Trump official Kash Patel said to obstruct President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team
President Donald Trump’s political appointees at the U.S. Department of Defense are obstructing President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team, Biden said yesterday. “We just aren’t getting all the information that we need from the outgoing (Trump) administration in key national security areas. It’s nothing short of irresponsible,” said Biden.
The head of the Trump administration’s collaboration with Biden’s team, at the Department of Defense, is Indian American Kashyap (Kash) Patel. He “told everybody we're not going to cooperate with the (Biden) transition team," a former department official told NBC News. Patel has blocked career officials and experts from giving vital information to the Biden transition team, telling political appointees to take the lead instead, NBC News added.
Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller rejected criticism that the Trump political appointees are not co-operating with Biden’s team. “The Department of Defense will continue to provide all required support to the…(Biden team)…to keep our nation and her citizens safe," Miller said, according to Politico.
Earlier this month, Patel was appointed Chief of Staff by Miller, after three officials resigned from the Defense Department. This was reportedly part of Trump’s efforts to appoint officials loyal to him in key posts at the department, though there was less than two months left in his term as President.
Also, this month, Trump looked into naming Patel as the new director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to David Ignatius, in a column for The Washington Post. Such an appointment, if it were to occur, could be part of Trump’s strategy to use “potential domestic and foreign turmoil …(as) an excuse to cling to power” Ignatius noted.
Trump repeatedly tweets and says he may continue to be President, despite Biden’s election in November. This threat concerns senior U.S. officials; however, if Trump were to try to stay on, he will be blocked by Congress, says Ignatius.
In December, Patel filed a $50 million defamation suit against CNN, over its reports that he was a source of conspiracy theories against Biden, Fox News reported. According to Patel’s complaint, he “uncovered many inconvenient facts undermining the fake political narrative about ‘collusion’ between members of the Trump campaign and ‘Russians.’” CNN, his lawyer wrote, “harbored extreme professional and personal animus, bias, spite and ill-will” towards Patel.
Previously, Patel served as the Deputy Assistant to President Trump and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council. He also served as Principal Deputy to the Acting Director of National Intelligence.
Before joining the Trump Administration, Patel was the National Security Advisor and Senior Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
In 2017, while in this role, Patel was reported to be the main author of “The Nunes Memo,” a document alleging that top officials of the Justice Department allegedly carried out surveillance of Trump’s team members, during the transition from President Barack Obama’s administration. Patel attracted media attention that year by traveling to London, along with a colleague, “in search of Christopher Steele, author of a controversial dossier on Trump”, without the knowledge of the U.S. embassy or British government, according to a report in The Atlantic.
Earlier Patel was a terrorism prosecutor at the Department of Justice and its Liaison Officer to Joint Special Operations Command. He began his career as a public defender, trying cases ranging from murder, to narco-trafficking and financial crimes in jury trials in state and federal courts.
A native of New York, Patel completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Richmond, in Virginia, before earning his law degree. His official biography, which states he got a Certificate in International Law from University College, London, does not mention where he got his law degree. He reportedly got his law degree from Pace University, New York. Patel is an ice hockey player and coach.
Patel was born and raised in Garden City, Long Island, New York. His parents have family ties in Gujarat, India. Patel’s mother is from Tanzania and father from Uganda, NDTV reported. In 1970, his parents immigrated to the U.S. via Canada.
In 2019, Patel sued Politico over a story that he had given President Trump information that corruption was widely prevalent in Ukraine. He is seeking $25.4 million in damages from the online publication.
According to Patel’s 26-page legal complaint, published by the right-wing site Breitbart, in an era of “weaponized media,” venerable journalism has been “replaced by partisan hacks and character assassins who work to advance the interests and agendas of dark money. One of the very worst offenders in the business is ‘Politico.’” Patel’s case is “about Politico’s malicious efforts…to target and destroy the stellar career and reputation of a dedicated attorney, senior adviser and civil servant…Politico, directly and by implication, falsely accused Kash Patel of lying, deceit and unethical conduct."
