William Webster, who led both the FBI and the CIA, is warning against President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks — especially Kash Patel heading up the FBI — asserting that his ideological alignment with Trump “raises serious concerns about impartiality and integrity.”
The 100-year-old Webster penned his concerns in a letter, urging lawmakers to step in and stop those individuals he deems to be unqualified.
“Weigh the critical importance of nonpartisan leadership and experience,” Webster, who served under Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, urged, asserting that “the safety of the American people ― and your own families ― depends on it,” according to the HuffPost.
Webster placed a special emphasis on Kash Patel, whom he clearly views as unqualified to head the FBI.
“While Mr. Patel’s intelligence and patriotism are commendable, his close political alignment with President Trump raises serious concerns about impartiality and integrity,” he wrote, claiming that history shows Patel has a tendency to show loyalty to individuals rather than to the law.
“His record of executing the president’s directives suggest a loyalty to individuals rather than the rule of law ― a dangerous precedent for an agency tasked with impartial enforcement of justice,” he asserted, also taking shots at former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, whom Trump tapped to serve as Director of National Intelligence (DNI).
“Gabbard’s profound lack of intelligence experience and the daunting task of overseeing 18 disparate intelligence agencies further highlight the need for seasoned leadership,” he wrote.
“Effective management of our intelligence community requires unparalleled expertise to navigate the complexities of global threats and to maintain the trust of allied nations,” he continued. “Without that trust, our ability to safeguard sensitive secrets and collaborate internationally is severely diminished.”
Webster is hardly the first to criticize Trump’s cabinet choices. Foreign Policy for America, for example, published a letter signed by nearly 100 “national security professionals” against Gabbard, but it “contains smears rather than facts,” as Breitbart News detailed.
Meanwhile, the vast majority on the right have lauded Trump’s choices, as he tapped people who think outside the box rather than more Deep State swamp picks.
“You got to have a good team around, and his assistant coaches have been running in and out of the Senate for the last couple of weeks, talking to senators and selling their side of the story,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) said of Trump’s cabinet nominees during an interview on Breitbart News Daily in December.
“I’m all for every one of them. … We need to give him his team. And, you know, I’ve been very, very impressed with every one of them,” he said, highlighting Kash Patel specifically.
“I’ve known Kash Patel about five years,” Tuberville said, “and Kash is very smart. He’s energetic. He’s very into law enforcement. He’s worked in the DOD. He’s worked for the DOJ. He understands it. He’s traveled the world. He understands behind the scene, domestic problems. He will be perfect.”
“He’s exactly what we need,” he continued. “He is one of those guys that understands that we’ve got to get the trust back in the FBI. We don’t need somebody to go in and be status quo.”
He also said that that Patel is going to “shake it up,” noting that it is Democrats who have weaponized the Department of Justice.
Lara Trump also described all of her father-in-law’s cabinet choices as fighters.
“They all have a certain amount of clarity. And I think they all — they all understand the vision for this country that Donald Trump has. … And they’re also not likely people to be in a Republican cabinet, you know?” she added during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily.
“And that’s sort of the part that I love the most about it, is that Donald Trump is not a typical politician, and because of that, I actually would never have expected his cabinet to look like a typical cabinet,” she continued.
Despite the critiques, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said earlier this month that he expects the Republican Senate to “confirm all of President Trump’s nominees.”
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