On a visit to New Zealand, FBI Director Kash Patel gave the country’s police and spy bosses gifts of inoperable pistols that were illegal to possess under local gun laws and had to be destroyed, New Zealand law enforcement agencies told The Associated Press.

The plastic 3D-printed replica pistols formed part of the display stands Mr. Patel presented to at least three senior New Zealand security officials in July. Mr. Patel, the most senior Trump administration official to visit the country so far, was in Wellington to open the FBI’s first standalone office in New Zealand.

Pistols are tightly restricted weapons under New Zealand law, and possessing one requires an additional permit beyond a regular gun license. Law enforcement agencies didn’t specify whether the officials who met with Mr. Patel held such permits, but they couldn’t have legally kept the gifts if they didn’t.

It wasn’t clear what permissions Mr. Patel had sought to bring the weapons into the country. A spokesperson for Mr. Patel told the AP on Tuesday (September 30, 2025) that the FBI would not comment.

The pistols were surrendered and destroyed.

Inoperable weapons are treated as though they’re operable in New Zealand if modifications could make them workable again. The pistols were judged by gun regulators to be potentially operable and were destroyed, New Zealand’s Police Commissioner Richard Chambers told AP in a statement on Tuesday.

Chambers didn’t specify how the weapons had been rendered inoperable before Mr. Patel gifted them. Usually, this means the temporary disabling of the gun’s firing mechanism.

Three of New Zealand’s most powerful law enforcement figures said they received the gifts at meetings on July 31. Chambers was one recipient, and the other two were Andrew Hampton, Director-General of the country’s human intelligence agency NZSIS, and Andrew Clark, Director-General of the technical intelligence agency GCSB, according to a joint statement from their departments.

A spokesperson for the spy agencies described the gift as “a challenge coin display stand” that included the 3D-printed inoperable weapon “as part of the design.” The officials sought advice on the gifts the next day from the regulator that enforces New Zealand’s gun laws, Mr. Chambers said.

When the weapons were examined, it was discovered that they were potentially operable.

“To ensure compliance with firearms laws, I instructed the Police to retain and destroy them,” Mr. Chambers said.

James Davidson, a former FBI agent who is now president of the FBI Integrity Project, a nonprofit that seeks to safeguard the bureau from undue partisan influence, has criticised Mr. Patel’s appointment.

But Mr. Davidson said the gift of the replica pistols appeared “a genuine gesture” from Mr. Patel, and their destruction was “quite frankly, an overreaction by the NZSIS, which could have simply rendered the replica inoperable,” he said.

New Zealand has strong gun control

3D-printed weapons are treated the same as other guns in New Zealand. The country bolstered its gun restrictions following a 2019 white supremacist attack on two mosques in the city of Christchurch, when 51 Muslim worshipers were shot dead by an Australian man who had legally amassed a cache of semiautomatic weapons.

The guns Mr. Patel gifted to the law enforcement chiefs were not semiautomatic models, now prohibited after the Christchurch massacre. But there are a suite of other reasons New Zealanders might not legally be able to possess certain weapons, including the specific permits required for pistols.

New Zealand doesn’t have a passionate culture of gun ownership, and the weapons have been viewed more dimly since the mass shooting. Gun ownership is enshrined in New Zealand law as a privilege, not a right.

The country isn’t short on guns; they’re common in rural areas for pest control. But violent gun crime is rare, and many urban residents might never have even seen a firearm in person.

It’s uncommon even to see police officers carrying weapons. Front-line officers aren’t usually armed on patrol and leave their weapons locked in their vehicles.

Patel caused discomfort with China remarks about China

News of Mr. Patel’s visit caused ripples in New Zealand at the time because the opening of the new FBI field office in Wellington wasn’t divulged to news outlets or the public until it had already happened. An FBI statement in July said the move aligned New Zealand with FBI missions in other Five Eyes intelligence-sharing nations, which also include the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The office would provide a local mission for FBI staff who have operated with oversight from Canberra, Australia, since 2017, the statement said.

Public records disclosed to local news outlets this month revealed that Mr. Patel met with and dined with more than a dozen senior public servants and elected officials, including Cabinet Ministers, during his visit. It wasn’t immediately clear on Tuesday how many officials received the pistols as gifts.

