Report Exposes FBI Surveillance of Potential New Director Kash Patel

Next month is set to be uncomfortable at FBI headquarters, as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the bureau is expected to take charge.

Recent findings from a government watchdog report reveal that the FBI surveilled its incoming director, Kash Patel.

Patel has vowed to “clean house” at the Hoover Building and ensure accountability for those who misused their authority during the Russiagate “witch hunt.”

He might begin by addressing the FBI officials and agents who clandestinely gathered his phone records and emails starting in late 2017, when he spearheaded a House Intelligence Committee inquiry into the bureau’s dependence on false opposition research from Hillary Clinton to surveil a Trump campaign associate labeled a “Russian agent.”

According to a nearly 100-page report by the Justice Department’s inspector general, the FBI issued subpoenas for these records as part of an investigation to determine if congressional staffers leaked classified information regarding its Trump-Russia “collusion” inquiry to The Washington Post and other media outlets.

Collaborating with Justice career prosecutors, the FBI compelled Google and Apple to provide sensitive private information belonging to targeted individuals “between September 2017 and March 2018,” a timeframe when Andrew McCabe served as acting FBI director. The report noted that then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions was not informed, having recused himself from the Russia probe.

The court orders prohibited the service providers from informing Patel and other clients about the data collection.

As chief counsel, Patel was unaware that the FBI was gathering his data, which also included visibility into communications with witnesses, including whistleblowers.

During this period, Patel was actively seeking FBI documents and aiming to question FBI witnesses regarding the agency’s potential abuse of power in acquiring a FISA warrant to surveil Trump aide Carter Page.

However, Patel remained oblivious until 2022, when Google was finally permitted to provide him with a copy of the subpoena. Infuriated, he stated, “The FBI and DOJ subpoenaed my personal records while I was catching them doing this to Page back in 2017.”

He noted that the McCabe FBI aimed to prevent anyone from discovering that it “literally copied and pasted” Democratic opposition research into wiretap-warrant applications.

Patel expressed hope that those responsible for these abuses would be prosecuted under a future Trump administration: “They must be held accountable or they’ll just continue to abuse their power.”

The IG investigation revealed that the FBI renewed the subpoenas annually, spying on congressional staffers for up to five years. This implies that McCabe’s successor, Christopher Wray, approved the ongoing data collection.

Justice Department IG Michael Horowitz stated that this unprecedented surveillance raised “at a minimum, the appearance of inappropriate interference” by the FBI in legitimate congressional oversight. He cautioned that it could deter whistleblowers from coming forward.

On the day following the report’s release, FBI Director Christopher Wray announced his intention to resign at the end of President Biden’s term, paving the way for Trump’s nominee Patel to assume leadership of the agency.

“This [IG] report highlights precisely why Kash Patel is the ideal leader to reform and rebuild the FBI,” Patel’s spokesperson told The Post. “Kash grasps the essential balance between national security and safeguarding civil rights [and] will collaborate closely with Congress to restore trust.”

A former ally of Patel on Capitol Hill, who was also targets of FBI surveillance, described the leak investigation as a “fishing expedition.” Former Senate investigator Jason Foster contended that McCabe utilized it as a “pretext” to uncover what he and Patel were doing to reveal FBI corruption in its Russiagate inquiry regarding Trump.

At that time, Foster’s Senate Judiciary Committee had compelled the FBI to disclose the questionable Page FISA applications. He noted that the inspector general found that no charges were ever filed in the FBI’s extensive investigation of unauthorized disclosures to the media, despite the expansive scope McCabe employed.

Foster also pointed out that McCabe was investigated for leaking information to the media about an overdue Clinton-related inquiry, and subsequently lying to the IG and FBI inspectors.

“Mr. McCabe lied about his own leaking and should have faced prosecution for it, as per the Obama-appointed Justice IG [Horowitz], but did not,” he told The Post. “Now that this fishing expedition into the communications of congressional attorneys has been validated by the same IG, it’s imperative that the new administration holds individuals accountable.”

Foster, now chairing the whistleblower support group Empower Oversight, stated that the misconduct by the McCabe-led FBI was even more severe than reported. It also included the collection of phone records belonging to associates, including his wife.

He shared, “My head was spinning,” upon learning about the extent of the surveillance. He asserted that agents and prosecutors misled the DC magistrate judge approving the subpoenas and non-disclosure orders by failing to disclose that the targets were congressional attorneys.

“They misled the court,” he stated. “They consistently claimed, without evidence, that we were flight risks or would ‘destroy evidence.’”

IG Horowitz concurred that the language used in the subpoenas was “boilerplate,” increasing the likelihood of judges simply authorizing them.

As a result, “they obtained a wide range of information about our communications, lacking probable cause and without notifying congressional leadership, eliminating any chance for Congressional challenge,” Foster explained.

“They can still gather such information,” he warned, unless reforms to safeguard the separation of powers are enacted in the future.

Horowitz confirmed that the personal data acquired through the subpoenas (including over 75,000 text messages), along with the electronic communications detailing the investigations and FBI interview reports, are housed at FBI headquarters.

He noted he only scrutinized “a select number” of the thousands of files, leaving multiple aspects for Patel to investigate further.

Several agents and supervisors involved in this situation remain employed at the FBI, according to the IG report, and continue to have access to these files.

While it’s possible to dismiss wrongdoing by current agency employees, what about those who have departed? The five-year federal statute of limitations has elapsed, complicating the possibility of prosecuting suspected criminal misconduct by present and past FBI officials and agents.

Foster suggested that these individuals could still forfeit their esteemed national security clearance. As FBI director, Patel would have the power to revoke McCabe and other former officials’ classified credentials, potentially rendering them unable to work in federal law enforcement again. Patel remarked in a recent podcast that any official implicated in fabricating Trump’s involvement in the “Russiagate hoax” should have their security clearance revoked.

On CNN, where McCabe serves as an analyst, he recently commented that Patel is unqualified to lead the FBI: “He doesn’t possess even a fraction of the qualifications that any former FBI director appointed by any president has.”

McCabe expressed concern that Patel may revert the bureau to the era of J. Edgar Hoover, where it acted as “essentially the enforcement arm for the president’s political activities.”

He worries that Patel will infringe upon civil liberties? That’s an ironic concern, as Patel points out, considering it was “gangster” McCabe who authorized one of the unlawful FISA warrants to surveil Page.

Paul Sperry is a senior reporter for RealClearInvestigations. Follow him on X: @paulsperry_