Reagan FBI director urges caution against Gabbard, Patel
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(WASHINGTON) — The only man to lead both the FBI and the CIA urged caution to senators who might vote to confirm former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence and Kash Patel to lead the FBI, according to a letter sent to senators this week.
“I am deeply concerned about the potential nominations of Mr. Kash Patel to lead the FBI and the inclusion of Former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard as DNI in intelligence roles,” William Webster, who led the FBI during the Carter and Reagan administrations and the CIA after that, said in a letter to senators on Thursday.
Webster wrote that Patel’s loyalty to Trump may cause problems.
“Statements such as ‘He’s my intel guy’ and 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,” said Webster, who turns 101 in March.
He said that during his tenure at the FBI, he was contacted by the president only twice — once by President Jimmy Carter, who asked him to investigate an issue, and once when President Ronald Reagan had a question about Nancy Reagan’s security.
Webster added that Gabbard’s “profound lack of intelligence experience and the daunting task of overseeing 18 disparate intelligence agencies further highlight the need for seasoned leadership.”
“History has shown us the dangers of compromising this independence. When leaders of these organizations become too closely aligned with political figures, public confidence erodes and our nation’s security is jeopardized,” he wrote. “Every president deserves appointees they trust, but the selection process must prioritize competence and independence to uphold the rule of law.”
The letter was first reported by Politico.
The Trump transition team defended both Patel and Gabbard to Fox News.
“Kash Patel is loyal to the Constitution. He’s worked under Presidents Obama and Trump in key national security roles,” said Alex Pfeiffer, a Trump transition team spokesman.
Alexa Henning, a Trump transition official, also defended Gabbard.
“Lt. Col. Gabbard is an active member of the Army and has served in the military for over two decades and in Congress. As someone who has consumed intelligence at the highest levels, including during wartime, she recognizes the importance of partnerships with allies to ensure close coordination to keep the American people safe,” she told Fox News.
(WASHINGTON) — Dan Bongino, the former Secret Service agent turned Fox News host and conservative podcast personality, will be the next deputy director of the FBI — a choice that is drawing criticism from Democrats as another one of President Donald Trump’s allies moves into a leadership position.
Trump named Dan Bongino, a 2020 election denier, as deputy FBI director on Sunday to serve under newly confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel. Bongino, who left Fox News in 2023, hosts the popular right-wing and pro-Trump podcast called “The Dan Bongino Show,” which ranks among Apple’s top 10 news podcasts.
On Monday morning, a very emotional Bongino told his show’s listeners that he was sitting at home watching TV when Trump called him to let him know he was going to appoint him as the deputy director of the FBI. Bongino told listeners that he wanted the deputy FBI director job.
“I got a call from the president, and he couldn’t have been nicer, and obviously, keep the contents of it between us, but I think you get the gist about what it was about and I kind of broke down a bit,” he said. “This is now real.”
Typically, the position of FBI’s deputy director is held by a career agent — something Bongino is not. The FBI’s deputy director is responsible for the day-to-day operations and running the agency. The position does not require Senate confirmation.
Democrats have expressed outrage at the pick of Bongino as a leader in the agency, concerned that Trump could use his allies leading the agency to go after his adversaries.
“Trump installs another loyalist who won’t say no to any immoral or unethical act,” Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff wrote of Bongino on X, adding that his appointment degrades law enforcement agencies and public safety.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy wrote on X that “Trump has chosen grifters to lead the FBI.”
“Kash Patel sells ‘K$SH’ branded merch, vaccine reversal pills. Dan Bongino’s entire show is telling listeners the world is ending so they buy the dozens of survivalist products he sells,” Murphy wrote on X.
Bongino defended his appointment and said the job as the FBI’s deputy director is “unquestionably nonpartisan.”
“I’m going to ask you a simple question, have you seen what I did before I came here,” Bongino said on his podcast. “I’m committed to service. People play different roles in their lives: People are dads, people are soccer coaches. People are cops and military officers and military-enlisted people. People are carpenters, people are plumbers. We play different roles in our life, and each one requires a different skill set.”
Bongino joins an agency — like many others — undergoing changes under the Trump administration. In a message to the FBI workforce last week, Patel announced his intention to “reduce the footprint” of the FBI in “the National Capital Region,” including by “reallocating personnel to the field offices and Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville [Alabama].” One source told ABC News this could include as many as 1,500 agents and others from Washington being relocated.
