1 of 5 | Kash Patel exhibits his pleasure after being sworn in as FBI director within the Eisenhower Government Workplace Constructing on Friday, February 21, 2025. Picture by Will Oliver/UPI | License Picture
Feb. 21 (UPI) — FBI Director Kash Patel instructed workers Friday on his first day on the job he plans to maneuver company jobs from Washington, D.C., to area places of work across the nation and to FBI Redstone Arsenal campus in Huntsville, Ala.
CNN obtained an electronic mail to employees.
“My precedence is to help and drive much more impactful investigations,” Patel wrote. “Enhancing the sphere assets and bolstering our operational capabilities are the best methods to guard the American individuals.”
Patel had targeted on criticizing the company for being nominated by Donald Trump, even saying the headquarters can be became a museum proper after he was sworn in.
However throughout his Senate affirmation listening to this month, he instructed Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware that he meant the FBI wanted to maneuver extra brokers and its investigative focus into the inside of the nation to guard People.
The FBI has about 1,300 employees at its Huntsville advanced.
Total, the FBI has round 38,000 workers, together with 13,700 particular brokers.
He was sworn in s the company’s ninth FBI director by Legal professional Common Palm Bondi to the 10-year-term. All of them had been Republicans, together with Christopher Wray, who did not end his time period as a result of Trump wished him out.
“Look, I do know the media’s in right here, and when you’ve got a goal, the goal’s proper right here,” Patel mentioned Friday as he pointed to himself. “It isn’t the women and men on the FBI.”
“You’ve gotten written every little thing you presumably can about me that is faux, malicious, slanderous and defamatory. Maintain it coming. Convey it on, however go away the women and men of the FBI out of it. They deserve higher,” Patel instructed information shops, sparking applause from his supporters within the room.
Patel addressed his critics who imagine there will likely be a “two-tiered system of justice.”
“Not with Legal professional Common Bondi,” he mentioned. “There is a singular system of justice for all People, and there will likely be accountability.
“We are going to uphold the Structure. We are going to uphold ourselves to the Structure. The women and men on the FBI – I’ve your again as a result of you’ve gotten the backs of the American individuals,” he mentioned. “You may be held to the identical excessive customary. Any deviation from that customary won’t be tolerated at this Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
He then met with senior FBI leaders who had been put in earlier than his affirmation.
On Thursday, Patel was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a 51-49 vote. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined all 47 Democrats in opposing his nomination. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who opposed Cupboard picks Pete Hegseth, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, voted in favor of Trump’s choose for FBI director.
Patel thanked Trump, his household and the senators who voted for his affirmation, saying they’d put an “huge leap of religion” in him.
“I’m residing the American dream, and anybody that thinks the American dream is useless, simply look proper right here. You are speaking to a first-generation Indian child who’s about to guide the legislation enforcement neighborhood of the best nation on God’s inexperienced Earth. That may’t occur wherever else,” Patel mentioned.
Beforehand served as a Nationwide Safety Council official, chief of employees to the performing secretary of protection and senior advisor to the performing director of nationwide intelligence in Trump’s first presidency. He additionally has been a public defender and Justice Division trial legal professional.
Commerce secretary
Howard Lutnick on Friday was sworn in as commerce secretary by Vice President JD Vance throughout a ceremony within the Oval Workplace.
He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, 51-45 in a party-line vote with two Democrat and Republican senators not voting.
Throughout the affirmation listening to, Lutnick mentioned he favors blanket tariffs on a country-by-country foundation to assist stability commerce between the USA and different nations.
“Our farmers, our ranchers and our fishermen are handled with disrespect,” Lutnick instructed the committee. “We’d like that disrespect to finish, and I believe tariffs are a option to create reciprocity.”
Lutnick, the previous chair and CEO of funding agency Cantor Fitzgerald, mentioned throughout his affirmation listening to that “my plan is to solely serve the American individuals. So I’ll divest, which means I’ll promote all of my pursuits, all of my enterprise pursuits, all of my belongings, every little thing.”