Kash Patel threatens legal action against former colleague

Former national security and counterterrorism advisor Mike Pence said Kash Patel, president-elect donald trumpChoosing to Lead FBIhas threatened to take legal action against her.

Patel on Wednesday demanded that his former White House colleague Olivia Troye “publicly retract his defamatory statements” in a public statement after she called him a “delusional liar” on MSNBC on Monday.

“Kash Patel is a delusional liar. Let me be very clear about this. And I would lie about intelligence. He would lie about making things up about operations,” Troye said, adding that he was putting lives at risk. during a Navy SEAL mission in Nigeria. “And I know this because at some point I realized I needed to double-check Kash’s work to make sure I wasn’t misinforming Mike Pence by trusting his word.” (Patel and Troye worked in the first Trump administration.)

“This is a guy who openly despises people in national security, especially the Department of Justice and the FBI,” Troye continued, likely pointing to his audience. results list in his book “Government Gangsters.” “And so I think there’s a bit of fear here on the part of people, who know that someone like Kash Patel is fully capable of conducting partisan investigations, whatever the cost.”

He concluded by saying that it would be “crazy” if Patel ran the FBI.

In his letter, Patel denies the claims made by Troye, calling them “a complete fabrication.” The letter also demands that Troye retain all correspondence relating to Patel.

Patel, a well-known conspiracy theorist, previously said he would “go after” the media.

“This aligns with his threats against the media and political opponents, and reveals how he might behave if confirmed in office. “I stand by my statements: my priority remains the safety of the American people,” Troye wrote in an online post announcing Patel’s letter. “I’m not the only one who has expressed concern about him. So why me?…And so it begins. “I always knew I was at the top of their list.”

Since Trump’s recent announcement of Patel as FBI director, some critics have criticized his suitability for the position (similar to Trump’s other controversial picks for his second administration). Current FBI Director Chris Wray is just seven years into his 10-year term, meaning he would have to resign or be fired before Patel can be confirmed.

On Trump ally Steve Bannon’s 2023 podcast, patel said: “We are going to go after people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped joe biden Rigging the presidential election…Whether criminally or civilly, we will solve it.”

However, a Trump spokesperson later retracted the comment: according to NBC News.

“Kash Patel will fulfill President Trump’s mandate to restore the integrity of the FBI and return the agency to its core mission of protecting the United States,” spokesman Alex Pfeiffer reportedly said in a statement. “Kash is committed to safeguarding Americans’ First Amendment rights, unlike Joe Biden, who weaponized the Justice Department to attack journalists.” (There is no evidence that Biden has done so.)