Patel all business after taking over FBI

When Donald Trump announced he was nominating Kash Patel as his FBI Director, I admittedly had concerns.

Patel, at least so far, appears to be proving everyone wrong.

Resisting Patel

Patel had made some rather concerning statements prior to being nominated that did not sit well with me. I also discussed him with my contacts in the FBI, and those concerns were present there as well.

Democrats were not just concerned, but they wanted him removed from consideration. To that point, nearly three dozen House Democrats pleaded with the Senate to reject his nomination.

Their letter stated, “The nomination of Mr. Patel, an individual with almost no law enforcement experience and a history of politically charged and inflammatory statements is clearly a break from tradition and one that deserves extensive scrutiny as a result.

“He has published a list of political opponents in his book and has promised to shut down the FBI headquarters on his first day in office. The FBI Director is not a position for an erratic political actor focused on retribution.”

Abundance of applications

Under Comey and Wray, FBI morale was low and recruitment was struggling, but that is not the case under Patel, a sign he is doing something right.

Since January, the FBI has had more than 10,000 new applications, and more than 5,500 in March alone.

FBI spokesman Ben Williamson stated, "Director Patel and Deputy Director (Dan) Bongino have put a major emphasis on restoring confidence in federal law enforcement and boosting new agent recruiting.

"These record early returns certainly suggest the new FBI is heading in the right direction."

Big wins for Patel

To Patel’s credit, the rhetoric ceased once he took his post, and from what I have seen, he has done a job far better than I would have expected from him.

Patel and Bondi have been a powerful one-two punch against violent crime, violent gangs, and drug trafficking in this country. We started to see results right away, and Patel clearly deserves accolades for this.

He recently took a victory lap on Fox News, stating, "Under the leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Bureau is working aggressively each and every day to find violent criminals, no matter where they are, and bring them to justice. Any success thus far is a credit to the brave men and women of the FBI and our state and local law enforcement partners who do amazing work to execute the mission.”

While I had concerns about Patel, I also stated that I was rooting for him to prove me wrong, and thus far, he has, and I hope he continues to do so. Much like Tulsi Gabbard and Kristi Noem’s performance, I am quite surprised at how well they are doing in their posts to this point. I honestly hope I never have to call them out while they are serving, but I will if necessary.