Mr. Patel had already provoked mild diplomatic discomfort in Wellington by suggesting in remarks supplied to reporters that the new FBI office aimed to counter China’s influence in the South Pacific Ocean, where New Zealand is located. The comments prompted polite dismissal from officials in Wellington, who said the bolstered FBI presence was primarily to collaborate on child exploitation and drug smuggling crimes. Beijing decried Mr. Patel’s remarks.

Published – September 30, 2025 02:53 pm IST

Washington:

The Republican-controlled US Senate on Thursday confirmed Kash Patel, a staunch loyalist of President Donald Trump, to be director of the FBI, the country’s top law enforcement agency.

Patel, 44, whose nomination sparked fierce but ultimately futile opposition from Democrats, was approved by a 51-49 vote.

The vote was split along party lines with the exception of two Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who voted not to confirm Patel to head the 38,000-strong Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Patel drew fire from Democrats for his promotion of conspiracy theories, his defense of pro-Trump rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and his vow to root out members of a supposed “deep state” plotting to oppose the Republican president.

The Senate has approved all of Trump’s cabinet picks so far, underscoring his iron grip on the Republican Party.

Among them is Tulsi Gabbard, confirmed as the nation’s spy chief despite past support for adversarial nations including Russia and Syria, and vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be health secretary.

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, in a last-ditch bid to derail Patel’s nomination, held a press conference outside FBI headquarters in downtown Washington on Thursday and warned that he would be “a political and national security disaster” as FBI chief.

Speaking later on the Senate floor, Durbin said Patel is “dangerously, politically extreme.”

“He has repeatedly expressed his intention to use our nation’s most important law enforcement agency to retaliate against his political enemies,” he said.

Patel, who holds a law degree from Pace University and worked as a federal prosecutor, replaces Christopher Wray, who was named FBI director by Trump during his first term in office.

Relations between Wray and Trump became strained, however, and though he had three more years remaining in his 10-year tenure, Wray resigned after Trump won November’s presidential election.

– ‘Enemies list’ –

A son of Indian immigrants, the New York-born Patel served in several high-level posts during Trump’s first administration, including as senior director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council and as chief of staff to the acting defense secretary.

There were fiery exchanges at Patel’s confirmation hearing last month as Democrats brought up a list of 60 supposed “deep state” actors — all critics of Trump — he included in a 2022 book, whom he said should be investigated or “otherwise reviled.”

Patel has denied that he has an “enemies list” and told the Senate Judiciary Committee he was merely interested in bringing lawbreakers to book.

“All FBI employees will be protected against political retribution,” he said.

The FBI has been in turmoil since Trump took office and a number of agents have been fired or demoted including some involved in the prosecutions of Trump for seeking to overturn the 2020 election results and mishandling classified documents.

Nine FBI agents have sued the Justice Department, seeking to block efforts to collect information on agents who were involved in investigating Trump and the attack on the Capitol by his supporters.

In their complaint, the FBI agents said the effort to collect information on employees who participated in the investigations was part of a “purge” orchestrated by Trump as “politically motivated retribution.”

Trump, on his first day in the White House, pardoned more than 1,500 of his supporters who stormed Congress in a bid to block certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s choice to be director of the FBI. File
| Photo Credit: AP

A top Democratic senator has asked the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate after he says he received information that President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, had been “personally directing the ongoing purge” of agents at the bureau.

The letter Tuesday (February 11, 2025) from Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, asserts that Mr. Patel may have misled the panel at his confirmation hearing last month when he said in response to a question that he was not aware of any plans inside the FBI to punish or fire any agents.

The hearing took place just hours before news broke that a group of senior FBI executives had been told either to resign or be fired and one day before it was revealed that the Justice Department had demanded a list of thousands of agents who worked on investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, a move some bureau employees fear could be a precursor to more expansive firings.

