{"id":21318,"date":"2025-01-31T07:15:35","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T12:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=21318"},"modified":"2025-01-31T18:31:42","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T23:31:42","slug":"can-patel-leash-the-fbi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Patel Leash the FBI?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

Can Patel Leash the FBI?<\/a><\/h2>\n

by James Bovard, American Institute for Economic Research, January 31, 2025<\/p>\n

The FBI has long been considered the most powerful <\/a>and the most incorrigible federal domestic agency. Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a confirmation hearing for Kash Patel<\/a>, President Trump\u2019s nominee to head the Bureau. Can Patel, the author of Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy<\/em><\/a>, find a way to compel the FBI to obey both the law and the Constitution?<\/p>\n

Former FBI chief James Comey described himself in 2018 as the \u201cguardian\u201d of the FBI\u2019s role \u201cas an independent force in American life<\/a>.\u201d But when James Madison crafted the Constitution, he wisely omitted including a fourth branch of government consisting of an all-powerful secret police. That \u201cindependent force\u201d FBI has repeatedly sought to rig presidential elections and perpetually scorned constitutional limits on its own power.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2016, top FBI officials effectively crippled any investigation of the corrupt Clinton Foundation, according to a 2023 report<\/a> by Special Counsel John Durham.\u00a0 FBI \"\"<\/a>chieftains rescued Hillary Clinton\u2019s presidential campaign by treating her perpetual violations of federal laws on classified documents as a harmless, unintentional error.<\/p>\n

In May 2017, President Donald Trump fired FBI chief Comey. As journalist Aaron Mate<\/a> recently revealed, the FBI immediately retaliated by launching a massive surveillance investigation of the new president.\u00a0 Did they presume Trump was guilty of Lese Majeste<\/a><\/em> for dissing the FBI or what?<\/p>\n

That investigation fueled the probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller of suspected collusion between the Trump 2016 campaign and the Russian government.\u00a0 Though Mueller found no collusion to prosecute<\/a>, the leaks and controversies from his probe helped Democrats capture control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 elections and partially crippled the first Trump presidency.\u00a0 As a staffer on the House Intelligence Committee, Patel helped lead the congressional investigation into FBI shenanigans<\/a> with Russia-gate.<\/p>\n

In 2019, the FBI came into the possession of Hunter Biden\u2019s laptop, containing bushels of evidence of corrupt dealings by numerous Biden family members. \u00a0 Though the laptop was quickly confirmed as authentic<\/a>, the FBI failed to object when other federal agencies<\/a> and former top officials portrayed the laptop<\/a> as a Russian disinformation ploy.\u00a0 The FBI thereby helped defuse<\/a> perhaps the biggest bomb beneath the 2020 Biden presidential campaign.<\/strong><\/p>\n

FBI agents run wild because the Bureau has defined entrapment out of existence<\/strong>. Trevor Aaronson, author of The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI\u2019s Manufactured War on Terrorism<\/a><\/em>, estimated that only about 1 percent of the 500 people charged with international terrorism offenses<\/a> in the decade after 9\/11 were bona fide threats.<\/a> Thirty times as many were induced by the FBI to behave in ways that prompted their arrest. \u00a0The FBI relied on entrapment, <\/a>(by any common definition, and the opinion of two juries<\/a>) to concoct an absurd scheme to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer led by paid FBI informants and undercover agents. The alleged kidnapping was then strategically announced to boost Democratic candidate Joe Biden just before the 2020 election.<\/p>\n

The First Amendment did nothing to deter the FBI from becoming a lead player in the Censorship Industrial Complex<\/strong>. \u00a0 The FBI pressured Twitter to suspend accounts for posting \u201cpossible civic misinformation\u201d (not including FBI press releases). The FBI hammered Twitter to torpedo parody accounts that only idiots or federal agents would not recognize as humor. As journalist Matt Taibbi noted<\/a>, \u201cRequests [to Twitter to suppress accounts] poured in from FBI offices all over the country, day after day, hour after hour. If Twitter didn\u2019t act quickly, questions came: \u2018Was action taken?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Congress and federal courts tacitly entitle the FBI to be a secret fiefdom.<\/strong> The FBI continues refusing to disclose its \u201carticulable factual basis\u201d for its 2017 decision to treat President Trump as a Russian agent, despite a 2022 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from Aaron Mate<\/a>.\u00a0 The FBI deleted the names of Clark Kent and Lois Lane from a letter that made reference to the famous Superman characters \u2014 because disclosing them in a FOIA response would \u201cconstitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.\u201d\u00a0 Louis Freeh, director of the FBI from 1993-2001, repeatedly denounced my articles<\/strong> <\/a>on Ruby Ridge; but when I filed a FOIA, the FBI claimed to have no records of those published letters to the editor.<\/p>\n

