Kash Patel, onetime FBI target, now on track to run the FBI - Washington Examiner

Not long ago, a left-wing journalist argued that when Republicans describe Kash Patel’s nomination to be FBI director as a way to “clean out” the FBI and “restore its integrity,” they are in fact creating “cover to go along with Trump’s scheme to unleash the FBI on enemies.” - Byron York 

It’s a common criticism in anti-Trump circles. But it raises a question. Where were these people in 2017, 2018, and after? If one wants to discuss the prospect of a new director unleashing the FBI on enemies, shouldn’t he grapple with the reality of years of bureau leadership unleashing the FBI on enemies?

During the Trump years, FBI directors and other top law enforcement and intelligence officials did the following:
1) Opened investigations on presidential candidates.
2) Deployed undercover agents and confidential sources to spy on a candidate’s advisers.
3) Hired a campaign opposition researcher under the guise of intelligence gathering.
4) Presented false opposition research to a court as a basis for wiretapping a candidate’s adviser.
5) Used false opposition research to brief the president of the United States.
6) Ambushed the president-elect with false opposition research.
7) Sought to include false opposition research in intelligence community products.
8) Ambushed the national security adviser with wiretap information on the pretense of a Logan Act violation.
9) Misled/stonewalled Congress on the investigation of the president.
10) Misled the president about the investigation targeting him...