As President Donald J. Trump faced public uproar in the summer of 2019 for attempting to engage Ukraine in digging up dirt on former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., he assembled a small group of top advisers to the Oval Office. Among them was Charles Kupperman, the deputy national security adviser, who was shocked to see Kashyap “Kash” Patel, a very low-level staff member, sitting in one of the four chairs arranged before the president’s desk.
Mr. Patel, a newcomer to the National Security Council staff from the House Intelligence Committee, had impressed the president as the primary author of the secret “Nunes memo,” which was a key component in House Republicans’ effort to undermine the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mr. Trump was now proposing an extra role for Mr. Patel.
“He wanted to make Kash a political executioner, to root out and fire individuals on the White House staff who weren’t being as loyal as he thought they should be,” Mr. Kupperman recalled in a recent interview.
Mr. Kupperman, the White House attorney, and John Eisenberg, the National Security Council’s legal counsel, both of whom were present that day, were alarmed and pushed back. All three claimed that loyalty tests would cause legal and morale issues.
Eventually, Mr. Trump stepped down. However, Mr. Kupperman now sees the incident as a warning of Mr. Trump’s ambition to fill a second administration with people like Mr. Patel, who are valued more for subservience than expertise and prepared to follow a vengeful president’s whims.
“Trump’s people are concerned with having a very weak civil service who are just automatons, loyal to him,” he said, referring to Mr. Trump’s plan to reclassify tens of thousands of executive branch officials in a way that would allow him to fire them. “Kash would have done it in a heartbeat.”
Mr. Patel, who was reached while on a Trump campaign bus trip last week, denied an interview. He responded to emailed queries through his spokesperson. When asked about the Oval Office meeting with Mr. Kupperman, Mr. Patel replied, “You forgot to mention that Mickey Mouse and the Easter Bunny were also in attendance.”
When asked about his qualifications for the roles he served and would be considered for in a second Trump term, he stated that “I was right” on a variety of problems, including “Russiagate,” and that “I led efforts to declassify” Department of Justice and FBI “corruption.”
“Stack that up against any of my so-called colleagues’ statements,” he joked.
Mr. Patel, a brash former public defense notorious for his hostility against intelligence services, ascended to increasingly significant national security positions in the Trump administration. If Mr. Trump is re-elected, Mr. Patel, along with many others, has been touted as a potential C.I.A. director, attorney general, or, if Senate confirmation fails, a high position on the National Security Council.
Mr. Patel performed as a warm-up act for President Trump at a rally in Coachella, California, on Saturday. “The two-tier system of justice is the Deep State’s wrecking ball and operational arm of choice, and we must destroy it,” Mr. Patel stated.
Mr. Patel has long stated that he wants to assist rid the federal government and media of “conspirators.”
“Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections—we’re going to come after you,” he said in an interview with former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon late last year. “Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out.”
A firm called ‘K$H’
Since Mr. Trump lost the 2020 election, Mr. Patel has used his association with the former president to promote businesses under the logotype “K$H.”
He is presently promoting the third installment of his children’s book series, which depicts him as a robed wizard avenging the fictional King Donald, calling it “the perfect gag gift for a liberal friend or family member!” His memoir, “Government Gangsters,” inspired a cinematic adaption starring himself, which was developed by Mr. Bannon prior to his recent imprisonment. The memoir’s cover shows Mr. Patel wearing dark sunglasses and a briefcase, marching away from the presidential helicopter like a character in a political thriller.
Trishul, Mr. Patel’s company, receives consulting fees, including $130,000 last year from Mr. Trump’s Truth Social website. He also received $325,000 over two years for “strategy consulting” for the pro-Trump Save America PAC and $145,000 in 2021 for “fund-raising consulting” from Friends of Matt Gaetz, the campaign committee for Florida’s brash House Republican. Mr. Patel has used social media to promote wooden plaques, “Warrior Essentials” anti-vaccine diet supplements, and Trump-themed T-shirts.
Mr. Patel also runs the Kash Foundation, a nonprofit that he claims provides financial assistance to a variety of victims, including the families of those charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. According to tax forms for 2023, the foundation’s revenue increased from $182,000 in 2022 to $1.3 million last year, with donations accounting for the majority of that total. Its expenses increased fivefold from 2022 to $674,000. Almost half of that was spent on promotion and advertising, which exceeded the foundation’s contributions and grants from the previous year.