With Kash Patel now the official head of the FBI, and Dan Bongino becoming his second-in-command, specialists are issuing dire predictions about the future of federal investigations into far-right activities. Patel’s rise to the position coincides with a resurgence of The Base, a neo-Nazi group labeled as terrorists worldwide, and other extremists emboldened by the January 6 Capitol attacks.
Patel, known for spreading QAnon conspiracy theories and writing a children’s book featuring Donald Trump as a king, shows little interest in pursuing insurrectionists and other extremists. Instead, he has put BLM, antifascist activists, the media, and dissenting FBI agents under his watchful eye.
“Inside the FBI there will be consequences,” Patel stated in his first public remarks, where he also taunted journalists who were covering his confirmation.
For his part, Bongino, a popular figure in the conservative podcast sphere, often promotes election denialism, January 6 rhetoric, and anti-immigrant sentiments to his listeners. He frequently portrays Democrats as communists and his enemies.
Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, believes the new FBI leadership is unlikely to take the threat of the far right seriously due to Patel’s past links to QAnon and Bongino’s bigotry.
Both perceived as Trump’s “henchmen,” they seem committed to the president, with Patel not ruling out using the FBI to target Trump’s enemies. He recently transferred up to 1,500 agents from FBI headquarters, which some see as the heart of what he calls the “deep state.”
The current approach marks a departure from the first Trump administration when the FBI declared white supremacy as the greatest domestic terrorist threat. It’s unclear how Patel will handle the names of agents involved in January 6 investigations, which the Trump administration demanded.
Matthew Kriner, the executive director at the Institute for Countering Digital Extremism, is worried about the FBI’s focus on counter-terrorism and the impact of mass pardons for January 6 insurrectionists.
The Base and other right-wing extremists have taken note of Patel’s potential to reduce scrutiny, growing their ranks both in the US and internationally. While the FBI previously played a key role in disrupting threats from neo-Nazi groups, a decrease in attention could allow far-right networks to reconstitute.
This raises concerns that a lack of vigilance from federal authorities could lead to increased violence in American society perpetrated by those embracing neofascist terrorism.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/28/fbi-kash-patel-investigations-far-right