The FBI, Bongino said, belongs to the American people and will work to restore trust in the agency. Bongino has said the FBI is “lost, broken” and “irredeemably corrupt,” when talking about the raid on Trump’s Palm Beach home in 2022.
“Every single DNA cell in my body is going to be dedicated towards keeping this homeland safe, no matter what, no matter what, that’s my job,” he said. “We’re going to reestablish faith in this institution, the good people that are doing their job, hitting the streets, developing sources. We’ll have your back. We are going to reestablish faith in this institution.”
The son of a plumber and a supermarket employee, Bongino grew up in Queens, New York, and started his career as a New York Police Department officer in the 1990s.
Bongino said in his 2013 book, “Life Inside the Bubble,” that joining law enforcement was a “dream of his” and he dedicated himself to his beat.
After leaving the NYPD, Bongino joined the Secret Service where he rose to the ranks and joined former President Barack Obama’s protection detail.
He said he was compelled to run for Congress in Maryland in 2014 after leaving the service because of “the fog of scandals in the Obama administration,” he told ABC News in 2013.
Bongino claimed that he overheard a series of secret negotiations around the Affordable Care Act during Obama’s first term, which drove him to leave the service and enter politics.
That campaign was unsuccessful, but it allowed Bongino to develop a platform to speak on conservative issues.
Bongino has been an outspoken supporter of Trump, and told Fox News in 2017 that the Trump-Russia collusion investigation into the 2016 presidential campaign was a “total scam.”
He also questioned the results of the 2020 election and claimed there were “anomalies” with the voting totals. Despite the numerous false allegations of fraud in the 2020 election, there has been no evidence to back them up.
After Trump was shot during the 2024 campaign, Bongino was critical of the agency he now helps lead.
“They absolutely, resolutely, 100% failed,” he said of the Secret Service on Fox News in July. He also called for the firing of then-Deputy Director Ron Rowe in addition to the then-Director Christopher Wray.
(WASHINGTON) — Congressional Republicans on Friday were nearly unanimous in their praise of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance after they and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a fiery exchange before live cameras in the Oval Office.
Speaking to reporters in the White House driveway right afterward, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham predicted that the shouting match could end U.S. support for Zelenskyy, calling the meeting a “complete, utter disaster.”
“Somebody asked me, am I embarrassed about Trump. I have never been more proud of the president. I was very proud of JD Vance standing up for our country. We want to be helpful. What I saw in the Oval Office was disrespectful, and I don’t know if we can ever do business with Zelenskyy again,” Graham, the Senate Budget Committee Chairman, said. “The way he handled the meeting, the way he confronted the president, was just over the top.”
He suggested Zelenskyy might need to consider resigning.
“He either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with, or he needs to change,” Graham said.
“Thanks to President Trump – the days of America being taken advantage of and disrespected are OVER,” Speaker Mike Johnson posted on X.
“Zelenskyy could have left the White House today with a peace deal for his country, ending this conflict. Instead, he chose to disrespect our President and nation,” Rep. Diane Harshbarger, R-Tenn., posted on X. “Thank you, President Trump and Vice President Vance, for standing up for our country!”
Rep. Victoria Spartz, an Indiana Republican who is Ukrainian-born, said Zelenskyy is doing the Ukrainian people a “serious disservice” by insulting the American president.
“This is not a theater act but a real war!” she posted on X. “Zelensky is doing a serious disservice to the Ukrainian people insulting the American President and the American people – just to appease Europeans and increase his low polling in Ukraine after he failed miserably to defend his country.”
“No funding to Ukraine. This gross disrespect will not stand,” GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida posted on X. “Time for everyone in Congress to drop their Ukraine pins.”
“America First in action,” freshman Texas Republican Brandon Gill posted on X. “Thank you, @realDonaldTrump and @JDVance for prioritizing our people first and for promoting peace!”
Democrats, on the other hand, were dismayed by the jarring, if not unprecedented, diplomatic performance.
“Trump and Vance are doing Putin’s dirty work,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. “Senate Democrats will never stop fighting for freedom and democracy.”
“A hero and a coward are meeting in the Oval Office today. And when the meeting is over, the hero will return home to Ukraine,” Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., posted on X.