The FBI admitted a couple of years ago that it had abused the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to wrongfully spy on hundreds of thousands of Americans. The FBI abused FISA to target people who notified the FBI of crimes, repairmen entering FBI facilities, and even chumps who volunteered for the FBI \u201cCitizens Academy\u201d program. For each American that the FISA court authorized the FBI to target, the FBI illicitly surveilled<\/a> almost a thousand additional Americans. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) quipped that FISA stands for \u201cFederal Investigators Stalking Americans.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

But Congress did make one crucial reform when it renewed FISA last April.\u00a0 It required that the FBI notify any member<\/a> of Congress who falls under their warrantless surveillance under FISA. \u00a0 This is the \u201cclose enough for government work\u201d standard for defending the Constitution in Washington.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kash Patel was a staffer for Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA), one of the few congressmen to persistently and savvily challenge FBI power. (Nunes is now the chair of the President Trump\u2019s Intelligence Advisory Board.) But going back to the era of J. Edgar Hoover, Congress has usually been worse than useless on the FBI.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/strong>How are you so great and how can we help you?\u201d is the usual response that FBI chiefs receive when testifying before congressional committees, as Guardian<\/em> \"\"<\/a>columnist Trevor Timm noted.\u00a0 I saw the same kowtowing when I covered House hearings on Waco in the summer of 1995.\u00a0 After a standoff concluded with an FBI tank assault and 80 people dead, most Republican congressmen fizzled their time in hearings trumpeting their slavish devotion to federal law enforcement. When Attorney General Janet Reno was asked why she approved the use of 54-ton tanks to assail the Davidians, Reno replied that these were \u201cnot military weapons\u2026. it was like a good rent-a-car.\u201d Most Republicans ignored Reno\u2019s whitewashing of the federal iron fist<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Actually, Capitol Hill cowering started long before Waco. In 1971, House Majority Leader Hale Boggs (D-LA) declared that members of Congress were terrified of the FBI: \u201cOur very fear of speaking out [against the FBI] has watered the roots and hastened the growth of a vine of tyranny\u2026 Our society\u2026 cannot survive a planned and programmed fear of its own government bureaus and agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has been nearly 50 years since a Senate committee exposed sweeping FBI abuses and proclaimed that no federal agency should ever again \u201cbe permitted to conduct a secret war against those citizens it considers threats to the established order.\u201d But instead of Congress imposing strict leashes on FBI power, the Washington establishment sufficed in 1976 with an Attorney General announcing administrative reforms. The flowery rhetoric did nothing to curb the growth of the FBI\u2019s power in subsequent decades.<\/p>\n

If Kash Patel is confirmed, will he give the orders to open the files on the FBI\u2019s follies, crimes, and cover-ups?<\/strong> So far, Trump has shown more enthusiasm for securing the FBI a \u201cnew and spectacular<\/a> [headquarters] building\u201d than for exposing the FBI\u2019s perpetual trampling of Americans\u2019 rights and liberties.\u00a0 But Patel would be a Bureau boss who understands why people scoffed that the agency\u2019s acronym stood for Following Biden\u2019s Instructions.<\/p>\n