Also Read | More than 100 individuals arrested for Capitol Hill riots, says FBI

“It is unacceptable for a nominee with no current role in government, much less at the FBI, to personally direct unjustified and potentially illegal adverse employment actions against senior career FBI leadership and other dedicated, nonpartisan law enforcement officers,” Durbin wrote. “If these allegations are true, Mr. Patel may have perjured himself before the Senate Judiciary Committee.”

Mr. Durbin’s letter to Inspector General Michael Horowitz points to what he describes as “highly credible information from multiple sources” that he says shows Mr. Patel’s involvement in that process. That includes contemporaneous notes from a January 29 meeting between FBI and Justice Department leaders that say “KP wants movement at FBI, reciprocal actions for DOJ,” Durbin wrote.

The senator also contends that he’s learned from unidentified sources that Mr. Patel, despite not being confirmed yet as director, is receiving information about FBI operations from a member of a newly established advisory team inside the bureau and that he passes along that information to top White House official Stephen Miller.

Mr. Durbin says he’s been told that a senior Justice Department official told others that Miller had been pressuring the Justice Department “because Mr. Patel wanted the FBI to remove targeted employees faster, as DOJ had already done with prosecutors.”

Erica Knight, a spokeswoman for Mr. Patel, who is set for a vote Thursday (February 13) before the Senate Judiciary Committee, described the claims in the letter as “second-hand gossip” meant “to push a false narrative.”

“Patel is a highly qualified national security expert who has been fully transparent with the American people throughout this process and has demonstrated the integrity and leadership needed for this role. The Senate should confirm him without delay,” she said.

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s choice to be director of the FBI, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, insisted to deeply skeptical Democrats on Thursday (January 30, 2025) that he did not have an “enemies list” and that the bureau under his leadership would not seek retribution against the President’s adversaries or launch investigations for political purposes.

“I have no interest nor desire and will not, if confirmed, go backwards,” Mr. Patel told a contentious Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. “There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by the FBI.”

The reassurances were aimed at blunting a persistent line of attack from Democrats, who throughout Thursday’s hearing confronted Mr. Patel with a vast catalogue of his incendiary statements. They said those statements raise alarming questions about his loyalty to the President, such as when he described some of the prosecuted Jan. 6 rioters as “political prisoners” and called for a purge of anti-Trump “conspirators” in the government and news media.

“There is an unfathomable difference between a seeming facade being constructed around this nominee here today, and what he has actually done and said in real life when left to his own devices,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat. His colleague, Sen. Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota, later added, “It is his own words. It is not some conspiracy. It is what Mr. Patel actually said himself.”

Mr. Patel defended defend himself by insisting that Democrats were putting his comments and social media posts in a “grotesque context.” He said the suggestion that he had an “enemies list” — a 2023 book he authored includes a lengthy list of former government officials he says are part of the so-called deep state — was a “total mischaracterization.”

“The only thing that will matter if I’m confirmed as a director of the FBI is a de-weaponized, de-politicized system of law enforcement completely devoted to rigorous obedience to the Constitution and a singular standard of justice,” Mr. Patel said.

Mr. Patel was picked in November to replace Christopher Wray, who led the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency for more than seven years but was forced out of the job Mr. Trump had appointed him to after being seen as insufficiently loyal to him.

Mr. Patel is a former aide to the House Intelligence Committee and an ex-federal prosecutor who served in Mr. Trump’s first administration. He’s alarmed critics with rhetoric — in dozens of podcasts and books he has authored — in which he has demonstrated fealty to Mr. Trump and assailed the decision-making of the agency he’s now been asked to lead.

But Mr. Patel sought on multiple occasions to reassure Democrats that his FBI would be independent from the White House. He would not acknowledge that Mr. Trump had lost the 2020 election, conceding only that Joe Biden was sworn in as president. But he did not endorse Mr. Trump’s sweeping pardon of supporters, including violent rioters, charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

“I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement,” Mr. Patel said in response to a question from Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the committee. Mr. Durbin made his opposition to Mr. Patel clear at the outset.

Mr. Durbin said the FBI is critical in keeping America safe from terrorism, violent crime and other threats, and the nation “needs an FBI director who understands the gravity of this mission and is ready on day one, not someone who is consumed by his own personal political grievances.”

