Kash Patel tapped as acting ATF director

One of the more controversial appointments of Donald Trump just got double tasked.

Kash Patel, who fought for his appointment as Director of the FBI during Senate hearing, just picked up another job title.

Patel has been named as the Acting Director of the ATF.

Double Duty

Patel faced challenges from both sides of the aisle in regard to becoming the Director of the FBI.

He has said some pretty wild stuff in the past, and it call came back to haunt him during his confirmation hearings.

For instance, regarding journalists who Patel claimed “lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,” he stated, “We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminally or civilly – we’ll figure that out.”

I had actually been looking forward to Patel squaring off against Senator Adam Schiff (R-CA), who, as a congressman, allegedly leaked classified information and lied about FISA warrant abuse during the Russian collusion investigation.

Patel is believed to have authored the memo that was issued by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), which was called a complete and utter lie by Schiff. But, as it turned out, it was Schiff that was lying.

Patel chose to play it safe, not getting into a confrontation with Schiff, as I had hoped.

He barely made it through, passing with a final vote of 51-49, only because Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who had been adamant that he was a “no” for Patel, flipped as the last second and approved him.

After being confirmed, Patel took a much softer tone than he had in the past regarding his plans for the FBI.

He proclaimed, "I am honored to be confirmed as the ninth Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

My mission as Director is clear: let good cops be cops - and rebuild trust in the FBI. We will rebuild an FBI the American people can be proud of.”

President Trump then named former Secret Service agent, Fox News contributor, and conservative podcast host Dan Bongino as the Deputy Director of the FBI.

Now Patel has been tasked with leading the ATF until Trump’s nominee can be approved.

Patel will have a new General Counsel as well, with Attorney General Pam Bondi firing ATF’s General Counsel, Pamela Hicks.

Hicks responded to the firing in her LinkedIn page, writing, “Earlier today, I was served official notice from the Attorney General of the United States that I was being removed from my position as the Chief Counsel of ATF and my employment with the Department of Justice terminated.”

Trump 2.0 is far different from Trump’s first time in office. He is taking no prisoners and removing every obstruction to his administration.