이사로 취임했다. 같은 해 그는 국립공문서관·기록관리국에서 트럼프 씨의 대리인으로 임명되었다. FBI는 트럼프 씨의 기록에 관여에 대해 파텔 씨에게 사정 청취를 실시했다. 그는 딥 스테이트, 2020년 대선, 그리고 1월 6일 연방 의회 사당 습격 사건에 대한 음모론을 전파해 왔다. 민주당은 파텔씨가 Q아논과 관계가 있다고 비난하고 있다.

파텔은 트럼프의 충실한 지지자로 널리 알려져 있습니다. 그는 트럼프 씨와 마찬가지로 FBI가 보수파에 대한 무기로 이용되고 있다고 생각한다. 그는 FISA에 의한 감시 권한의 남용이나 제임스 코미 씨에 의한 힐러리 클린턴 씨의 메일 문제 수사의 대응을 비판하고 '대규모 개혁'을 요구하고 있다 [ 요출전 ].

2024년 12월 11일 크리스토퍼 레이는 조 바이덴 대통령의 임기 만료가 되는 2025년 1월 20일에 사임한다고 발표했다. 파텔은 2025년 1월 상원 사법위원회에 참석했다. 2월에 상원에서 승인되었다. 그 후 곧 알코올·담배·화기·폭발물 단속국의 국장 대행으로 임명되었지만, 4월에는 교체했다. 파텔은 FBI 장관을 맡은 최초의 남아시아계 인물이다. FBI에서 재임하는 동안 그의 직업적 행동과 사적인 여가를 위해 연방 자원을 사용한 것과 관련된 몇 가지 논쟁이 일어났다 [ 요출 ].

파텔은 FBI 장관으로 취임하기 이전에 비영리 단체인 캐쉬 재단을 설립했다. 이 재단은 현역군인, 퇴역군인, 법집행기관 관계자 등 모든 미국인에 대한 법적 변호, 교육 프로그램, 재정지원을 위한 자금을 모으고 있다.

각주

  1.  Kashyap P. Patel(영어). US Department of War . 2026년 6월 16일에 확인함.
  2.  Kashyap P. Patel(영어). US Department of War . 2026년 6월 16일에 확인함.
  3.  Director Kash Patel(영어). Federal Bureau of Investigation . 2026년 6월 16일에 확인함.
==

Kash Patel

Page extended-confirmed-protected
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kash Patel
Official portrait, 2025
9th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Assumed office
February 21, 2025
PresidentDonald Trump
Deputy
Preceded byChristopher A. Wray
Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Acting
February 24, 2025 April 10, 2025
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byMarvin G. Richardson (acting)
Succeeded byDaniel P. Driscoll (acting)
Chief of Staff to the United States Secretary of Defense
In office
November 29, 2020 January 20, 2021
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byJennifer Stewart
Succeeded byKelly Magsamen
Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence
In office
February 20, 2020 May 13, 2020
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byAndrew P. Hallman
Succeeded byNeil Wiley
Personal details
BornKashyap Pramod Patel
February 25, 1980 (age 46)
PartyRepublican
Domestic partner
Alexis Wilkins (2023–present)
Education

Kashyap Pramod "Kash" Patel[a] (born February 25, 1980) is an American lawyer serving since 2025 as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Patel also served as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from February to April 2025.

Patel studied criminal justice and history at the University of Richmond and graduated from the Pace University School of Law. In 2005, he began working as a public defender in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and later as a federal public defender for the Southern District of Florida. Patel worked as a staff member at the Department of Justice from 2012 to 2017; he then left the department and became a senior aide to Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Patel was the primary author of the Nunes memo, alleging that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials abused their authority in the FBI investigation into links between associates of Donald Trump and Russian officials.

In February 2019, Patel joined the National Security Council's International Organizations and Alliances directorate. In 2020, he became the principal deputy director of national intelligence until May, when he returned to the National Security Council. In November, after President Donald Trump dismissed Mark Esper as secretary of defense, Patel was named as the chief of staff to acting secretary of defense Christopher C. Miller.

After Trump left office in January 2021, Patel leveraged his association with Trump to promote several business ventures and made recurring appearances on several podcasts. In April 2022, he was named to the board of Trump Media & Technology Group. Also that year, he was appointed to represent Trump before the National Archives and Records Administration; the FBI questioned Patel about his involvement in Trump's records. He has promoted conspiracy theories about the deep state, the 2020 presidential election, and the January 6 Capitol attack. Democrats have accused Patel of QAnon affiliation.

Patel has been widely described as a Trump loyalist. He shares Trump's view that the FBI has been weaponized against conservatives. He has called for "major, major reform", citing the bureau's misuse of its surveillance authority under the FISA and James Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

On December 11, 2024, Christopher Wray announced that he would resign at the end of Joe Biden's presidency on January 20, 2025. Patel appeared before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary in January 2025. He was confirmed by the Senate in February. Shortly thereafter, he was named as the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, but by April he was replaced. Patel is the first person of South Asian descent to serve as FBI director. His tenure at the FBI has elicited several controversies related to his professional conduct and use of federal resources for personal leisure.

