Stephen Friend, a former FBI agent, told Newsmax on Monday that Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for FBI director, is the right person for the beleaguered agency.
"Kash is eminently qualified ... to assume leadership of a broken FBI that, for all intents and purposes, probably deserves to be shattered into a thousand pieces and scattered into the dustbin of history," Friend said on "Newsline."
Friend noted Patel's background as a public defender and a prosecutor who worked to root out corruption in the FBI when he served in the first Trump administration.
"I've had some conversations with Kash Patel, and he's definitely somebody who's a young guy who's energetic and wants to bring about the changes that we have as it pertains to the intelligence collection apparatus for the FBI," Friend said.
While some lawmakers have expressed concern about the Patel pick politicizing the FBI, Friend noted that former FBI directors James Comey and Christopher Wray investigated Trump and other Americans.
"It's a politicized agency at this point," Friend said. "And I think Kash Patel, with his proven track record of trying to root out those sorts of corruptions, makes me optimistic. We could bring about change.
"But I always look at a suspicious eye for what ultimately the FBI is going to evolve into, which is why I'm always concerned that maybe we just need to part ways with it entirely. But for the time being, I do think that Kash Patel is uniquely qualified to be in this position to bring it."
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