President Donald Trump’s nominee to be FBI Director, Kash Patel, was paid $25,000 by a Russian filmmaker with connections to the Kremlin, The Washington Post reports.
Documents obtained by the paper reveal that Patel was paid by Global Tree Pictures, a film company owned by Igor Lopatonok, a Russian national who also holds U.S. citizenship.
Lopatanok has produced shows pushing U.S. “deep state” conspiracy theories and views skeptical of the West, which are also relentlessly promoted by the Kremlin, a financial disclosure form submitted by Patel as part of his confirmation process revealed.
The Russian filmmaker’s previous projects include an influence campaign that was on the receiving end of money from a fund created by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Patel took part in a documentary produced by Lopatanok, which portrayed the FBI director nominee and other former Trump allies and officials as being victims of a conspiracy that “destroyed the lives of those who stood by Donald Trump in an attempt to remove the democratically elected president from office.”
The series, called All the President’s Men: The Conspiracy Against Trump, was broadcast in November on the network of former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Patel said in a segment that he would “shut down the FBI headquarters building and open it up as a museum to the ‘deep state.’”
If confirmed as FBI director, Patel would be in charge of the agency leading the work of battling Russian spying operations in the U.S.
Patel spokesperson Erica Knight told The Post in a statement that the nominee “has gone above and beyond in this advice and consent process.”
“That includes countless meetings with senators, disclosing and reporting all sources of income, submitting hundreds of pages of documents, replying to hundreds of pages of questions for the record, and testifying for six hours with multiple rounds of questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee,” she added. “The Senate has evaluated all potential conflicts and concerns. Mr. Patel looks forward to a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee this Thursday and being swiftly confirmed by the Senate so he can start working to refocus the FBI on making our country safer.”
Knight did not directly address the apparent conflict of interest of Patel becoming FBI director after being on the payroll of someone linked to the Kremlin and spreading Russian-backed propaganda.
A spokesperson for committee chair Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, also told the newspaper that “Patel has complied with all financial disclosure requirements. The Office of Government Ethics and the Department of Justice have reviewed and approved his financial disclosures. Any effort to raise concerns about Patel’s financial disclosures should be dismissed as an obvious smear campaign.”
The committee vote on Patel’s nomination was planned for this week but was delayed following concerns from Democratic members, who have opposed his nomination, arguing that he’s an extremist with little leadership experience who would put the FBI to work going after Trump’s perceived enemies.
Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said the panel should bring Patel back for further questioning amid the ongoing investigation and firings of Department of Justice officials and FBI staff who worked on probes into the January 6 Capitol riot.
