F.B.I. Pick Pushed False and Misleading Claims About Trump Investigations

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F.B.I. Pick Pushed False and Misleading Claims About Trump Investigations

Kash Patel, Donald J. Trump’s choice to run the bureau, has made a series of spurious assertions about the Russia, Jan. 6 and classified documents inquiries.

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Among other false claims, Kash Patel has said that the F.B.I. planned and instigated the Jan. 6 riot. Kenny Holston/The New York Times

By Charlie Savage, Adam Goldman and Alan Feuer
Reporting from Washington

Jan. 23, 2025
Updated 2:50 p.m. ET

Kash Patel, President Trump’s pick to lead the F.B.I., has repeatedly undercut the work of the very agency he is set to lead by making false statements related to its criminal and counterintelligence inquiries into the president.

His demonstrably spurious claims, shared in podcasts and in his book, “Government Gangsters,” served to delegitimize the investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, stoke baseless suspicions that the F.B.I. helped instigate the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol and muddy the waters of the inquiry into Mr. Trump’s refusal to return classified documents after leaving office.

Mr. Patel’s pattern of peddling misinformation is at sharp odds with Mr. Trump’s proposal to put him in charge of the nation’s premier agency charged with figuring out what is true.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Patel, Erica Knight, took issue with the basic thrust of this article, while making some further misstatements on his behalf.

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Charlie Savage writes about national security and legal policy. More about Charlie Savage

Adam Goldman writes about the F.B.I. and national security. He has been a journalist for more than two decades. More about Adam Goldman

Alan Feuer covers extremism and political violence for The Times, focusing on the criminal cases involving the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and against former President Donald J. Trump. More about Alan Feuer