Under Patel, FBI doing its job

OPINION:

When President Trump nominated Kash Patel as FBI director, I wrote that “in order to rebuild its reputation and restore public trust, the FBI needs a bold, unflinching reformer who understands exactly what needs to be done. That leader is Kash Patel.”

After 10 months of hard work and dedication in an unrelentingly hostile corporate media atmosphere, the fantastic news that the Jan. 6 pipe bomb suspect was finally arrested thanks to a dogged FBI felt like a seminal moment in the bureau’s comeback story. It put an exclamation point on Mr. Patel’s consequential tenure to date.

Since February, Mr. Patel has been laser-focused on pulling the FBI away from politics and weaponization and steering the world’s premier law enforcement agency back to the basics of getting the bad guys. This FBI is all about outstanding police work and is prioritizing transparency, stopping violent crime, confronting the fentanyl epidemic and achieving real results the American people can believe in.

Case in point: After nearly five years, the FBI caught the pipe bomber because Mr. Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino gave agents the opportunity to keep digging, re-review evidence and keep prioritizing the matter until it was solved. This is called American exceptionalism.

When Mr. Patel arrived at the J. Edgar Hoover Building, too many Americans were losing trust in the agency because of well-founded concern that the FBI had veered off course in some major areas and needed new blood and an infusion of heightened resolve. Since that day, with Mr. Trump’s full backing, Mr. Patel has put his head down, ignored the haters, squared off against the protectors of the failed status quo in Washington and got to work.

The proof is in the pudding. Twenty-five thousand violent felons have been arrested, and loads of lethal fentanyl that could have killed upward of 127 million Americans — roughly one-third of our entire population — is now off the street. The professional, no-nonsense job the FBI did to identify and apprehend Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, must also not be overlooked. The importance of ending that manhunt with a quick arrest is exactly the kind of thing that starts to rebuild public trust.

On the transparency side, under Mr. Patel’s leadership, the FBI has been second to none. After President Biden and his incompetent administration deliberately sat on all the Jeffrey Epstein files for four years — with their Democratic allies in Congress and the left-wing media never batting an eye — Messrs. Trump and Patel are releasing Epstein records on a regular basis, with much more to come.

Regarding the Russia hoax, Jan. 6 and Jack Smith’s phony political prosecutions of Mr. Trump, the American people are learning more of the unvarnished truth seemingly every day, thanks to Mr. Patel’s courage, vision and promises-made-promises-kept attitude.

It goes without saying that the public is eagerly awaiting the release of the infamous burn bags discovered at the FBI that contain a treasure trove of Trump-Russia documents scheduled for destruction.

Mr. Patel is also protecting and rewarding brave whistleblowers who speak truth to power and supporting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in locating, arresting and deporting criminal illegal immigrants. The news that more than 350 members of the dangerous Tren de Aragua foreign terrorist organization have been arrested is the very definition of keeping the American people safe. Perhaps most incredibly, it has recently been reported that the homicide rate is now the lowest in modern history, down 25% nationwide.

The FBI’s skilled and innovative work to fight the scourge of fentanyl and not allow it in our neighborhoods has also been noteworthy. Upon returning from China after discussions concerning the fentanyl epidemic with Chinese Communist Party officials, Mr. Patel reported incredible news: “The People’s Republic of China has fully designated and listed all 13 precursors utilized to make fentanyl. … Furthermore, they have agreed to control seven chemical subsidiaries that are also utilized to produce this lethal drug.”

He went on to say that with this enormous development, “President Trump has shut off the pipeline that creates fentanyl that kills tens of thousands of Americans. These substances are now banned, and they will no longer be utilized by the Mexican drug trafficking organizations.” This is what winning for the American people looks like, and, sadly, it hasn’t received nearly enough attention because of our pathetically biased liberal media.

Don’t get me wrong: Mr. Patel is still under constant assault by those who would rather have a politically correct Washington insider running the FBI, but he remains undeterred. Juvenile stories and fact-challenged hit pieces won’t slow him down because this has all been par for the course for the better part of nine years, starting when he was busy exposing the Russia hoax on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. It’s no secret that Kash Patel is constantly subjected to partisan attacks because he is an effective agent of change.

It’s amazing to see what the FBI is capable of when its leadership has no agenda other than fighting crime and keeping the American people safe. The bureau is proving that it’s the best in the business and the envy of the world when it stays on mission.

Thanks to Mr. Trump and Mr. Patel, the American people are once again rooting for the FBI and appreciate its success so far.

• David N. Bossie is the president of Citizens United. He served as a senior adviser to the Trump 2024 and 2020 campaigns. He served as deputy campaign manager for Donald J. Trump for President in 2016 and deputy executive director for the Trump transition team.