Early life and education

The Pace University School of Law, where Patel received his Juris Doctor degree (pictured in 2021)

Kashyap Pramod Patel[1] was born on February 25, 1980,[2] in Garden City, New York, on Long Island.[3] He is the son of Pramod Rameshchandra Patel, a Gujarati Indian-Ugandan who was among those who faced ethnic persecution and were expelled by Ugandan president Idi Amin in 1972.[2] The Patels were originally from the village of Bhadran in the Anand district of Gujarat, India. Chh Gam Patidar Mandal, an organization in Bhadran, has maintained a vanshavali, or family tree of the Patel family for 18 generations. They briefly returned to India while seeking asylum in the United States, the UK, and Canada. They moved to Canada once their applications were accepted.[4] Subsequently, they moved to the US and Pramod started working as a chief financial officer for a global distributor of aircraft bearings.[5][4] Patel's household included Pramod's eight brothers and sisters.[6] He was raised Hindu.[5]

Patel attended Garden City High School. For his senior-year yearbook quotation, he chose "Racism is man's gravest threat—the maximum of hatred for a minimum reason", by Abraham Joshua Heschel.[5] During summers, Patel worked as a caddie at the Garden City Country Club.[6] According to his memoir, Government Gangsters (2023), although he was interested in medical school programs,[7] he was inspired by defense lawyers who golfed at the club.[6] Patel graduated from the University of Richmond in 2002 with a degree in criminal justice and history. He earned a certificate in international law from University College London[8] and graduated from the Pace University School of Law in 2005.[6] According to a questionnaire he sent to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Patel participated in the American Bar Association's "Judicial Intern Opportunity Program", a diversity initiative, as a Pace student in 2003.[9]

Career

Public defender and federal prosecutor (2005–2017)

Patel's professional career began in the Miami-Dade area.[5] He worked as a public defender in Miami-Dade County, Florida, handling violent crime and drug trafficking cases,[2] and later as a federal public defender for the Southern District of Florida.[6] In 2012, he began working as a junior staff member at the Department of Justice. He coordinated with judges to get approvals for arrest warrants.[6] Patel served as a board member of the South Asian Bar Association of North America.[9]

Patel served temporarily as a representative for the Criminal Division on the case against the perpetrators of the 2012 Benghazi attack, but he was removed over disagreements he had with the office leading the case, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. Later, he claimed he had been the case's lead prosecutor. According to The Atlantic, former colleagues said the U.S. Attorney's Office led the prosecution, not Patel.[5]

In his memoir, Patel wrote that he had been asked to join the trial team against Ahmed Abu Khattala, a militia leader in the Libyan civil war. According to The New York Times, he was not offered that position.[10]

By 2013, Patel had been assigned to the National Security Division as a prosecutor.[6] He concurrently served as a legal liaison for the Joint Special Operations Command.[11] In January 2014, Patel took a junior position in the Counterterrorism Division.[10] He had flown from Tajikistan to Texas for a chambers meeting about a terrorism trial with Judge Lynn Hughes. Hughes berated Patel for his unprofessional attire and dismissed him from the chambers.[12] Patel's bosses were angered by Hughes's response, and spoke with the US Attorney's Office about admonishing her.[5] Patel left the Department of Justice in 2017. He later said the department's response to the 2016 presidential election was the impetus for his departure,[2] but one college believed that Patel continued to feel unsupported after the incident with Hughes.[5]

House committee aide (2017–2019)

In April 2017, Patel began working for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, then led by Representative Devin Nunes.[5] Patel was a primary author of the Nunes memo,[8][5] but he did not lead the investigation.[2] During the investigation, Patel attempted to serve a subpoena to CIA Director Mike Pompeo.[2] Released in February 2018, the memo established errors in the FBI's FISA warrant application for Trump campaign advisor Carter Page during the FBI's Russia investigation, including reliance on the Steele dossier.[5][13]

The memo's veracity was questioned, but Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz corroborated the finding that there were errors in the FBI's FISA application against Page. Lawfare said implication of political bias was unsubstantiated.[14] The memo boosted Patel's standing among Trump supporters.[15]

As an aide to Nunes, Patel also investigated the theory that Ukrainians were promulgating information about Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.[15]

After the commencement of the 116th United States Congress, Patel served as senior counsel for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.[11]

National Security Council aide and deputy director of national intelligence (2019–2020)

Official portrait of Patel, 2020.

In February 2019, Patel joined the National Security Council.[15] Trump's national security advisor John Bolton and his deputy Charles Kupperman assigned Patel to the International Organizations and Alliances directorate, which handles United Nations policy; according to The Divider, Patel was a "must-hire, directed by the president."[16]

In April 2019, Patel shifted his work to Ukraine.[disputed discuss] According to the Times, Trump discussed documents involving Ukraine with Patel, although their communications were separate from those of Rudy Giuliani and Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland.[15] The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence reported a 25-minute call between Giuliani and Patel in May.[17] In an interview with CBS News, Patel denied being part of any Ukraine back channel, saying the call with Giuliani was personal.[18]

In July 2019, Patel was appointed senior director of the counterterrorism directorate at the National Security Council.[19] Fiona Hill warned colleagues to be careful about sharing information with Patel due to suspicion that he was circumventing the bureaucracy to give Trump information directly.[5][20] Diplomats Gordon Sondland and George P. Kent testified that they did not encounter Patel during their Ukraine work.[21] Patel denied having discussed Ukraine with Trump.[22][5]

In February 2020, Patel become an advisor to Richard Grenell, the acting director of national intelligence.[23] After Andrew P. Hallman's resignation, Patel became the principal deputy director of national intelligence.[24] He was given a mandate to "clean house"[15] and promptly reduced the staffing of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.[25] Patel was involved in reviewing the office's staff.[26] He returned as senior director of the NSC counterterrorism directorate after John Ratcliffe was confirmed as director of National Intelligence in May.[27]

In April 2020, Trump devised a plan to oust FBI director Christopher A. Wray and appoint William Evanina to lead the bureau, while Patel would become deputy director. Attorney General William Barr halted the plan, threatening to resign.[28]

In August 2020, Patel and Roger D. Carstens, the special envoy for hostage affairs, traveled to Damascus to meet with Ali Mamlouk, the director of Syria's National Security Bureau.[29] In October, Bloomberg News reported that he had met with an unnamed Syrian official to discuss releasing Austin Tice, an American journalist who was captured in 2012, and Majd Kamalmaz, a Syrian-American therapist who disappeared in 2017.[30] In May 2024, U.S. national security officials told Kamalmaz's family that they had obtained intelligence indicating he had died in captivity.[31]

