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Andrew McCabe, the former FBI deputy director who shut down investigations into the Clinton Foundation in 2016 then undermined the Trump presidency with Crossfire Hurricane, told CNN Thursday that former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers would be a "totally reasonable, logical selection" for President-elect Donald Trump's FBI director.
McCabe said that Rogers' "strongest qualification ... is the respect and awareness and knowledge that he has for the intelligence community, for the work they do, for the seriousness of that work, for how those secrets and that sensitive information needs to be protected."
To the likely displeasure of McCabe and other exponents of the Washington security establishment, Trump has apparently joined Michigan voters in rejecting Rogers.
Trump adviser Dan Scavino indicated Friday morning — shortly after Fox News' Brian Kilmeade sung Rogers' praises — that where FBI Director Christopher Wray's replacement is concerned, Rogers is "not happening."
Scavino quoted President-elect Donald Trump as saying, "I have never even given it a thought."
This came as great news to those alternatively keen to see former National Security Council official Kash Patel named Wray's successor.
"Winning," tweeted Donald Trump Jr.
"Boom," wrote Revolver News editor Darren Beattie.
Rumors that Trump was considering Rogers for the position began to circulate last week after the former congressman met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
The prospect of a defense lobbyist associated with censorious groups antagonistic to Trump and historically supportive of mass surveillance programs running the FBI rankled Trump loyalists and other critics of the dysfunctional administrative state, particularly those keen to see Patel nominated.
Mike Benz, the executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, told former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon that Rogers' involvement with the Atlantic Council — "probably the number-one apex predator in the entire censorship industry" — and his help advancing Russiagate were disqualifying.
'There is a lot of damage someone like Kash Patel could do.'
Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald tweeted, "There's literally no worse appointment possible than choosing Mike Rogers for FBI Director, or for any government position. He's the single most devoted loyalist to the US Security State and all of its multi-faceted abuses. It doesn't get worse than Mike Rogers."
Wikileaks highlighted that Rogers, favored by Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and John Cornyn (Texas), not only pushed for the suppression of a Republican memo critical of the FBI's spying on the Trump campaign but was involved with the German Marshall Fund's Alliance for Securing Democracy initiative and its Hamilton 68 Dashboard. Wikileaks noted that the dashboard's "true purpose appeared to be casting suspicion on Trump supporters and reinforcing claims that his presidency was illegitimate."
McCabe — whom Trump fired in March 2018 after the Justice Department's inspector general concluded McCabe had authorized an information leak to a liberal reporter then lied about it — expressed horror Thursday at the prospect of Patel taking power.
"It's inconceivable to me that an outsider with no experience in the organization, no knowledge of the work and the scope of authority that’s involved there could perform adequately," he told CNN. "If you enter into that position with nothing more than a desire to disrupt and destroy the organization, there is a lot of damage someone like Kash Patel could do."
McCabe is hardly the only establishmentarian fearful of Patel taking over the bureau.
'I'd shut down the FBI Hoover building on Day One.'
Former FBI Special Agent Daniel Brunner told CNN's Jessica Dean on Sunday, "Putting someone like Kash Patel in the position of director of the FBI is, I believe, extremely, extremely dangerous."
"He has clearly stated that he wants to exact revenge upon those that have investigated President Trump and those who have investigated those that are around him. He will conduct a massive amount of damage to the interior of the FBI," added Brunner.
The leftist blog New Republic called Patel an "intellectual lightweight" and warned that "if Trump installs Patel at the FBI, it would certainly further Trump and his MAGA allies' goal of purging the federal workforce of disloyal employees."
Patel wrote in his book "Government Gangsters" that "government tyranny" within the FBI must be eliminated and called for the removal of anyone who "in any way abused their authority for political ends."
"The FBI has become so thoroughly compromised that it will remain a threat to the people unless drastic measures are taken," wrote Patel.
Patel recently told "The Shawn Ryan Show," "I'd shut down the FBI Hoover building on Day One and reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state."
Blaze News previously reported that despite his characterization as inexperienced, Patel has served as chief of staff to former acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller; as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council; principal deputy to the acting director of national intelligence; as national security adviser for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; as a terrorism prosecutor at the Department of Justice; as a public defender; and as a hockey coach.
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