Mary Trump, the estranged niece of President Donald Trump, issued a warning on Friday as Trump’s administration enters “new territory” with the confirmation of Kash Patel as the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Newsweek has reached out to the FBI via email for comment on Saturday morning.
Why It Matters
Mary Trump, a psychologist and media personality, has long been a staunch critic of her uncle’s, often issuing dire warnings about the risk he poses to the government and the country. Through her podcast, books, Substack and mainstream media appearances, she has built much of her personal brand around opposition to her uncle and his political movement.
Patel, who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in January, was widely considered one of Trump’s most vulnerable nominees, facing questions about his previous criticism of the FBI’s investigation into the Trump-Russia scandal, which involved allegations that Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign coordinated with Moscow’s efforts to interfere in the election, with special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe later finding no collusion. In addition, Patel pledged to fire top agency personnel who investigated Trump during his first term and after.
While many Democrats, and other Trump critics raised these concerns, ultimately only two GOP Senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted against his nomination on Thursday.
What To Know
In response to Patel’s confirmation, in a Substack post on Friday titled, “Jack-booted Thugs,” Mary Trump warned how the Trump administration is entering “new territory” as she condemned Patel and raised concern over the new state of the FBI.
“This is new territory—it’s all new territory. And I hate to end on a truism, but I think it’s apt: This is all going to get so much worse before it gets better. And we need to be prepared. Stay vigilant, everybody,” she wrote.
Mary Trump continued: “The FBI is now in the hands of the man who for months now has claimed that the agency is part of the deep state; that he has an enemies list comprised of those who have stood up to and spoken out against his pathetic boss.”
Patel had a number of testy exchanges with Democratic senators during his confirmation hearing. Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii grilled him on reports that he had an “enemies list,” asking him if he planned on investigating former FBI directors Christopher Wray and James Comey.
Patel responded that he has “no intentions of going backwards.”
Previously, Patel had called to root out government employees deemed insufficiently loyal to Trump in which he singled out many of those people in his book, Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy, published in 2023.
Patel also faced criticism over his alleged ties to Russia, after he submitted financial disclosures which showed he was paid $25,000 last year by a U.S.-Russian film company tied to Kremlin-backed conspiracy content.
Documents obtained by The Washington Post show that Patel received the money from Global Tree Pictures, a Los Angeles-based company run by Igor Lopatonok, a Russian national who also holds U.S. citizenship, whose previous projects include a pro-Russian campaign funded by a program created by Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has also produced programs promoting “deep state” conspiracy theories and anti-Western views advanced by the Kremlin.
The confirmation of Patel is only the latest of other contentious confirmation hearings including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was recently confirmed for secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Pete Hegseth, who was confirmed as the next secretary of defense when Vice President JD Vance cast a tie-breaking vote last month.
This is not the first time Mary Trump has warned against Trump’s incoming administration as she took to her Substack last week to warn of a possible “catastrophic outcome” following the confirmation of new director of national intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard.
Gabbard, who was one of Trump’s most controversial picks with critics accusing her of previously voicing pro-Russian points and raising concerns about her visit with former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2017, was confirmed by the Senate in a 52-48 vote. As the DNI, Gabbard oversees America’s 18 intelligence agencies and organizations. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was the only Republican to vote against her confirmation.
“One of the most powerful people in the cabinet is a known Russian asset, a defender of the murderous dictator Bashar al-Assad, and enemy to our ally (?) Ukraine,” Mary Trump wrote last week.
Gabbard has suggested that Russia was justified when it launched an invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government as a “corrupt autocracy.”
“There are many reasons Gabbard is unfit, but they lead to one potentially catastrophic outcome—having her in such a sensitive position will give our allies pause,” Mary Trump added last week on her Substack page.
Dominik Bindl/Getty Images
What People Are Saying
In a statement announcing she would not support Kash Patel, GOP Senator Susan Collins of Maine said that “recent personnel actions” at the Justice Department indicate that there is “a compelling need for an FBI Director who is decidedly apolitical.”
“While Mr. Patel has had 16 years of dedicated public service, his time over the past four years has been characterized by high profile and aggressive political activity,” she said.
“Mr. Patel has made numerous politically charged statements in his book and elsewhere discrediting the work of the FBI, the very institution he has been nominated to lead,” the Maine senator continued. “These statements, in conjunction with the questionnaire sent to thousands of FBI employees, cast doubt on Mr. Patel’s ability to advance the FBI’s law enforcement mission in a way that is free from the appearance of political motivation.”
Frank Montoya Jr., a retired FBI agent, told CNN that Patel’s confirmation is a “radical” change to the bureau: “I served under four directors in 27 years in the FBI and no one came in with these few qualifications, with this guy’s background, with the conspiracy theory angles. Just all of the things that he has said on podcasts and written in his book, it makes you wonder where the bureau is going to be heading next. It’s just, I don’t know, befuddling to me.”
Democratic Senator Peter Welch of Vermont told CNN of Patel’s confirmation: “It’s the end of the FBI as we know it. Patel is an instrument of Donald Trump. Donald Trump’s policy towards the Justice Department and the FBI is retribution and Kash Patel has signed onto that full throat.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, praised Patel on the Senate floor Thursday: “I look forward to working with Mr. Patel to restore the integrity of the FBI and get it focused on its critical mission.”
What Happens Next?
Patel’s confirmation tightens Trump’s grip on the federal government, placing a staunch loyalist in charge of the federal law enforcement agency of which Trump has been highly critical. While there are still a few Cabinet picks yet to be confirmed, those nominations are less likely to face strong opposition in the Republican-controlled Senate.