Patel was involved in a military operation to rescue Philip Walton from Nigeria. According to former Defense Secretary Mark Esper's memoir, Patel told Pentagon officials that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had secured approval to enter Nigeria's airspace, but when SEAL Team Six was already en route, Esper learned the clearance had not been obtained, and the aircraft circled for approximately an hour until permission was granted.[32][33] Esper wrote that his team "suspected Patel made the approval story up".[5] Patel denied wrongdoing, saying he "acted appropriately, relayed all information accurately and never jeopardized the safety of the hostages".[34] Anthony Tata, the Pentagon official who received the information from Patel, later defended him, saying Patel "relayed a message from the State Department to me, which he believed to be true".[35]

Chief of staff to the secretary of defense (2020–2021)

Patel (left) with Christopher C. Miller, the acting secretary of defense, in January 2021

In November 2020, Trump dismissed Esper, naming Christopher C. Miller as acting defense secretary. Patel was appointed Miller's chief of staff;[36] he had previously worked for Miller at the National Security Council and was well-regarded by him.[37] An unnamed senior national security official told Vanity Fair that Miller was "the frontman" while Patel and Ezra Cohen, the under secretary of defense for intelligence, were "calling all the shots".[38]

Patel oversaw the Department of Defense's transition efforts during the presidential transition of Joe Biden;[39] On December 4, The Washington Post called Patel a "perceived Trump loyalist".[40] On December 5, NBC News reported he was blocking the transition.[41] The Department of Defense denied those reports, saying Patel had delegated transition responsibilities to a career civilian official.[42] According to The New York Times, transition officials expressed distrust of Patel, viewing him as a Trump loyalist.[43]

Patel supported an internal proposal to separate the National Security Agency from United States Cyber Command.[44]

In December 2020, Trump sought to appoint Patel as the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In response, CIA director Gina Haspel threatened to resign.[45] At the annual Army–Navy Game that month, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley confronted White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, repeatedly and loudly asking whether Patel was going to replace Wray or Haspel.[46] In response to now disproven theories about Italian interference in the 2020 election, later dubbed "Italygate", Patel called acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue to inquire. Miller separately contacted an attaché in Rome to request an investigation.[47]

In the final days of Trump's presidency, My Pillow founder and chief executive Mike Lindell went to the White House; Jabin Botsford, a photographer for The Washington Post, captured a document Lindell was holding that read, "Move Kash Patel to CIA Acting".[48] In April 2022, Patel told an audience that he had advised Trump to fire senior Department of Justice officials.[49]

Between Trump's presidencies

Investigations into Donald Trump

In September 2021, Patel was subpoenaed by the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.[50] In addition, the committee requested that Patel submit to questioning.[51] One of Trump's attorneys instructed Patel to defy the subpoena,[51] but Patel decided to communicate with the committee.[52] The committee requested Patel's communications relating to "the establishment of martial law, requests to establish martial law, or legal analysis of martial law" and "all documents and communications relating to" the Insurrection Act as part of an examination into Trump's efforts to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 and declare martial law to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election.[53]

In June 2022, Trump requested that the National Archives and Records Administration grant Patel and journalist John Solomon access to administration records.[54] Their designations were revoked in October 2023.[55] After the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, Patel claimed that Trump had declassified the seized documents,[56] and his argument was the focus of investigators.[57] As part of the FBI investigation into Trump's handling of government documents, federal prosecutors sought to have Patel testify before a grand jury. He appeared twice before a grand jury in October 2022, repeatedly pleading the Fifth Amendment in his first appearance.[58] Prosecutors offered him immunity in November,[59] securing his testimony.[60] According to The Washington Post, prosecutors asked about his claim that Trump had declassified the documents, as well as Trump's motivation for taking the documents.[61] Patel was represented by Stanley Woodward.[62]

Business affairs

After Trump left office in 2021, Patel managed Trishul, a consulting company.[63] He founded The Kash Foundation, a nonprofit that intended to financially aid people charged in the context of the January 6 United States Capitol attack and their families; it also sells merchandise branded as K$H.[64] According to a Trump Media & Technology Group filing, Patel worked for Trump as a paid national security advisor.[65] Patel was listed as the director of Trump Media & Technology Group in April 2022.[66] As director, he described promoting QAnon-adjacent accounts on Truth Social, Trump Media's social media service, as an intentional business decision to "capture audiences".[67] In June 2022, Patel was paid $130,000 to investigate claims that the company's co-founders, Andy Dean and Wes Moss, had "fostered an unpredictable and toxic corporate culture". His report was later included in a legal dispute over Dean's and Moss's shares in the company.[65] Patel joined Russell Vought's Center for Renewing America[49] where he helped write position papers including one on the over-use of classification.[68] For nine months in 2024, Patel was a consultant for Elite Depot, a company based in the Cayman Islands that operates Shein, an e-commerce platform.[69]

Political and media activities

Patel speaking at AmericaFest in 2022

Two former FBI special agents stated they received financial support from Patel. One agent had claimed that the FBI was controlled by Democrats and that the January 6th attack was a "set up".[70] Patel helped the other agent get position with the Center for Renewing America and promote his book.[70] Patel covered legal fees and paid witnesses who testified before the subcommittee, according to The New York Times.[71] He co-produced "Justice for All", a charity record by Trump and a choir of men incarcerated in connection with the attack on the Capitol that was released that month.[72] Patel was a political consultant for Save America and Friends.[73]

NPR described Patel as a "fixture on right-wing talk shows and podcasts", including Stew Peters's podcast.[74] From 2021 to 2023,[73] Patel was the host of Kash's Corner, a show on EpochTV, a streaming television service operated by the Falun Gong-affiliated newspaper The Epoch Times.[75] He interviewed Trump on Kash's Corner in February 2022.[76] After Steve Bannon, a former Trump advisor, surrendered to a federal prison in July 2024 for defying a subpoena from the Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, Patel served as a part-time guest host for Bannon's podcast War Room.[77] In 2024, Igor Lopatonok, a Russian filmmaker associated with the Russian government, paid Patel $25,000 to appear on a six-part series, All the President's Men: The Conspiracy Against Trump, on the Tucker Carlson Network.[78]

Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Nomination and confirmation

In November 2024, President-elect Donald Trump intended to appoint Patel to a high-profile position in the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Department of Justice.[79] Trump later planned to remove Christopher A. Wray as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, interviewing several candidates for the position, including Patel and former Michigan representative Mike Rogers.[80] Patel was considered as a potential nominee for director of the Central Intelligence Agency, although he faced a narrower path in the Senate.[81] Susie Wiles, Trump's campaign manager, believed Patel would be a risky choice to lead the bureau, but Andrew Bailey, the Missouri attorney general, appeared too lackadaisical in meetings.[82] On November 30, Trump announced that he would dismiss Wray and named Patel as his nominee for the position.[83] Wray agreed to resign in December.[84] Patel conducted policy-focused interviews for the FBI.[85] He was targeted in an Iranian hacking operation that month.[86] In January 2025, 23 former Republican government officials sent senators a letter urging them to reject Patel's nomination.[87]

Patel appeared before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on January 30. According to The New York Times, he positioned himself as insulated from Trump, disagreeing with Trump's decision to pardon January 6 Capitol attack defendants.[88] Senator Peter Welch repeatedly asked Patel whether Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election; Patel said that the election was "certified" but did not explicitly say that Biden won.[89] The Judiciary Committee voted to advance his nomination 12–10 along party lines on February 13.[90] In February, Dick Durbin sent the Department of Justice's inspector general a letter accusing Patel of directing dismissals at the bureau. The letter also accused acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove of firing career officials on Patel's behalf.[91] During his confirmation hearing, Patel was criticized for owning shares in Shein's parent company,[69] a stock award he had received from Trump Media & Technology Group,[92] and his work for Qatar through Trishul.[63]

On February 20, Patel was confirmed by the Senate in a 51–49 vote. Every Republican senator except Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted to confirm him and every Democratic senator opposed his nomination.[93] Several colleagues of Senator Mitch McConnell expected him to oppose Patel's nomination, which would have required Vice President JD Vance to cast a tie-breaking vote.[94] Patel was sworn in the next day by Attorney General Pam Bondi. He took the oath on the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture,[95] held by his partner,[96] Alexis Wilkins.[97]

Initial moves and agency restructuring

Patel is sworn in as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on February 21, 2025.

For early decision making, Patel formed an advisory group of retired FBI agents. One member of the group wrote a white paper proposing a shift to a regional FBI model. This advisor said Patel's plan was better, but relied on finding strong leaders for the regional operations. Several FBI leaders who left before Patel's tenure supported reducing the number of agents in the capital.[98] After being sworn in, Patel told officials that he intended to send 1,000 agents from Washington, D.C., to other field offices in cities with higher crime rates[95] and reassign 500 staff members to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.[99] According to The Wall Street Journal, an official told Patel that the restructuring could cost $100 million that the agency did not have; he was undeterred.[95] Patel removed civil service executives and replaced them with political allies, according to the Journal.[95] In March, The New York Times obtained an internal email from Patel directing the majority of the bureau's field offices—except those in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles—to report to branch directors rather than the deputy director.[98] In a February call with FBI officials, Patel proposed altering the bureau's physical fitness test and partnering with Ultimate Fighting Championship, while saying he would shift his operations to Nevada, where he lives, and the West Coast.[100] In March, Trump said in a speech that Patel had plans to move the FBI headquarters to an "old Department of Commerce building", suggesting further reductions in staff.[101]

In February, NBC News reported that Patel would be named the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives;[102] he was sworn in on February 24.[103] According to The Washington Post, by March 2025 Patel was not at the bureau.[104] On April 9, Reuters reported that he had been replaced by Daniel P. Driscoll, the secretary of the army.[105]

That month, Patel announced that Hannah Dugan, a Wisconsin circuit court judge, had been arrested for allegedly having "misdirected federal agents away from" an undocumented immigrant; Dugan was later convicted of felony obstruction[106] and resigned.[107] Patel posted a photograph of Dugan's arrest that former attorney general Eric Holder told CNN violated internal DOJ policy.[108]

In April, The New York Times described Patel as highly visible, particularly in his use of bureau aircraft.[96] In May, he advocated reducing the FBI's budget by $500 million, an abrupt departure from his request for "more than what [had] been proposed" the day before.[109] That month, he disbanded the Office of Internal Auditing, which was responsible for monitoring bureau compliance with national security surveillance regulations.[110] In July, Patel announced that the FBI would move into office space at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center vacated by the closure of the United States Agency for International Development.[111] But Congress had previously appropriated $555 million for a new FBI headquarters and campus in Maryland. On December 26, Patel said that the original FBI headquarters building, the J. Edgar Hoover Building, would permanently close.[112]

Patel's efforts to force senior executives to leave the bureau caused tensions; in particular, he intensified the use of polygraph tests to find leakers.[113] In August, Patel lowered recruitment standards, including removing the bachelor's degree requirement, to enable the bureau to focus more on street crime.[114] In September, he told staff, "Crushing violent crime and protecting national security are intertwined." While reducing crime, Patel's efforts delayed investigative work.[115]

Epstein files

Amid a resurgence of interest in the Epstein files, the set of documents the United States possesses on the sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein; Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said he worked on a memorandum with Patel and Dan Bongino, whom Patel had named as his deputy director, that rejected many of the claims about Epstein's death. In a joint interview with Patel in May, Bongino told Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business that Epstein had committed suicide.[116]

Commentators including Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, and Emerald Robinson criticized the pair; Carlson said they were "making a huge mistake, promising to reveal things and then not revealing them" and Jones accused Patel of "gaslighting".[117] In July, The Wall Street Journal reported that Patel had privately told officials that Trump's name is in the Epstein files.[118] Patel had been critical of Bondi, though she said in a press conference that she had no issues working with him.[119] According to The Washington Post, the conflict was over Bondi's handling of the investigation, with Patel and Bongino privately saying they would have released the files—with information about victims redacted—had they been in charge.[120] In September, appearing before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Patel defended his tenure and his handling of the Epstein files. The combative hearing devolved into shouting matches at several moments.[121] The next day, he testified before the House Committee on the Judiciary and denied that he had withheld Epstein-related evidence to defend Trump.[122]