As James Madison warned in 1788, \u201cWherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 It is long since time to dethrone the FBI from its pinnacle in American politics and life.\u00a0 The Constitution will not survive unless the FBI is taken off its pedestal and placed where it belongs \u2014 under the law<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can Patel Leash the FBI? by James Bovard, American Institute for Economic Research, January 31, 2025 The FBI has long been considered the most powerful and the most incorrigible federal domestic agency. Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a confirmation hearing for Kash Patel, President Trump\u2019s nominee to head the Bureau. Can Patel, the author […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4470,753,1067,47,270,815,1170,3146,1073,565,4469,653,3523,1449,652,2810,4074,102,2371],"class_list":["post-21318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aaron-mate","tag-donald-trump","tag-entrapment","tag-fbi","tag-fisa","tag-foia","tag-hale-boggs","tag-hunter-biden-laptop","tag-james-comey","tag-janet-reno","tag-kash-patel","tag-louis-freeh","tag-matt-taibbi","tag-robert-mueller","tag-ruby-ridge","tag-trevor-aaronson","tag-trevor-timm","tag-waco","tag-whitmer"],"yoast_head":"\nCan Patel Leash the FBI? - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Can Trump FBI chief nominee Patel finally leash the FBI?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can Patel Leash the FBI? - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Can Trump FBI chief nominee Patel finally leash the FBI?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-31T12:15:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-31T23:31:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/FBI-DHS-BillRights-CrosshairsOption-TAC.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"762\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jimbovard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/31\\\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/31\\\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"headline\":\"Can Patel Leash the FBI?\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-31T12:15:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-31T23:31:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/31\\\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1291,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/31\\\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/FBI-DHS-BillRights-CrosshairsOption-TAC-800x508.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Aaron Mate\",\"donald trump\",\"entrapment\",\"FBI\",\"FISA\",\"FOIA\",\"Hale Boggs\",\"Hunter Biden laptop\",\"James Comey\",\"Janet Reno\",\"Kash Patel\",\"Louis Freeh\",\"Matt Taibbi\",\"Robert Mueller\",\"Ruby Ridge\",\"Trevor Aaronson\",\"Trevor Timm\",\"Waco\",\"Whitmer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/31\\\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/31\\\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/31\\\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\\\/\",\"name\":\"Can Patel Leash the FBI? - James Bovard\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/31\\\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/31\\\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/FBI-DHS-BillRights-CrosshairsOption-TAC-800x508.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-31T12:15:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-31T23:31:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"description\":\"Can Trump FBI chief nominee Patel finally leash the FBI?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/31\\\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/31\\\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/31\\\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/FBI-DHS-BillRights-CrosshairsOption-TAC.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/FBI-DHS-BillRights-CrosshairsOption-TAC.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":762},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/31\\\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Can Patel Leash the FBI?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"James Bovard\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\",\"name\":\"Jim\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Jim\"},\"description\":\"Bovard's homepage is at http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \\\"the roving inspector general of the modern state\\\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \\\"one-man truth squad.\\\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \\\"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\\\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/jim.bovard\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/jimbovard\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Can Patel Leash the FBI? - James Bovard","description":"Can Trump FBI chief nominee Patel finally leash the FBI?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Can Patel Leash the FBI? - James Bovard","og_description":"Can Trump FBI chief nominee Patel finally leash the FBI?","og_url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\/","og_site_name":"James Bovard","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","article_published_time":"2025-01-31T12:15:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-01-31T23:31:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":762,"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/FBI-DHS-BillRights-CrosshairsOption-TAC.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jim","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@jimbovard","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\/"},"author":{"name":"Jim","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"headline":"Can Patel Leash the FBI?","datePublished":"2025-01-31T12:15:35+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-31T23:31:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\/"},"wordCount":1291,"commentCount":2,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/FBI-DHS-BillRights-CrosshairsOption-TAC-800x508.jpg","keywords":["Aaron Mate","donald trump","entrapment","FBI","FISA","FOIA","Hale Boggs","Hunter Biden laptop","James Comey","Janet Reno","Kash Patel","Louis Freeh","Matt Taibbi","Robert Mueller","Ruby Ridge","Trevor Aaronson","Trevor Timm","Waco","Whitmer"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\/","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\/","name":"Can Patel Leash the FBI? - James Bovard","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/FBI-DHS-BillRights-CrosshairsOption-TAC-800x508.jpg","datePublished":"2025-01-31T12:15:35+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-31T23:31:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"description":"Can Trump FBI chief nominee Patel finally leash the FBI?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/FBI-DHS-BillRights-CrosshairsOption-TAC.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/FBI-DHS-BillRights-CrosshairsOption-TAC.jpg","width":1200,"height":762},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/31\/can-patel-leash-the-fbi\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Can Patel Leash the FBI?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/","name":"James Bovard","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f","name":"Jim","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"Jim"},"description":"Bovard's homepage is at http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \"the roving inspector general of the modern state\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \"one-man truth squad.\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","https:\/\/x.com\/jimbovard"],"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21318"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21325,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21318\/revisions\/21325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}