Mr. Patel pledged if confirmed to be transparent and said he would not involve the FBI in prosecutorial decisions, keeping those with Justice Department lawyers instead.

“First, let good cops be cops,” Mr. Patel wrote in outlining his priorities. “Leadership means supporting agents in their mission to apprehend criminals and protect our citizens. If confirmed, I will focus on streamlining operations at headquarters while bolstering the presence of field agents across the nation. Collaboration with local law enforcement is crucial to fulfilling the FBI’s mission.”

Mr. Patel found common cause with Mr. Trump over their shared skepticism of government surveillance and the “deep state” — a pejorative catchall used by Trump to refer to government bureaucracy.

He was part of a small group of supporters during Mr. Trump’s recent criminal trial in New York who accompanied him to the courthouse, where he told reporters that Trump was the victim of an “unconstitutional circus.”

That close bond would depart from the modern-day precedent of FBI directors looking to keep Presidents at arm’s length.

Republican allies of Mr. Trump, who share the President’s belief that the FBI has become politicized, have rallied around Mr. Patel and pledged to support him, seeing him as someone who can shake up the bureau and provide needed change.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the committee, sought to blunt attacks on Mr. Patel preemptively by focusing on the need to reform an FBI that he said had become weaponized.

The FBI in recent years has become entangled in numerous politically explosive investigations, including not just the two federal inquiries into Mr. Trump that resulted in indictments but also probes of Mr. Biden and his son, Hunter.

“It’s no surprise that public trust has declined in an institution that has been plagued by abuse, a lack of transparency, and the weaponization of law enforcement,” Grassley said. “Nevertheless, the FBI remains an important, even indispensable institution for law and order in our country.”

He later added: “Mr. Patel, should you be confirmed, you will take charge of an FBI that is in crisis.”

Washington:

Kash Patel, President Trump’s nominee for FBI director, is set to face intense scrutiny from Democratic senators at his confirmation hearing. Patel’s loyalty to Trump and his desire to overhaul the FBI have raised concerns about his ability to maintain the bureau’s independence.

As a former aide to the House Intelligence Committee and ex-federal prosecutor, Patel has been vocal about his skepticism of government surveillance and the “deep state.” His comments have alarmed critics, who point to his lack of experience and questionable judgment. In a podcast interview, Patel suggested that he would “shut down” the FBI’s headquarters and reopen it as a “museum of the deep state.” He also stated that he would send the 7,000 employees to “go chase down criminals” and “go be cops.”

Patel’s close relationship with Trump has also raised eyebrows. He was part of a small group of supporters who accompanied Trump to his recent criminal trial in New York, where he told reporters that Trump was the victim of an “unconstitutional circus.” This level of loyalty is unusual for an FBI director, who is typically expected to maintain a level of independence from the president.

Last month, Christopher A. Wray, the previous FBI director stepped down from his position after President Donald Trump said that he would fire him if he did not leave.

Democratic senators, including Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, have expressed apprehension about Patel’s fitness to serve as FBI director. Durbin stated that Patel lacks the experience, judgment, and temperament to lead the agency. “I’m deeply concerned about his fitness to serve as FBI Director,” Durbin said. “He has neither the experience, the judgment, nor the temperament to head this critical agency.”

Republican allies of Trump, however, have rallied around Patel, seeing him as someone who can shake up the bureau and provide needed change. Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, has pledged to support Patel’s nomination, saying that he has spent hours with him discussing his qualifications and vision for the FBI.

The confirmation hearing is expected to be contentious, with Democrats likely to press Patel on his past comments and his ability to maintain the FBI’s independence. Patel’s nomination has already sparked controversy, with some critics accusing him of being unqualified and unfit for the role.

One of the key issues that Democrats are likely to raise is Patel’s book, “Government Gangsters,” in which he identifies several current and former FBI officials as targets for investigation. This has raised concerns about Patel’s ability to lead the agency impartially and without targeting perceived enemies.
 

Kash Patel, former Chief of Staff to the Defence Secretary, speaks on the day Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally, in Prescott Valley, Arizona, U.S., October 13, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday (November 30, 2024) nominated close confidante Kash Patel for the powerful position of Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, making him the highest-ranking Indian American in his incoming administration.

