Indian-American Kashyap “Kash” Patel, recently nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), made his debut on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday.
In his inaugural post, he greeted the platform with “Hello X,” which has garnered over seven million views and 24,000 comments to date.
Hello @X
— Kash Patel (@Kash_Patel) December 1, 2024
Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X and appointed chief of government efficiency in Trump’s forthcoming administration, also extended his congratulations to Patel on his nomination to lead the FBI. Congratulations on being nominated to run the @FBI!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 1, 2024
Patel, a former Republican House staff member and vocal critic of the FBI, quickly attracted a following of over 300,000 users within hours of joining the platform.
Born in New York in 1980 to parents of Gujarati heritage who immigrated from East Africa, Patel completed his undergraduate education at the University of Richmond before returning to New York to obtain his law degree and a certificate in International Law from University College London in the United Kingdom. After earning his law degree, the 44-year-old served as a public defender in Florida, representing clients in both state and federal courts. He subsequently joined the Department of Justice as a prosecutor, where he managed significant international terrorism cases across East Africa and the United States.
Patel was also a prominent figure on the campaign trail, actively supporting Donald Trump in his presidential campaign against Democrat Kamala Harris.
During the initial term of Trump’s presidency, he provided counsel to both the director of national intelligence and the secretary of defense.