“What we saw in the Oval Office today was beyond disgraceful,” Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., posted on X. “Trump and Vance berating Zelenskyy — putting on a show of lies and misinformation that would make Putin blush — is an embarrassment for America and a betrayal of our allies.They’re popping champagne in the Kremlin.”
Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, said, “Every time I’ve met with President Zelenskyy, he’s thanked the American people for our strong support. We owe him our thanks for leading a nation fighting on the front lines of democracy – not the public berating he received at the White House.”
Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota said, “That press conference was choreographed for an audience of one and he sits in Moscow. Once, we fought tyrants. Today Trump and Vance are bending America’s knee. And that weakens us.”
“President Trump and his administration continue to embarrass America on the world stage,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement. “Today’s White House meeting with the President of Ukraine was appalling and will only serve to further embolden Vladimir Putin, a brutal dictator.”
One moderate House Republican, Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, a major Ukraine ally on Capitol Hill, joined Democrats in defending Ukraine — though he stopped short of criticizing the president or vice president.
“Some want to whitewash the truth, but we cannot ignore the truth. Russia is at fault for this war,” Bacon posted on X.
Later, in an updated statement, he said, “A bad day for America’s foreign policy. Ukraine wants independence, free markets and rule of law. It wants to be part of the West. Russia hates us and our Western values. We should be clear that we stand for freedom.”
Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley, co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus and member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said Trump “chose the side of dictators.”
“What just happened in the Oval Office was one of the most embarrassing moments in American history,” Quigley, from Illinois, exclaimed. “The world order that was established after the Second World War is dead.”
Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick said, “It was heartbreaking to witness the turn of events that transpired in today’s meeting regarding Ukraine’s future. It is time to put understandable emotions aside and come back to the negotiation table. This can and will be fixed. A strong, sovereign Ukraine is essential for global stability in the face of Putin’s ongoing aggression.”
ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim contributed to this report.
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., said negotiations for a deal to free the hostages in the Hamas-Israel war “are literally happening as we speak.”
“Let’s allow our hostages to be set free. I want to see them walking across the tarmac, or at a minimum, some type of agreement before inauguration because President Trump is serious,” Waltz told ABC’s “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl on Sunday. “Any deal will only get worse for Hamas, and there will be all hell to pay in the Middle East if we continue to have this kind of hostage diplomacy.”
Officials close to ceasefire negotiations told ABC News on Sunday that a high-level Israeli delegation led by the head of the Mossad has already arrived in Doha for a critical round of talks. Egyptian and U.S. officials are participating in the conversations, including Trump’s incoming Middle East adviser Steven Witkoff and President Joe Biden’s outgoing adviser Brett McGurk.
On U.S. relations with Russia, Karl asked Waltz about plans for Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet.
Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin would welcome a meeting with Trump, but that it would most likely happen after he takes office. When asked about a potential meeting with the Russian president while attending a dinner with Republican governors, Trump said, “He wants to meet, and we’re going to, we’re setting it up.”
Waltz told Karl that “preparations are underway” for that meeting and that from Trump’s perspective, “you can’t enter a deal if you don’t have some type of relationship and dialogue with the other side, and we will absolutely establish that in the coming months.”
Concerning Ukraine, Waltz said the Trump administration will be asking about its military manpower, noting that it “could generate hundreds of thousands of new soldiers” if it lowered its draft age.
“They certainly have taken a very noble and tough stand, but we need to see those manpower shortages addressed,” Waltz said. “This isn’t just about munitions, ammunition or writing more checks. It’s about seeing the front lines stabilized so that we can enter into some type of deal.”
Trump has also repeatedly expressed interest in acquiring Greenland and the Panama Canal, even not ruling out using the U.S. military to do so if he saw fit.
Asked if Trump was serious about using military power, Waltz said, “What he’s very serious about is the threats that we’re facing in the Arctic — the threats that we’re facing in the Western Hemisphere.”
“Enough is enough for having our adversaries coming into our Western Hemisphere threaten our, you know, our national security and President Trump is ready to take big, bold steps to ensure the United States is well-defended,” he said.
Further pressed by Karl on whether Trump would use military force to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal, Waltz said the president-elect “is never going to take an option off the table, unlike, frankly, his predecessor, so when it comes to our national defense, that is paramount to the commander in chief.”
ABC News’ Jordana Miller contributed to this report.
