The corrupt politicians are terrified. They know Donald Trump is on their case.
Even Hillary Clinton is terrified of Donald Trump’s FBI director pick for this one key reason.
Kash Patel’s Role in Uncovering FBI Surveillance Abuse and the Trump-Russia Probe
Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, played a pivotal role in investigating the Trump-Russia collusion allegations, ultimately uncovering evidence of government surveillance abuse that led to two special counsels being appointed. His work exposed critical flaws in the FBI’s original investigation, including improper surveillance, and helped uncover that the investigation was based on a flawed premise.
Patel, who served as senior counsel and national security adviser on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) under then-Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, was the chief investigator for the committee’s probe into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Nunes, now leading Trump’s Truth Social platform, praised Patel’s efforts, telling Fox News Digital, “Kash was instrumental in unraveling the Russia collusion hoax and finding evidence of government malfeasance despite constant attempts by the FBI and DOJ to stonewall our investigation.”
The Launch of the FBI’s Investigation
In July 2016, as the U.S. presidential election cycle was heating up, the FBI launched an investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. This investigation, internally known as “Crossfire Hurricane,” was fueled by a dossier — later known as the Steele dossier — that contained unverified and salacious allegations about Trump’s alleged ties to the Russian government.
The dossier was authored by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and commissioned by the political research firm Fusion GPS. It was funded by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) through the law firm Perkins Coie.
By January 2017, FBI Director James Comey informed President Trump about the dossier, which played a central role in opening the FBI’s investigation. In May 2017, President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, which set the stage for the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel to oversee the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mueller’s investigation continued while the HPSCI, led by Rep. Nunes, opened its own inquiry into the matter.
As chief investigator for the HPSCI, Patel uncovered significant evidence of government surveillance abuses, particularly regarding the FBI’s surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. By February 2018, Patel and Nunes had identified improper surveillance activities that included the FBI obtaining warrants to spy on Page under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Carter Page, who had worked as a foreign policy adviser to Trump’s campaign, had his communications monitored after the FBI secured a FISA warrant based on the Steele dossier. This surveillance was later revealed to be a critical aspect of the broader investigation. Page expressed his gratitude to Patel for his work, telling Fox News Digital, “While most members of Congress were ready to ignore the unprecedented civil rights abuses against the Trump campaign and myself, Kash Patel’s training as a top public defender made him the perfect advocate for exposing one of the greatest election interference scandals of all time.”
The Nunes Memo and FBI Misconduct
Patel was instrumental in the creation of the Nunes Memo, released in February 2018, which outlined how the DOJ and FBI used the Steele dossier to obtain surveillance warrants against Page. The memo revealed that the FBI relied heavily on the dossier — funded by the Clinton campaign — as the basis for their FISA application, but failed to disclose its political origins to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC).
In testimony before Congress, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe acknowledged that “no surveillance warrant would have been sought” from the FISA court “without the Steele dossier information.” However, the FBI did not inform the court that the dossier had been funded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign, Trump’s political opponent. Furthermore, Steele, who had been an FBI informant, was later cut off from the agency for leaking his relationship with the FBI to the media.
The Nunes Memo outlined how the FBI obtained an initial FISA warrant against Page and three subsequent renewals. It noted that high-ranking officials, including Comey, McCabe, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and others, had signed off on the warrants.
While the memo faced widespread criticism from Democrats, an investigation by the Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, confirmed the memo’s claims. Horowitz concluded that the FBI’s reliance on the dossier in securing the FISA warrants was a key factor in the surveillance abuses that took place.
Rep. Nunes, in an interview with Fox News Digital, recalled the extensive efforts to undermine Patel’s work: “The feds spied on Kash during the probe and ran information warfare against him, but Kash helped expose them anyway.”
Surveilling Patel and Mueller’s Findings
In a sign of the pushback Patel faced, in November 2017, the DOJ used grand jury subpoenas to secretly obtain personal email and phone data from Patel and another HPSCI staffer. These actions were part of the broader effort to investigate the origins and validity of the Trump-Russia probe. In response, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, urged FBI Director Christopher Wray to investigate the improper surveillance of Patel.
Meanwhile, the special counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller was nearing its conclusion. In April 2019, Mueller’s report confirmed that there was no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.
In the aftermath of Mueller’s report, then-Attorney General Bill Barr appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham as special counsel to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe. Durham’s investigation found that the FBI had “failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law” in launching the original probe. He also revealed that the FBI had missed clear warning signs that it was being manipulated by the Clinton campaign.
Durham’s report detailed how, in July 2016, Clinton’s campaign worked to tie Trump to Russia in an effort to distract from the investigation into her use of a private email server and mishandling of classified information. Durham concluded that this effort to influence the FBI and manipulate the law enforcement process had political motivations tied to the upcoming election.
Kash Patel’s work as chief investigator on the HPSCI was instrumental in uncovering the flaws and abuses that plagued the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign. His efforts exposed surveillance abuses, politicized intelligence, and a flawed premise behind the Trump-Russia collusion narrative. Patel’s unwavering dedication to uncovering the truth, despite significant resistance from federal agencies, helped shed light on one of the most controversial political investigations in modern U.S. history.
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