Following his victory in the 2024 election, President Donald Trump announced on November 30 that he had chosen Kash Patel, a contentious attorney and ex-Trump staffer renowned for this role. backing right-wing conspiracies .
Patel officially replaced FBI Director Christopher Wray , appointed by Trump in 2017, on Feb. 20, 2025 .
According to legal guidelines, FBI directors are appointed for a 10-year term to prevent political influence from the White House. At present, Wray has served eight years. In contrast with typical norms set among FBI directors during the last hundred years—who have largely maintained an impartial stance as non-partisan investigators committed to enforcing laws—Patel seems unusual. Yet, some statements attributed to Patel suggest otherwise.
Patel has supported Trump’s 2024 campaign pledge to utilize federal authority to “ root out ” political opponents.
“They will pursue you both criminally and civilly,” Patel stated in December 2023 Patel’s book from 2023 titled, " Government Gangsters ", features a roster of high-ranking government officials, which Democrats claim is an enemies list .
As an FBI historian I have investigated the impact of politics on the FBI. Although it's still early, Patel’s confirmation bears a single obvious parallel in FBI history—one that dates back about a hundred years.
William J. Burns led the FBI from 1921 to 1924. Bettman/Contributor/Getty Images
The FBI from earlier times
Certain observers have drawn parallels between Patel and J. Edgar Hoover , the influential FBI director from 1924 to 1972 known for various misconducts within the bureau. In 1956, Hoover established COINTELPRO , an illicit counterintelligence initiative that aimed at surveilling communists, war protestors, and even civil rights advocates.
Although Hoover occasionally aligned with White House political objectives—like surveilling critics of foreign policies and gathering data on political adversaries—he acted primarily based on what benefited him personally. Serving eight different presidential administrations, Hoover operated as an independent bureaucratic entity. His main focus was combating communism and safeguarding traditional American values against unconventional influences, all while staunchly advocating for the FBI’s autonomy.
The closer analogy from FBI history would be someone like Patel. Hoover’s immediate predecessor , William J. Burns , who led as the director from 1921 to 1924.
Burns was a well-known author And he was the proprietor of the Burns International Detective Agency, a private investigation firm. He was well-known to the public simply as the American Sherlock Holmes .
Still, Burns never shied away from leveraging his influence to safeguard the political interests of his superior, the politically well-connected attorney general. Harry Daugherty The FBI is an organization under the Department of Justice.
Daugherty and Burns were central figures in what was referred to as the so-called Ohio Gang , a dishonest clique within the administrations led by Republican President Warren Harding And Calvin Coolidge amid the Teapot Dome scandal in the early 1920s. The scandal came to light following bribery allegations against two petroleum magnates. then-Interior Secretary Albert Fall a confidant of theirs, to obtain agreements for drilling on federal territory in Teapot Dome, Wyoming.
Although Daugherty was cognizant of these improprieties, he declined to request an investigation from the Department of Justice. Additionally, he found himself embroiled in separate controversies encompassing bribery, corruption, and political machinations.
Lawmakers from both political affiliations ultimately responded to Daugherty's reluctance. Nevertheless, it was an additional two-and-a-half-year period before the Department of Justice underwent changes.
The developing Teapot Dome scandal
News outlets initially brought up concerns regarding corruption within the Harding administration during the early months of 1922. The catalyst was when FBI higher-ups instructed one of their agents to halt an investigation into fraudulent activities and instead concentrate on the soaring cost of bread. This particular FBI agent had reservations about dropping the fraud case. resigned in protest In May 1922, he shared his details with the Congressman. Roy O. Woodruff , a member of the Republican Party from Michigan.
Various other senators and representatives of both parties Following Woodruff’s example, they raised objections and demanded an inquiry into the Justice Department.
Seeing no results, Congressman Oscar Keller attempted to impeach Daugherty by late 1922. Nonetheless, key figures within the Republican Party obstructed this move.
In retaliation, Daugherty instructed Burns to look into every legislator attempting to impede their progress.
FBI agents shadowed these legislators , read their emails, and monitored their phone conversations to uncover incriminating information. Some individuals had their offices ransacked.
‘No quitter’
By October 1923, roughly half a year following the initial reports about the Teapot Dome scandal, Senator Thomas Walsh , a Democrat representing Montana, ultimately started investigating Teapot Dome after joining the public lands committee as a member.
Several months afterward, Senator Feinstein from the Democratic Party, Burton Wheeler , through a special committee, also initiated an inquiry into Daugherty’s efforts to prevent any investigation of Teapot Dome. Other senators, including some from the Republican party, convened with President Calvin Coolidge – often referred to as “ Silent Cal —and encouraged him to urge Daugherty to step down.
The president sat silently and gazed. Daugherty, however, was not doing the same.
In February 2024, Daugherty declared proudly according to the Lincoln, Nebraska-based journal Journal Star, that he does not back down easily.
Silently, Burns instructed his FBI operatives, including those working covertly, to build a fake influence-trading case against Senator Wheeler. Associates were similarly asked to gather details on Senator Walsh. to smear him .”
The FBI's baseless investigations led to a federal indictment in Montana against Wheeler on April 8, 1924, accusing him of Influence trafficking. However, he was swiftly cleared during a postponed trial held in 1925.
Before the trial began, Coolidge reluctantly gave in during March 1924 and compelled an uncooperative individual. Daugherty to resign The president named a progressive new Attorney General, Harlan Fiske Stone, to rectify the corrupt Justice Department, which encompassed the FBI. Two months afterward, Stone compelled Burns to step down from his position at the FBI, replacing him with Hoover.
In his initial actions as the newly appointed attorney general, Stone directed Hoover to remove "inefficient or untrustworthy agents" from the FBI and to recruit only individuals deemed competent and reliable. of known good character with legal expertise. Stone prohibited political inquiries, immoral methods—including wiretapping and entrapment—and attacking political adversaries. After assigning Hoover, Stone informed journalists, ‘Desk searches of senators and representatives are not to occur anymore.’
The FBI today
For approximately the next half-century, Hoover maintained an autonomous leadership of the FBI from political influences. The Watergate scandal from the early 1970s resurrected contentious matters within a politicized Justice Department. From then on, for fifty years, both the Justice Department and the FBI have deliberately fostered a culture of independence in investigations from political influence .
Attorney Generals from the Carter era up to the Obama administration restricted interaction between the FBI and the White House To steer clear of political influence. FBI Director Louis Freeh independently investigated Each alleged scandal during the Bill Clinton administration in the 1990s as portrayed by the director. James Comey ensured the autonomy of FBI investigations refused to declare loyalty during his initial tenure for Trump.
However, Trump's and Patel's own statements suggest that the FBI might revert to the overtly politically motivated investigations seen during the Teapot Dome scandal.
History whispers a warning.
Douglas M. Charles , Professor of History, Penn State
This article is being republished from The Conversation Under a Creative Commons license. Refer to original article .
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