Kash Patel once said he would ‘come after' journalists. It now hangs over his FBI candidacy.

Since Donald Trump announced Kash Patel as his pick for FBI director, a 2023 podcast interview he did with fellow Trump loyalist Steve Bannon has circulated far and wide.

In the recording last year, Patel asserted how he would handle reporters if he were put in power. 

“We’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,” Patel said then. “Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out.”

Now that Patel is in the running to head one of the most powerful agencies in the U.S. government, the question of whether he will really “come after” journalists is troubling both sides of the aisle, and it is likely to become a central point of contention if he comes up for Senate confirmation, with one senator calling his remarks “vile.” Patel has privately conceded he needs to publicly clean up the remark, according to a Trump ally who has spoken with him.

In a brief interview with NBC News in February, Patel laughed off the notion that he was hellbent on attacking reporters and even praised them as “invaluable.” He backed off a bit on his tough talk with Bannon, seeming to suggest that he believed his words had been blown out of proportion and adding that he had meant for his threat to apply only to people who had broken the law.

“I would love for you to go back and get the whole quote and I appreciate you letting me talk about it,” Patel told NBC News then. “That full quote kind of speaks for itself. It was three words taken out of two sentences. But I basically said we’re going to use the Constitution and the courts of law to go after people criminally and civilly — if they broke the law.” 

He emphasized that the threshold was violating the law and accused some “folks in the media” of coordinating with the government to put out a false narrative about Trump.

"I have a problem with that," Patel said. "And I think there should be some form of accountability for it. I don’t know what that looks like."

He also went on to compliment journalists.

“I’ve always said this, I think reporters are invaluable. Like, who else is going to tell the world what’s going on in Washington or wherever, right?” he said.

Still, those statements are unlikely to quell the concerns of those who view Patel as a personification of Trump’s vow to pursue retribution against his enemies once he takes office. Critics fear Patel’s fierce loyalty to Trump and his history of embracing conspiracy theories, like a false contention that the “deep state” attempted to overthrow Trump’s presidency, would influence his actions at the FBI. They point to his deep investment in the MAGA movement as evidence of his motivations and of how steeped he is in politics, something that both Democrats and Republicans contend they want to keep out of the law enforcement agency. 

Trump’s choice of Patel defies a post-Watergate practice that FBI directors serve 10-year terms. The goal of a lengthy term is to ensure that the FBI is seen as not serving the political interests of a specific president. The current FBI director, Christopher Wray, is scheduled to complete his term in 2027. 

In an interview this year on a YouTube show hosted by former Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan, Patel said he would “shut down” the bureau’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and “reopen it the next day as a museum of the ‘deep state.’”

Angelo Carusone, president of the left-leaning journalism watchdog group Media Matters for America, said he fully expects the Trump administration to take a confrontational approach with the media and warned it could have a chilling effect on reporting. 

“He’s going to be responsive not just to what Trump is saying, but also to what that larger underlying right wing media ecosystem is calling for and demanding,” Carusone said. “We shouldn’t discount the blood thirst that’s out there. People want revenge.” 

Asked what Patel’s intentions are with respect to journalists, a Trump transition spokesperson said the nominee’s focus would be trained on traditional FBI values. 

“Kash Patel is going to deliver on President Trump’s mandate to restore integrity to the FBI and return the agency to its core mission of protecting America,” Alex Pfeiffer, the spokesperson, said in a statement. “Kash is committed to safeguarding Americans’ First Amendment rights, unlike Joe Biden who weaponized the DOJ to target journalists.”

Under the Biden administration, the FBI raided the home of conservative provocateur James O'Keefe, the founder of the since-disbanded Project Veritas, securing search warrants for his notes and cellphone in connection to an investigation into the theft of a journal belonging to Biden’s daughter. (O'Keefe was never charged in the investigation, which resulted in the conviction of another person.) Then-President Barack Obama did not have a good reputation when it came to press freedoms; he targeted journalists and their work as he sought to root out government officials who were leaking information pertaining to national security. And Trump himself has had a storied, combative relationship with the news media, often referring to it as "the enemy of the people."

Now, Patel’s past remarks to Bannon are leaving some on the right unsettled. 

Mike Davis, a pugnacious Trump ally and former Senate GOP chief counsel for nominations, said he’s talked to Patel and he recognizes the need to clean up some of his comments about using law enforcement power against the media.

He said some of Patel’s remarks shouldn’t be taken too literally, comparing them to his own.

“Kash and I use hyperbole to force people to pay attention to our broader point: politicizing and weaponizing intel agencies and law enforcement is very destructive to our republic,” said Davis, who runs the conservative group Article III Project and informally advises some Trump nominees. “The FBI must return to its core mission of protecting Americans from crime.”

Patel’s remarks could invite a grilling from some Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee, which oversees the FBI and its nominees, during a confirmation hearing.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a senior member of the panel, said he plans to ask Patel to "clarify" some of his past remarks, including those regarding the use of law enforcement power against people “in the media.”

“I don’t know how much of it was rhetorical and how much of it was serious," Cornyn told NBC News.

For Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, Patel’s comments are a major red flag.

“That’s got to be off limits,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said Tuesday. “The awesome power of the prosecutor, FBI or [attorney general] — it has to be about protecting the American people and public safety. Not prosecuting or persecuting the press, political opponents or people you just don’t like."

“I hope every senator has that concern. And Patel has got to address that,” he continued. “He’s been very explicit about his intentions to use the power to pursue political advocacy. That’s his words, not mine.”

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said she hasn’t decided how she would handle Patel’s nomination if he were to come before the committee. But she argued that he — and other Trump nominees — should first get an FBI background check before they move forward.

When asked about Patel’s past remarks about going after the media, Hirono deadpanned: “That goes into the category of misuse of power.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a Judiciary Committee member and former prosecutor, said Patel’s comments are “totally disqualifying” and “head-spinning” for anyone who could be in charge of the FBI.

“I know from having been a prosecutor and U.S. attorney, part of the Department of Justice — it’s not just the conviction that dooms a person’s life. It is the investigation. For neighbors and co-workers to know that the FBI is investigating you, and the head of the FBI claims you committed a crime, that can be crippling financially and personally,” he said. 

For senators like Blumenthal, walking those remarks back may not be enough.

“I don’t know how you can roll back those kinds of vile, vicious comments. I would say anyone who talks that way is disqualified,” the senator said. “I don’t know how someone can be a credible director of the FBI having made those comments.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

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