Arctic Frost response and personnel dismissals

In May, Patel disbanded the bureau's public corruption squad,[123] known internally as CR15.[124] In October, after document releases by Senator Chuck Grassley about the Arctic Frost investigation into electoral malpractice, Patel wrote on social media that CR15 agents had "tracked the communications of GOP Senators" and "weaponized law enforcement against the American people".[125] He announced that the FBI had fired agents involved in the investigation and launched an internal inquiry.[126][127] In September, three former FBI officials—Brian Driscoll, Steven Jensen, and Spencer Evans—sued Patel and Bondi, alleging wrongful termination. The suit claimed that Patel, acting under direction from the White House and the Department of Justice, fired agents who had worked on investigations involving Trump. According to the lawsuit, Patel privately acknowledged that the firings were retaliatory, potentially illegal, and in violation of FBI protocols that protect agents from political retribution. The alleged statements contradicted Patel's sworn testimony to the Senate.[128] That month, Patel fired about 20 agents, including those who were photographed kneeling amid the George Floyd protests.[129]

In November, at least four agents tied to the Arctic Frost investigation or Special Counsel Jack Smith's probe were terminated, briefly reinstated at the intervention of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, and then terminated again the next day. The FBI Agents Association criticized the dismissals as "a campaign of erratic and arbitrary retribution", saying, "an agent simply being assigned to an investigation and conducting it appropriately within the law should never be grounds for termination."[130]

Charlie Kirk assassination investigation

Patel (far right) in a press conference on crime in Washington, D.C. in August 2025

In September, the political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University. The investigation into his killing involved the FBI, which offered technical and logistical support.[131] As the suspect remained elusive, Patel posted on X that a suspect was in custody; at a briefing minutes later, Utah officials indicated the search was ongoing. The next morning, according to The New York Times, Patel criticized subordinates' performance in a profanity-laden meeting, saying he would not tolerate any more "Mickey Mouse operations". He and Bongino traveled to Utah to oversee the investigation; according to a report based on confidential FBI sources, Patel refused to leave his plane until FBI agents could lend him a raid jacket and attach additional Velcro patches to the jacket he was given.[132][133] Politico reported that the erroneous post came at a time of intense scrutiny of Patel's leadership across the political spectrum and elicited vocal disapproval from current and former FBI agents and Trump's MAGA base.[134]

After backlash from Elon Musk and other prominent conservatives over the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) inclusion of Kirk and Turning Point USA in its "Glossary of Extremism", the FBI cut ties with the ADL. Patel made a statement condemning the ADL, saying "This FBI won't partner with political fronts masquerading as watchdogs" and criticizing its ties to James Comey.[135] Two days later, Patel announced the FBI was also severing ties with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), calling it a "partisan smear machine".[136]

Foreign intelligence relationships

In November 2025, The New York Times reported that MI5 director Ken McCallum had asked Patel in May to protect the job of an FBI agent stationed in London who worked with high-tech surveillance technology. Patel agreed to find funding to keep the position, but the job had already been slated for elimination as the White House moved to cut the FBI budget. The agent was reassigned to the United States, leaving MI5 officials "incredulous," according to The New York Times, which described the episode as "a jarring introduction to Mr. Patel's leadership style."[137]

Conduct controversies

Patel's tenure as FBI director has elicited heavy controversy over his use of federal resources for travel that has blurred professional lines.[138] NBC News said he had "drawn attention for regularly appearing with celebrities at professional sporting events around the country".[139] A leaked report based on 24 confidential FBI sources called the FBI in its first six months under Patel a "rudderless ship" that was "internally paralyzed by fear" and said Patel was "in over his head".[133]

In 2025, Patel flew on a government jet to Scotland to play golf at the Carnegie Club with friends and took several flights to a private hunting ranch in Texas.[138] In November 2025, a controversy erupted after Patel reportedly used the bureau's jet to see his girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, perform in Pennsylvania.[140][138] Later that month, he faced more criticism after the FBI confirmed it had assigned a SWAT team of FBI agents to Wilkins as bodyguards.[141][138] Patel then used FBI personnel to investigate a journalist who reported on Wilkins's use of FBI resources. Justice Department officials expressed concern that this was done mostly in retaliation for the report and lacked legal basis. No further action against the journalist was pursued.[142] In December, congressional Democrats announced their intent to investigate Patel's use of the agency's jet for personal travel to a hunting resort in Texas and a gold trip to Scotland.[143]

In February 2026, Patel faced criticism for traveling to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy after videos were posted online showing him partying with the U.S. men's hockey team in their locker room after they won the gold medal and chugging a bottle of beer. According to a FBI spokesperson, Patel had been in Milan before the Olympics to coordinate security with local law enforcement. The FBI was busy during this time, due to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie and the 2026 Mexico cartel unrest.[143][144] The New York Times said the visit blurred "the lines between personal recreation and professional responsibility" and led to doubt over what the FBI said was the visit's purpose.[138] The concerns were brought up during a Senate appropriations committee hearing in May 2026, and Patel said the FBI had been tasked with security details at the Olympics and that he had been in Italy to facilitate the transfer of a Chinese cybercriminal to US custody after they had been detained by Italian officials.[145]

Patel testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee and is questioned on excessive drinking allegations and unexplained absences from his job on May 12, 2026

In April 2026, The Atlantic reported, citing multiple unnamed officials, that Patel had been observed drinking to the point of intoxication on multiple occasions, and that his alcohol use had been a recurring concern. Patel denied this, saying: "Print it, all false, I'll see you in court—bring your checkbook."[146] The same month, he sued the magazine for defamation, seeking $250 million in damages.[147] At a May 12 Senate appropriations committee hearing, Patel called the allegations of misconduct "baseless".[148]

In May 2026, AP News reported that Patel had visited Hawaii during the previous summer for work purposes before official visits to Australia and New Zealand, and then returned to the islands and participated in a group "VIP snorkeling tour" around the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. The FBI did not disclose the snorkeling session or that Patel had returned to the islands after his trip to Australia and New Zealand. This announcement led to further concerns about Patel's potential blurring of personal trips with professional.[149] The US Navy confirmed that the snorkeling tour had included Patel and nine others and that they had swum for 30 minutes near the ship, which holds the remains of more than 1,000 US navy sailors and marines. The Navy declined to identify the other people in the tour. It said that VIP tours near the USS Arizona were common but declined to say how many included snorkeling.[150][151]

Views

Intelligence agencies and investigations

We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media. Yes, we're going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections — we're going to come after you.

