Simply days after taking his oath of workplace on a Hindu spiritual e-book, FBI Director Kash Patel was sworn in Monday because the performing head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Based on a supply acquainted with the matter cited by The Related Press, the ceremony occurred at ATF headquarters. It stays unclear whether or not President Donald Trump intends to appoint Patel for the everlasting ATF director place, or what the administration’s longer-term plans are for the company, the AP reported.
Patel, 44, is the primary Hindu- and Indian-American to guide two of the nation’s high-profile businesses inside the U.S. Division of Justice. He was sworn in Friday as head of the FBI in a ceremony through which he selected to make use of the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu sacred e-book, as a substitute of the normal Holy Bible.
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He previously labored as a prosecutor for the U.S. Justice Division below the Obama administration as a counterterrorism prosecutor within the Nationwide Safety Division earlier than serving within the first Trump administration as chief of employees for the U.S. Division of Protection, deputy director of Nationwide Intelligence and senior director for counterterrorism on the Nationwide Safety Council.
Throughout Patel’s Senate affirmation listening to final month, Patel greeted his dad and mom with the phrase “Jai Shri Krishna” and touched their ft in a conventional Indian gesture of respect.
The phrase “Jai Shri Krishna,” a Sanskrit expression which means “Victory to Krishna,” is a typical greeting amongst followers of Hinduism, significantly those that worship the Hindu deity.
In his 2023 e-book,Authorities Gangsters: The Deep State, the Fact, and the Battle for Our Democracy, Patel recognized himself because the son of “working-class immigrants from India” who was raised in Queens and Lengthy Island, New York, crediting his dad and mom with encouraging him to stay “conscious” of his faith and heritage.
“I used to be raised Hindu, my household went to temple and prayed at dwelling in our shrine room, ensuring to have a good time huge holidays like Diwali and Navratri,” he wrote. “I keep in mind going to Indian weddings as a child that had been in contrast to every other celebration I had been to earlier than—or since. 5 hundred folks celebrating for a full week was thought-about a small affair.”
He’s additionally spoken out towards the weaponization of federal legislation enforcement: when requested throughout his affirmation listening to whether or not he would “goal conventional Catholics as extremists” as below the Obama and Biden administrations, Patel stated his precedence can be specializing in the specter of fentanyl and different medicine alongside the U.S. southern border.
“100 thousand deaths resulting from fentanyl and drug overdoses in a single 12 months,” Patel stated. “I’d relatively the FBI deal with that and save our youngsters.”
Sen. Eric Schmitt performs a recreation of “Would You Reasonably?” with Kash Patel throughout his affirmation listening to. @Eric_Schmitt: “Would you relatively goal conventional Catholics as extremists, or deal with investigating precise threats posed to American folks by cartels?” pic.twitter.com/SYybMzlw1p
— Melissa Barnhart (@MelBarnhart) January 31, 2025
He has additionally vowed to cease prosecuting pro-life Christians and different advocates, saying, “Due course of should be supplied with out bias to all Individuals, and if we can not present due course of to the worst, then there could be no due course of for anybody, and our Constitutional Republic fails.”
Patel is amongst a handful of Trump’s cupboard nominees who at the least one Senate Republican has voted towards. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined all 47 members of the Democratic Caucus in voting towards his nomination. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., voted towards each Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary of Well being and Human Companies Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whereas McConnell joined Collins and Murkowski in opposing Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth.