Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said the bureau would be in jeopardy if Kash Patel, a former aide to President-elect Trump, is nominated and confirmed to lead the agency.

“No part of the FBI mission is safe when Kash Patel is in a leadership position within the FBI, especially as deputy director,” McCabe told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Thursday evening. “The scope of authority is enormous.

“If you take that position with nothing more than a desire to disrupt and destroy the organization, someone like Kash Patel can do a lot of damage,” he said.

Patel has remained loyal to the newly elected president after serving as a senior adviser to then-director of national intelligence and chief of staff to former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller during Trump’s first term. But he was never directly employed by the FBI.

Earlier in the interview, McCabe mentioned the years of experience within the agency needed to understand its complex structure.

“I can tell you from my own experience: There is no way I could have successfully filled that role without spending the first 10 years of my career doing criminal work at the FBI,” he said on CNN’s “The Source.”

Former FBI Special Agent Daniel Brunner also said Patel’s leadership would do “tremendous damage” to the organization.

“Putting someone like Kash Patel in the position of director of the FBI is, I think, extremely, extremely dangerous because … his resume is not traditional,” Brunner said on CNN on Sunday.

However, Trump’s choice is similar to other appointments. Some have questioned the backgrounds of former “Fox & Friends” host Pete Hegseth, who was nominated to lead the Defense Department, and former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who was named director of national intelligence.

The president-elect has prioritized a reform-minded government with the help of billionaire Elon Musk and biotech entrepreneur – and former chief rival of the Republican Party – Vivek Ramaswamy, who will co-lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). which was created to put an end to ‘wasteful’ federal agencies.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports and streaming video, visit The Hill.