WASHINGTON (AP) — Kash Patel was recruiting foot soldiers.
It was a Friday morning in February at one of America’s biggest conservative conventions, and Donald Trump’s trusted lieutenant was on center stage, pleading with the former president’s supporters to help the now presumptive Republican nominee reclaim the White House.
Getting behind Trump was the only way to root out “government gangsters,” Patel said, at once referring to the title of his recently published memoir and the entrenched and shadowy cabal of “deep state” operatives he believes are threatening the country.
“That’s what it’s going to take” to win in November, he told the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference in suburban Washington. “An entire army.”
Then, draped in a green scarf emblazoned with a “K$H” logo he once sought to trademark, Patel announced his book’s upcoming film adaptation.
A trusted aide and swaggering campaign surrogate who mythologizes the former president while promoting conspiracy theories and his own brand, Patel is poised to take on an influential role in the federal government if Trump wins a second term. Patel has a pedigree that sets him apart from other Trump advisers, and he frequently cites his experience as a public defender, federal prosecutor, top House staffer and national security official to lend credibility to his plan to go after the very intelligence community he could one day help oversee.
There is little daylight between Patel and Trump: Patel has made it clear that he is in lockstep with the former president on most national security issues, including purging government officials deemed disloyal.
Many who worked with Patel before he joined the Trump administration said he was an ambitious if not exceptional lawyer whose quick rise and far-right tilt have left them stunned.
Tom Rooney, a former Republican congressman, worked with Patel on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He described Patel as a smart and focused staffer, but said he hardly recognizes the man loudly defending the Jan. 6 rioters on far-right podcasts and radio shows.
“It’s not the same person that I knew,” Rooney said. “But Kash is still relevant and I’m not, so who’s the smart one?”
Patel, 44, declined requests for interviews and did not respond to a list of questions. He provided a statement saying he was proud of his public service and blasted The Associated Press for “taking potshots at my private life.”
The Rapid Rise
During Trump’s recent criminal trial in New York, Patel was part of a small group of supporters that included Republican lawmakers and Trump family members and accompanied him into court.
After a day’s testimony, Patel addressed a throng of reporters outside the courthouse, arguing Trump was the victim of an “unconstitutional circus.” His legal career provided the basis for his assertions, he said. But Patel hadn’t always wanted to be an attorney. The son of Indian immigrants, Patel grew up in Queens, New York, and had dreamed of becoming a doctor before deciding law was a better course.
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