John Bolton Compares Kash Patel to Stalin’s Secret Police Chief and Urges Senate to Unanimously Reject Him
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President-elect Donald Trump selecting Kash Patel as his head of the FBI has drawn major backlash, including on Sunday from former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton, who compared the pick to an infamous head of the Soviet secret police under Joseph Stalin.
Bolton’s statement was reported by both CNN and NBC News over the weekend and into Monday.
On Sunday’s Meet the Press from NBC News, host Kristen Welker spoke with her panel about reactions to the Patel nomination. Although many Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Sunday’s Face the Nation, have defended the nomination to varying degrees, there has been a backlash among non-Republicans and Trump-skeptical commentators almost equal to the one that followed Trump nominating former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for Attorney General – a nomination later withdrawn.
Among the names Welker brought up was Bolton, who is a frequent critic of Trump and called the Gaetz nomination “he worst nomination for a cabinet position in American history.”
“Let’s talk about this decision by President-elect Trump to tap Kash Patel to lead the FBI,” said Welker on Sunday. “I heard from the former National Security Advisor, John Bolton, overnight, who said that the Senate should vote to oppose him 100-0.”
He also gave the statement to CNN, which This Mornings host Kasie Hunt read on air Monday.
In it, Bolton compared Patel to Lavrentiy Beria, who was head of the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), the Soviet secret police, under Stalin.
“Trump has nominated Kash Patel to be his Lavrentiy Beria,” Bolton said. “Fortunately, the FBI is not the NKVD. The Senate should reject this nomination 100-0.”
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Trump’s former National Security Advisor John Bolton tells @NBCNews:
“Trump has nominated Kash Patel to be his Lavrenty Beria. Fortunately, the FBI is not the NKVD. The Senate should reject this nomination 100-0.”
We’ll have more coming up today on @meetthepress.
— Kristen Welker (@kwelkernbc) December 1, 2024
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Monday, host Joe Scarborough repeatedly played a clip of Patel talking to Steve Bannon about, as Scarborough put it, vowing to “go after judges and journalists and loyalists who he viewed as enemies of Donald Trump.”
Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is also facing backlash and further questions on Monday after an explosive report in The New Yorker.
