Former national security adviser John Bolton compared Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, to Joseph Stalin’s secret police chief.
“Trump has nominated Kash Patel to be his Lavrentiy Beria,” Bolton said on NBC News’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday. “Fortunately, the FBI is not the NKVD. The Senate should reject this nomination 100-0.”
Bolton served as national security adviser in Trump’s first term and was Patel’s boss.
In response to Bolton’s comments, Vice President-elect JD Vance wrote on X, “John Bolton has been wrong about everything so I guess Kash must be pretty awesome.”
Beria was one of the former Soviet Union’s most feared secret police chiefs. He is known for his violent tactics, including kidnapping, torture and rape, according to The Hill. Beria was executed in Moscow in 1953 after he was found guilty of treason.
Other Trump administration officials are also speaking out about Patel as FBI director.
A former U.S. official told CBS News that Patel is “by far the most dangerous pick” Trump has made.
“There is no ‘there’ to him,” the official added. “He’ll literally do anything.”
Former attorney general in Trump’s first term, Bill Barr also criticized Patel in his 2022 memoir.
“Patel had virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency,” Barr wrote.
