Kash Patel’s Cringe Documentary Teases What Could Be in Store for the FBI

Kash Patel will sit down in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday to explain why he should be confirmed to lead an agency he seems to despise. Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation has said he would shut down the agency’s headquarters “on Day 1” and “reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state.”

Patel — a Trump loyalist who has long been a controversial figure even within Trump’s own circle — harbors an obsession with purging the federal government of the “gangsters” he says have attempted to thwart Trump’s political project. As he prepares to defend his desire to dismantle large swaths of the FBI and go after Trump’s political enemies, it’s worth looking at the mythos Patel has created to justify his retaliatory goals.

Patel made a name for himself within Trump’s first administration as a semi-rogue actor willing to bend rules and norms in service of Trump’s agenda. His ascension through the ranks of the administration’s national security apparatus ended with Trump’s first term — which included an internal revolt by senior staff when the president floated naming him CIA Director. But Trump rewards the loyal, and this time around Patel is poised to become one of the most powerful law enforcement agents in the country.

Patel’s 2024 documentary Government Gangsters, a companion film to his 2023 book published under the same title, is a window into his thinking. The experience of watching Government Gangsters is akin to being dunked into a YouTube video essay your cousin insisted would explain everything you’re getting wrong about American politics — and it’s all the more terrifying considering the man who made it could soon be in charge of the FBI. 

Distributed by the right-wing content meat grinder Salem Media, the film is one of Patel’s many cash grabs, including merch, children’s books, self-branded wine, and dodgy “vaccine reversal” treatments. Government Gangsters features no interviews or commentary from prominent Republican figures, using only Patel’s narration, a never-ending montage of grainily edited photos and videos, and a spooky-scary soundscape. The FBI nominee rehashes dubiously sourced grievances he and Trumpworld have long held against the American justice system. He accuses the “government gangsters and their proteges” of “exploring every angle to silence not only Trump but the millions of Americans who support him.” The claim is by no means a new or creative narrative. 

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Like many right-wing “documentaries,” Government Gangsters flounders around the line between legitimate criticism of investigations — like the failings of the 2016 Russia election interference probe and the FBI’s mishandling of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal — and the cesspit of conjecture and sensationalism that animate right-wing animosity towards the FBI and Department of Justice. This animosity has led Patel to vow to “come after” Trump’s political rivals — and even members of the media — in an act of vengeance for their efforts to hold Trump to account. 

On Trump and Russia, Patel claims the investigation found its origins in the Steele Dossier, a salacious document produced by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele that was found to be little more than gossip. While the Steele Dossier was a prominent flashpoint in the Russia investigation, it was not the origin of the probe. The inquiry was first initiated in July 2016, after the FBI received a tip from the Australian government regarding a meeting between Trump consultant George Papadopoulos and a man with Russian connections who told him the Russian government had obtained hacked material from Hillary Clinton’s emails. 

The pattern repeats throughout the film. Republican fixations — stripped of their broader context, origins, and consequences — become the basis for Patel’s call to action to “participate in destruction of the deep state” and “create an army of people behind [Trump] that supports his movement with the truth.” 

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In Patel’s version of the “truth,” the Trump-Ukraine scandal was a desperate effort by the government “gangsters” to deflect from the shortcomings of the Russia probe. Hunter Biden’s laptop contained evidence of deals facilitating “the transfer of American military nuclear technology [to China] during the Obama administration.” The accusation that Trump supported the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was a fabricated narrative intended to keep him out of office and persecute his supporters as “domestic terrorists.” Trump had the right to keep all the classified documents they found at Mar-a-Lago, and he and Biden were treated differently by the DOJ not because Trump allegedly attempted to obstruct the investigation and destroy evidence, but because of their politics.

“It doesn’t matter if you are the president or an American citizen, if you represent any threat to the government gangsters, they’re going to use every tool in their power to take you out,” Patel argues.  

In realty, there is no actual evidence that Hunter Biden conducted business with China in a manner that jeopardized American nuclear security, or that Trump declassified the materials found at Mar-a-Lago or was otherwise entitled to take them from the White House. There is extensive evidence that Trump attempted to obstruct the investigation into the classified documents, attempted to pressure Ukraine into investigating Biden, and that he was aware of and encouraged efforts to usurp the 2020 election. 

Patel’s distortions and exaggerations omit the inconvenient truths that make Trump’s past conduct indefensible, and that represent the actual bases for these investigations. They instead serve the same cause much of the right-wing content ecosystem has dedicated itself to over the past eight years: portraying Trump as a martyr, and justifying their own planned abuses of power upon his return to the presidency. 

In December 2023, Patel told former Trump White House Adviser Steve Bannon — to whom the film is dedicated — that he plans to “go out and find the conspirators — not just in government, but in the media.”

“We’re going to come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out. But yeah, we’re putting you all on notice, and Steve, this is why they hate us. This is why we’re tyrannical. This is why we’re dictators,” he said. 

The book version of Government Gangsters includes a list of individuals he deems “the most dangerous threat to our democracy.” The list includes roughly 60 names, including Hillary Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey, former Attorney General Merrick Garland, and former FBI Director Christopher Wray. They serve as the primary villains of Patel’s film, alongside lawmakers like Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).

At one point in the film, Patel criticizes Comey for creating “the false perception that the FBI makes prosecutorial decisions, which they do not,” when he determined that there was no basis to prosecute Hillary Clinton over the scandal surrounding her at-home email server. The FBI did not outright stop a prosecution of Clinton, but followed a standard procedure in major cases of making a recommendation that was later adopted by the Justice Department. Patel’s — correct — emphasis that “the FBI, including its director, do not make prosecution decisions” may seem at odds with his revenge fantasies against Trump’s enemies.

Government Gangsters is a choppy attempt to justify the ascension of a vengeful political cartel that is coming to power alongside Trump, one that has publicly been putting targets on its foes for years now.  Trump’s prospective Attorney General Pam Bondi — who would work closely with Patel — said in 2023 that when Trump returns to power “the Department of Justice, the prosecutors, will be prosecuted.” Trump figures to have sway over how they operate and he has also, of course, repeatedly indicated he wants to go after his enemies. Shortly after taking office, he suggested Joe Biden would have been wise to preemptively pardon himself.

Patel will soon be subjected to an intense grilling by lawmakers regarding how he plans to use and potentially abuse the powers granted to him as FBI Director. He may attempt to use the FBI’s semi-subservient relationship with the DOJ as a shield, but the reality is that as FBI Director he would have the power to order interrogations, investigations, and the arrest of virtually anyone both on his enemies list. If his documentary and past comments are any indication, he’s not going to be afraid to do so.