'Sinister deep staters': Even right-wing Republicans are on Kash Patel’s 'hit list'
Far-right MAGA conspiracy theorist Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for FBI director, has made no secret of his desire to target prominent Democrats for retribution — including President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
But Mother Jones' David Corn, in an article published on December 3, stresses that right-wing non-MAGA Republicans are also plentiful on Patel's "hit list."
Patel, Corn notes, laid out that "hit list" in his 2023 book "Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy."
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"This lineup also includes a number of Republicans and onetime Trump appointees," Corn explains. "These include Bill Barr, who served as attorney general for Trump; John Bolton, one of Trump's national security advisers in his first White House stint; Pat Cipollone, Trump's White House counsel; Mark Esper, a secretary of defense under Trump; Sarah Isgur Flores, who was head of communications for Trump's first attorney general, Jeff Sessions; Alyssa Farah Griffin, the director of strategic commissions in the Trump White House; and Stephanie Grisham, former chief of staff for Melania Trump."
Corn cites Barr as an "especially absurd" choice for Patel's "hit list" — as he was a staunch Trump defender before they had a falling out over the 2020 presidential election results.
"Barr, as attorney general, undermined (former special counsel Robert) Mueller's investigation of the Trump-Russia scandal — an inquiry that according to Patel was a deep state plot," Corn points out. "Why would a deep state denizen do that? And while Barr did not back up Trump's baseless claim that the 2020 election was rigged against him, he endorsed Trump's presidential campaign this year — another curious move for an anti-Trump conspirator."
Corn notes that Trump has had glowing praise for Patel's "Government Gangsters" book.
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"Patel has signaled he’s looking to conduct revenge-a-thon, and Trump endorsed this work as a 'brilliant roadmap highlighting every corrupt actor,'" the Mother Jones reporter observes. "He declared, 'We will use this blueprint to help us take back the White House and remove these Gangsters from all of Government!'"
Corn adds, "That indicates Patel's list could end up as a to-do — or to-get — list for Trump. Not only Democrats should worry about that."
On X, former Twitter, conservative Republican Olivia Troye — who served as a national security aide to former Vice President Mike Pence and went on to endorse Kamala Harris for president in 2024 — described a letter she received from Patel.
Troye, on December 4, tweeted, "Today, Kash Patel sent a letter to my counsel @MarkSZaidEsq - threatening legal action & demanding that I retract my comments on MSNBC about his unfitness to serve as FBI Director. This aligns with his threats against the media & political opponents, revealing how he might conduct himself if confirmed in the role. I stand by my statements — my priority remains the safety & security of the American people. I am not the only one who has expressed concerns about him. So why me? And so it begins."
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David Corn's full Mother Jones article is available at this link.