“I am proud to announce that Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel will serve as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People,” Mr. Trump announced on Truth Social, a social media platform he owns.

Mr. Trump said Mr. Patel played a pivotal role in uncovering “the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax,” standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution. Mr. Patel, 44, served as chief of staff to the Acting United States Secretary of Defense in the last few weeks of the Trump Administration in 2017.

“Mr. Kash did an incredible job during my First Term, where he served as Chief of Staff at the Department of Defence, Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council. Mr. Kash has also tried over 60 jury trials,” he said.

“This FBI will end the growing crime epidemic in America, dismantle the migrant criminal gangs, and stop the evil scourge of human and drug trafficking across the Border. Mr. Kash will work under our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to bring back Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity to the FBI,” Mr. Trump said.

Who is Kash Patel?

New York-born Mr. Patel has his roots in Gujarat. However, his parents are from East Africa — mother from Tanzania and father from Uganda. They came to the U.S. from Canada in 1970. “We are Gujarati,” he had told PTI in an earlier interview.

The family moved to Queens in New York — often called as Little India — in the late 70s. It is here that Mr. Patel was born and grew. Mr. Patel’s parents are retired now and spend their time in both the U.S. and Gujarat. After his schooling in New York and college in Richmond, Virginia, and law school in New York, Patel went to Florida where he was a state public defender for four years and then federal public defender for another four years.

“So, lots of trials, lots of international investigations, lots of time in court, understanding the federal system and trying cases and learning how to run investigations,” he said.

From Florida he moved to Washington DC as a terrorism prosecutor at the Department of Justice. Here he was an international terrorism prosecutor for about three and a half years. During this period, he worked on cases all over the world, in America in East Africa as well as in Uganda and Kenya.

While still employed by the Department of Justice, he went as a civilian to join Special Operations Command at the Department of Defense. At the Pentagon, he sat as the Department of Justice’s lawyer with Special Forces people and worked interagency collaborative targeting operations around the world.

After a year in the position, Congressman Davin Nunes, Chairman of the House Permanent Select on Intelligence Committee, pulled him as senior counsel on counterterrorism. After April 2017, he spearheaded the Russia investigation of the House Intelligence Committee. It was here where he attracted media attention and played a key role in drafting a GOP memo, which, according to then-President Donald Trump, exposed the role of Democratic party and its leadership in the Russian investigation.

The New York Times described this as a “Kash Memo.” Patel said that this was a “great team effort.”

Mr. Patel is an Ice hockey fan and has been playing the sport since he was six. “I still play and I spend a lot of time volunteering coaching youth hockey in the area.”

Mr. Patel, who attended both the Houston and Ahmedabad rallies of Mr. Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2019 and February 2020, had earlier told PTI that the bilateral relationship had deteriorated under the Biden Administration.

“President Trump and Prime Minister Modi had an extraordinary relationship with respect. And they were working together to counteract the things like Chinese aggression, not just on the Indian border but on the global stage. They were also working together to counteract things in Pakistan when it came to counterterrorism matters and hostage situations,” MR. Patel said.

The two leaders knew that not only the strong relationship but also allowing the economies of scale to be built in India and America were mutually beneficial, Mr. Patel said.

Last fall he wrote the book ‘Government Gangster’ which argued that there is a severe lack of accountability. The book talks about the deep state and is highly critical of the U.S. bureaucracy, which he claims is highly infiltrated or dominated by lawbreakers.

Responding to a question, Mr. Patel then told PTI that the Biden Administration and the deep state are interwoven.

“The Biden administration is filled by these corrupt government gangsters who I list in the back of my book by name and title. It’s not a Democrat or Republican thing. It’s an apolitical thing that these individuals, whether they’re Trump appointees like Christopher W Ray or Biden appointees like Merrick Garland, they are led to this two-tier system of justice where they weaponise government and intelligence and law enforcement to target either conservatives or Trump supporters or call people on January 6th, domestic terrorists,” he said.

US President-elect Donald Trump nominated his loyalist Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Saturday. Making the announcement, the 78-year-old President-elect called Mr Patel an “America First fighter”.