Watchdog: Kash Patel’s Undemocratic Threats, Financial Ties to Foreign Adversaries Puts National Security At Risk

WASHINGTON, DC – As early as tomorrow, the U.S. Senate faces a historic test of priorities between America’s national security interests and self-serving loyalty to President Trump with the final confirmation vote for hopelessly flawed FBI Director nominee, Kashyap “Kash” Patel. 

While Patel’s credentials to lead the FBI are dangerously few, the reasons for disqualification are too many to count, including his lucrative consulting work for entities allegedly tied to foreign adversaries; his authoritarian and undemocratic threats to prosecute journalists and political opponents; his potential perjury involving his alleged firing of FBI officials without the power to do so; his continued use of the Trump brand to grift for himself and his wealthy friends to the tune of ‘hundreds of thousands’ of dollars; and amid a lawsuit demanding the release of Volume Two of a Special Counsel report on President Trump’s alleged mishandling of highly classified documents which may show Patel misled the public by claiming Trump declassified documents before leaving office. 

Before any of this came to light, even former Trump officials reportedly regarded Patel as “dangerous,” including General Mark Milley, who feared Patel would break the law for Trump, and former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr, who said, “Over my dead body” when Trump entertained naming Patel deputy director of the FBI during his first term. 

“Kash Patel is not just uniquely unqualified to serve as FBI Director, he shouldn’t even be allowed in the building,” said Tony Carrk, Executive Director of Accountable.US. “There’s clearly no limit to where Patel will go to make a quick buck for himself and friends, including selling election denial propaganda to children and consulting for sketchy companies linked to forced labor and foreign adversaries. Patel doesn’t even pretend he will prioritize Americans’ security above all with his undemocratic threats to use his power to put journalists and critics of the President in jail. Patel is talented at grifting people out of money while promoting the Donald Trump brand, but these qualities won’t help him root out national security threats– they will only distract him from them. 

“Kash Patel is so flawed as a nominee that even former Trump officials are worried that he’ll break the law to appease the President,” added Carrk. “It should not take courage for Senate Republicans to reject Patel as a dangerously dishonest and unqualified choice for FBI head who will make the nation less safe and more vulnerable to foreign influence.”  

A VOTE FOR KASH PATEL IS A VOTE FOR:  

Putting National Security at Risk With Patel’s Financial Ties to Foreign Adversaries

Accountable.US’ recent report revealed Kash Patel’s pattern of consulting for entities that have come under bipartisan scrutiny for their alleged ties to foreign adversaries – enriching himself by millions in the process. Patel’s financial disclosure revealed his clients, and among the key findings:

• Patel consulted for CSGM A.S., the “service organization” providing strategic planning and other services to the Czechoslovak Group (CSG), a Czech arms company. In 2024, then-Senator JD Vance sent a letter urging Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to block their acquisition of a US-based arms company because of “serious concern” about the business. Vance said the group has “a long record of wrongdoing and well-documented connections to American adversaries,” including reckless arms sales and ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. 
• Patel also consulted for the Embassy of Qatar. In 2024, the embassy spent $180,000 on lobbying and registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act to influence members of the public and government to view the Qatari government “in a positive light and to ultimately foster beneficial U.S. foreign policies” toward Qatar. Recently, Qatar has faced scrutiny from Republicans due to its involvement with Hamas. Patel has faced questions about whether he should have registered as a foreign agent for his work. 
• Patel also consulted for Elite Depot Ltd., the controlling entity of Chinese fast fashion retailer Shein. A recent Accountable.US analysis found Patel reported owning between one and five million dollars in stock in the company, which was received as payment for consulting. Elite Depot’s board is composed of Shein executives and the company’s investors. Two of these investors—IDG Capital and Sequoia Capital—faced scrutiny from lawmakers last year for their reputed ties to the Chinese Communist Party and its military apparatus. In recent years, Shein has drawn bipartisan criticism over their business practices, including using forced Uyghur labor. Earlier this month, the Trump administration considered adding Shein to the Department of Homeland Security’s “forced labor” list. In May 2023, members of Congress asked the SEC to require Shein to certify that their products did not use forced Uyghur labor. Throughout 2024, politicians, including former Senator and current Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Senator Tom Cotton, and a coalition of state AGs, stated their concerns about Shein’s business practices.

Dishonesty About Qualifications And Past Experience  

Patel has touted his role in the investigation of the 2012 attack on a diplomatic compound and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans. In his memoir, Government Gangsters, Patel wrote, “by the time the D.O.J. was moving in full force to compile evidence and bring prosecutions against the Benghazi terrorists, I was leading the prosecution’s efforts at Main Justice in Washington, D.C.” And on the Shawn Ryan Show, Patel said, “I was the Main Justice lead prosecutor for Benghazi for a while.”

Patel repeatedly made it sound as if he led the government’s overall effort to investigate and prosecute militants involved in the attack, but in reality, he took a junior position at the Justice Department well after the Benghazi investigation started and left before the first case went to trial. Former Trump officials and FBI agents have questioned Patel’s qualifications for high-ranking positions in federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

“Government Gangster” Hit List and Disrespect for the Constitution

Patel’s enemies list, which was annexed in his book Government Gangsters, is composed of President Trump’s political opponents and individuals who opposed his efforts to overturn the 2020 election result. Patel is also on record saying he is “going to come after” journalists who he believes “helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections”—members of the media whom President Trump has also targeted.

January 6th Grifting

Since leaving the last Trump administration, Patel has embarked on a series of business ventures profiting off of the January 6th insurrection and “Deep State” conspiracy theories. In 2023, Patel published his book Government Gangsters and was credited as a producer on the song “Justice for All,” which featured incarcerated insurrectionists and President Trump. Patel is also the author of three children’s books promoting lies about the first Trump presidency and the 2020 election as well as the co-owner of Based Apparel, which markets Trump-themed merchandise for as much as $70.

As Patel built a business empire off of January 6th, Patel has also said on multiple occasions that the money he made from these ventures would support January 6th insurrectionists. For example, Patel stated that sales of “Justice for All” would raise “funds” for January 6th insurrectionists and “net proceeds” from a shirt he is currently selling on BasedApparel.com would go to so-called “January 6th victims.”

Despite these claims, there has been little to no publicly documented proof that the money Patel made ultimately flowed to these individuals, most of whom—including violent offenders—recently received a pardon from President Trump. Now that President Trump has pardoned most Jan. 6 insurrectionists, Patel has not specified where the remaining funds collected from his January 6th-related business venture are going. 

Nonprofiteerism  

In 2022, Patel incorporated a nonprofit, the Kash Foundation, telling the Internal Revenue Service that the group would provide “financial support” to veterans and law enforcement and grants to “those who have the courage to stand up against government wrongdoing.”

Patel and the foundation’s other directors claim to not collect a salary. However, an Accountable.US review found that Patel’s group’s largest expense in 2023 was a payment of more than a quarter million dollars to a company owned by Patel’s foundation’s vice president. That same year, Patel reported giving out roughly $168,000 in direct cash assistance to some 50 anonymous individuals. Of the few individuals who have admitted to receiving money from Patel’s organization, some took specific actions that would seem to benefit Patel and President Trump. For example, two self-professed FBI whistleblowers admitted to receiving money from Patel around the same time that they testified to Congress that the Bureau had become “weaponized.” This intermingling of politics with Patel’s nonprofit work has raised questions about whether he is violating federal law and IRS rules.

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