Patel speaking to Steve Bannon in December 2023[152]

Patel has been widely described as a loyalist to President Donald Trump.[b] He shares Trump's view that the FBI has been weaponized against conservatives. He has called for "major, major reform", citing the bureau's misuse of its surveillance authority under the FISA[159] and James Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. He has argued the bureau should redistribute agents from Washington to field offices.[82]

In February 2022, following a Durham court filing in the Michael Sussmann case, Patel told Fox News that Clinton's lawyers had worked to "infiltrate" Trump Tower and White House servers.[76] Fox News then used his phrasing in a headline attributing the claim to Durham's filing, though the filing itself used the word "exploited" rather than "infiltrate" and did not allege that the Clinton campaign directed the activity.[160][161] John Durham subsequently said that "third parties or members of the media" might have "overstated, understated, or otherwise misinterpreted" his filing.[76]

In December 2023, Patel told Steve Bannon on War Room that he would "come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections"—echoing false claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election.[152]

Patel's memoir, Government Gangsters (2023), calls for weakening civil service job protections;[162] Trump praised the book as a "roadmap to end the Deep State's reign".[163] In September 2024, Patel vowed to close the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the FBI headquarters, "reopen it the next day as a museum of the 'deep state'", and "take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to chase down criminals".[162] He criticized Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter on his podcast, Kash's Corner, calling him a monopolist who had improper access to data and accrued his wealth through government contracts.[164]

Conspiracy theories

Patel has promoted a number of conspiracy theories,[c] including conspiracy theories about a deep state and the January 6 Capitol attack. Patel claimed that Ray Epps, a member of the Oath Keepers, was a secret FBI agent.[74] He played a key role in reframing the January 6 attack, according to USA Today.[169] An NBC News analysis of 79 episodes of his talk show "Kash's Corner" found he made extensive and "detailed but unfounded claims of conspiracies involving government officials, law enforcement agencies, the media and tech companies, among others, all aiming to rig elections, silence conservative voices and undermine Trump's presidency and re-election."[168] On Truth Social, Patel recommended pills that claimed to detoxify the coronavirus spike protein provided by COVID-19 vaccines.[170] On Kash's Corner, he advocated for FBI reform because of alleged "illegitimacy", citing the Hunter Biden laptop controversy. He has promoted the Russia investigation origins conspiracy theory.[73] During his confirmation hearing, Patel denied that he was a conspiracy theorist.[171][172]

Patel has been involved in the QAnon community, appearing on QAnon podcasts, interacting with QAnon accounts online, signing copies of The Plot Against the King (2022) with "#WWG1WGA", a QAnon message, and creating the #FlannelFridays trend. During his 2025 confirmation hearing he repudiated QAnon, saying, "I have publicly, including in the interviews provided to this committee, rejected outright QAnon baseless conspiracy theories."[173] In 2022, Patel said he specifically agreed with QAnon rhetoric surrounding the origin of SARS-CoV-2, the January 6 Capitol attack, and the first and second impeachments of Donald Trump.[174] He has appeared at the ReAwaken America Tour, a far-right event that promotes QAnon.[175]

Litigation

In October 2019, Patel filed a $44-million defamation suit against The New York Times, and the next month he sued Politico for $25 million, over articles reporting that NSC colleagues had grown concerned he was giving President Trump Ukraine-related materials.[176][17][177] The articles drew on Fiona Hill's testimony in the impeachment inquiry into Trump; Patel said the outlets reported secondhand speculation as established fact and that he had never communicated with Trump about Ukraine.[178] Patel's lawyers moved to dismiss both lawsuits in 2021; according to the Times, Patel did not pursue his case against the paper, while Politico's lawyers suggested that the judge was prepared to dismiss the case.[176]

In December 2020, Patel sued CNN for $50 million for defamation over articles connecting him to efforts to spread conspiracy theories about Joe Biden. The trial court dismissed the case, and in January 2025 the Virginia Court of Appeals affirmed, ruling that Patel, as a public official, had failed to adequately plead that CNN acted with actual malice.[179]

In May 2023, Patel sued the Department of Defense over delays in the prepublication review of his memoir, Government Gangsters. The book was published later that year.[176] In June, he sued Jim Stewartson, an online commentator, for defamation over accusations that Patel was a "Kremlin asset" and had planned the January 6 attack. In August 2025, a federal judge issued a default judgment awarding Patel and his foundation $250,000 after Stewartson failed to respond to the lawsuit.[180]

In September 2024, Patel sued FBI director Christopher A. Wray and other Department of Justice officials, arguing that a 2017 grand jury subpoena for his communication records was retaliation for his work on the Nunes memo.[176][181] The case was dismissed; Judge Amit Mehta ruled the lawsuit did not establish a Fourth Amendment violation and that the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity.[181]

In June 2025, Patel filed a defamation lawsuit against Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI assistant director, over comments Figliuzzi made on MSNBC's Morning Joe suggesting Patel spent more time in nightclubs than at FBI headquarters.[182] MSNBC issued a correction, and Patel's complaint stated he had "not spent a single minute inside of a nightclub" since becoming director.[183] Figliuzzi moved to dismiss, calling the suit "performative" and arguing that "no reasonable viewer would have understood the remark as literal fact".[184] A judge dismissed the suit in April 2026.[185]

In April 2026, Patel sued The Atlantic magazine and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick for defamation over an article alleging that he had alarmed colleagues with excessive drinking episodes and unexplained absences. Patel is seeking $250 million in damages. The Atlantic called the suit "meritless" and said it stood behind its reporting.[186] After Patel announced the suit, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee demanded that he take an alcohol abuse assessment and share the results with Congress.[187][188]

Books

Patel has written three children's books inspired by his political views. The Plot Against the King, a storybook about the Steele dossier was published by Brave Books in 2022.[189] He later wrote The Plot Against the King: 2000 Mules (2022),[173] and released The Plot Against the King 3: The Return of the King after the 2024 presidential election.[190] In 2023,[191] Patel wrote Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy (2023), which contains claims about the FBI investigation into Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign that The New York Times characterized as false or misleading. While a Justice Department inspector general found the FBI made errors in its Carter Page wiretap applications, the specific flaws Patel alleged were largely not among them.[192] An appendix to Government Gangsters includes a list of 60 names labeled "Members of the Executive Branch Deep State".[193] The list has been widely interpreted as an enemies list,[d] though Patel rejected that term in his Senate confirmation hearing.[194] The memoir was later adapted into a documentary produced by former Trump advisor Steve Bannon.[6]

Personal life

In his youth, Patel played ice hockey.[2] He later coached a youth hockey league.[9] Patel skates with the Dons, a club team in Washington, D.C.[2]

In October 2022, Patel met Alexis Wilkins, a country singer, at an event as part of the ReAwaken America Tour. They began dating in January 2023.[97]

See also

Notes

  1.  Gujarati: કશ્યપ પ્રમોદ પટેલ, romanized: Kaśyapa Pramōda Paṭēla
  2.  Attributed to multiple references:[153][154][155][156][157][158]
  3.  Attributed to multiple references:[165][166][167][168]
  4.  Attributed to multiple references:[194][195][196][197][198][199]

References

  1.  "Deposition of Kashyap Pramod Patel" (Document). United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. December 9, 2021. p. 1.
  2.  Rice, Andrew (January 22, 2025). "Vengeance Is His". New York. Retrieved February 23, 2025.
  3.  Schneid, Rebecca (December 1, 2024). "Meet Kashyap 'Kash' Patel, Trump's Nomination for FBI Director". Time. Retrieved February 23, 2025.
  4.  "Who is Kash Patel, the new FBI director, and his connection to India". The Telegraph. February 21, 2025. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  5.  Plott Calabro, Elaina (August 26, 2024). "The Man Who Will Do Anything for Trump". The Atlantic. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  6.  Williamson, Elizabeth (October 14, 2024). "Kash Patel: The Magical Rise of a Self-Described 'Wizard' in Trump World". The New York Times. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  7.  Masih, Niha (November 30, 2024). "Who is Kash Patel, Trump's new FBI director?". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
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  160.  Savage, Charlie (February 15, 2022). "Court Filing Started a Furor in Right-Wing Outlets, but Their Narrative Is Off Track". The New York Times. Retrieved January 8, 2026.
  161.  Saenz, Aris (February 15, 2022). "Durham alleges cyber analysts 'exploited' access to Trump White House server". The Hill. Retrieved January 8, 2026.
  162.  Williamson, Elizabeth; Savage, Charlie (December 2, 2024). "Kash Patel Has Plan to Remake the F.B.I. Into a Tool of Trump". The New York Times. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
  163.  Levine, Mike (November 11, 2024). "How fierce Trump ally Kash Patel could help reshape the FBI or Justice Department". ABC News. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  164.  Hawkinson, Katie (February 19, 2025). "Kash Patel called out Elon Musk multiple times for getting rich off taxpayer money in resurfaced interviews". The Independent. Retrieved April 15, 2025.
  165.  Savage, Charlie; Barnes, Julian; Feuer, Alan (April 12, 2024). "Campaign Puts Trump and the Spy Agencies on a Collision Course". The New York Times. Retrieved March 23, 2025. He placed Kash Patel, a conspiracy theorist who has since written a children's book about the Russia investigation in which a "King Donald" is persecuted by a wicked "Hillary Queenton" and vowed to prosecute journalists in a second Trump administration, in the Pentagon as chief of staff to the acting defense secretary and considered him for a senior C.I.A. post.
  166.  Pilkington, Ed (December 1, 2024). "Conspiracy theorist Kash Patel, Trump's pick to lead FBI, faces Senate blowback". The Guardian. Retrieved March 23, 2025.
  167.  Joffe-Block, Jude; Haven, Lisa; Nguyen, Audrey (December 10, 2024). "How Kash Patel has used children's books and podcasts to promote conspiracy theories". NPR. Retrieved February 24, 2026. The children's books are just one example of how Patel has parlayed his time serving in various national security roles in the first Trump administration to building a brand promoting pro-Trump conspiracy theories and selling merchandise. Those conspiracy theories have also been cited by Patel in past public statements promising payback for Trump's perceived enemies.
  168.  Zadrozny, Brandy (December 8, 2024). "Trump's FBI pick co-hosted a show for a conspiracy-filled, far-right media organization". NBC News. Retrieved February 24, 2026. NBC News reviewed 79 episodes totaling over 45 hours of content featuring Patel and his co-host, Epoch Times senior editor Jan Jekielek, neither of whom is accused in the federal case. Together, they spun detailed but unfounded claims of conspiracies involving government officials, law enforcement agencies, the media and tech companies, among others, all aiming to rig elections, silence conservative voices and undermine Trump's presidency and re-election.
  169.  Wire, Sarah (January 28, 2025). "Donald Trump's FBI pick Kash Patel was key to Republican recasting of Jan. 6 attack". USA Today. Retrieved March 23, 2025.
  170.  Mosbergen, Dominique (December 9, 2024). "Meet the Trump Nominees Selling Vitamins on the Side". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
  171.  Drenon, Brandon (February 20, 2025). "Kash Patel vows to "rebuild" FBI after Senate confirms him". BBC News. Retrieved March 23, 2025. But Democrats say Patel is a far-right conspiracy theorist with little experience in law enforcement, and someone who would put fealty to Trump above his oath to lead a department that is meant to operate independently.
  172.  Cohen, Marshall (January 30, 2025). "Takeaways from FBI director nominee Kash Patel's combative confirmation hearing". CNN. Retrieved March 23, 2025. Patel rebutted Democratic allegations that he was a "conspiracy theorist" by saying he believes QAnon "baseless", despite his past praise for the movement that promotes the false notion that top Democrats are at the helm of an international pedophilia cabal.
  173.  Gilbert, David (January 31, 2025). "Kash Patel Says He Never Promoted QAnon. Here Are All The Times He Did". Wired. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  174.  Barrett, Devlin (January 23, 2025). "Trump's F.B.I. Pick Sees "Deep State" Plotters in Government, and Some Good in QAnon". The New York Times. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  175.  Wire, Sarah (October 12, 2023). "At far-right roadshow, Trump is God's "anointed one," QAnon is king, and "everything you believe is right"". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
  176.  Tillman, Zoe (December 20, 2024). "Trump's FBI Pick Kash Patel Has a History of Suing Perceived Adversaries". Bloomberg News. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
  177.  Bowden, John (November 18, 2019). "White House official sues Politico for story about his role in Trump's Ukraine dealings". The Hill. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  178.  "White House analyst Kashyap Patel files lawsuit against Politico, reporter". The Washington Times. November 18, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2026.
  179.  Stohr, Greg (January 22, 2025). "FBI Nominee Patel's CNN Defamation Lawsuit Fails to Advance". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved January 9, 2026.
  180.  Mangan, Dan (August 15, 2025). "FBI Director Patel and foundation win defamation lawsuit against blogger". CNBC. Retrieved January 9, 2026.
  181.  Kroll, Andy (December 13, 2024). "Kash Patel Sued FBI Director Chris Wray. Here's Why He Lost in Court". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 9, 2026.
  182.  Schonfeld, Zach (June 12, 2025). "FBI head Kash Patel suing MSNBC's Frank Figliuzzi over nightclub hopping claims". The Hill. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
  183.  Swenson, Kyle (June 11, 2025). "FBI Director Kash Patel Sues MSNBC Analyst Frank Figliuzzi Over Nightclub 'Lie'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
  184.  Casady, Michelle (November 5, 2025). "Ex-FBI Special Agent Wants $5M Defamation Suit Tossed". The Texas Lawbook. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
  185.  Winter, Tom (April 22, 2026). "Judge tosses Kash Patel's defamation suit against former MSNBC contributor Frank Figliuzzi". NBC News. Retrieved May 7, 2026.
  186.  Stelter, Brian (April 20, 2026). "FBI director Kash Patel files $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved April 20, 2026.
  187.  Davis, Sarah (April 22, 2026). "House Judiciary Democrats demand Patel take alcohol disorders test following Atlantic report". The Hill. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  188.  Gedeon, Joseph (April 22, 2026). "Democrats demand FBI director, Kash Patel, take alcohol abuse test". The Guardian. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  189.  Weiss, Joanna (June 24, 2022). "A Conservative Publisher Wants to Be the Answer to Liberal Children's Books. There's Just One Problem". Politico Magazine. Retrieved March 2, 2025.
  190.  Rohde, David (December 21, 2024). "'Curious if I'm on that list?': Kash Patel's potential targets fear his tenure as FBI director". NBC News. Retrieved March 12, 2025.
  191.  Berman, Mark; Roebuck, Jeremy; Stein, Perry; Ence Morse, Clara (February 19, 2025). "Cheering Kash Patel's nomination: A group of ex-FBI agents turned critics". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 12, 2025.
  192.  Savage, Charlie; Goldman, Adam; Feuer, Alan (January 23, 2025). "F.B.I. Pick Pushed False and Misleading Claims About Trump Investigations". The New York Times. Retrieved March 12, 2025.
  193.  Bump, Philip (December 3, 2024). "Kash Patel has an enemies list centered on grievance". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 12, 2025.
  194.  Goldman, Adam (January 30, 2025). "Patel Denies His List of 60 Names Is an 'Enemies List'". The New York Times. Retrieved March 12, 2025. It has been widely interpreted as an enemies list and singles out former executive branch officials but is by no means "comprehensive", according to Mr. Patel.
  195.  Grayer, Annie; Cohen, Marshall (January 30, 2025). "People on Kash Patel's so-called 'enemies list' taking drastic steps for protection before his potential FBI takeover". CNN. Retrieved March 12, 2025.
  196.  Hubbard, Kaia (January 19, 2025). "Sen. Lindsey Graham says he is "ready to vote for Kash Patel" for FBI director". CBS News. Retrieved March 12, 2025. Patel, who has been critical of current federal officials, has sparked controversy for including in his book a list known as the "Executive Branch Deep State", which some have referred to as an enemies list that he could seek to prosecute as FBI director.
  197.  Wingett Sanchez, Yvonne; Ellison, Sarah; Marley, Patrick; Bailey, Holly (January 28, 2025). "Trump's perceived enemies brace for retribution with plans, dark humor". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 12, 2025. One person watched with dread Trump's Dec 8 appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, in which he was asked if he wanted Patel to investigate people on the enemies list.
  198.  Roebuck, Jeremy; Goodwin, Liz (January 30, 2025). "Patel's so-called enemies list will be a focus at Thursday's hearing". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 12, 2025.
  199.  Axelrod, Tal (December 15, 2024). "GOP Sen. Eric Schmitt: Tulsi Gabbard fits Trump's 'reform agenda'". ABC News. Retrieved March 12, 2025. Asked about Patel's book "Government Gangsters", in which he included a 60-person "enemies list", Schmitt dismissed that as a "footnote" in the book and insisted that Patel does not have an "enemies list".

Works cited

Further reading

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