Few in New York’s Gujarati community were familiar with Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel and his family until news broke on Saturday of his appointment as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) chief during Donald Trump’s second term as the United States president.
The Indian-American, 44, has roots in Vadodara and represents a rare “twice-migrated” success story for Gujaratis.
Mr Patel’s parents were residents of East Africa – his father from Uganda and his mother from Tanzania. Fleeing anti-Indian persecution in the 1970s, the family first moved to Canada and later settled in the US.
Mr Patel, born in New York, grew up in Queens, completed his schooling there, and attended college in Richmond, Virginia. He later received a Certificate in International Law from the University College London.
Now retired, his parents divide their time between the US and Gujarat.
Community leaders told The Times of India that the Patel family maintain a low profile despite New York’s large Gujarati community.
“His father initially ventured into the motel business before working in the private sector. There is little record of the family participating in major gatherings,” said a community member.
The community members said Mr Patel’s appointment will put a sharp focus on Indians in the US.
Mr Patel previously worked as a federal public defender and a federal prosecutor. During his stint as an aide to former House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes, he was instrumental in leading the House Republicans’ probe into the FBI’s 2016 investigation into contacts between Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.
Later, during Mr Trump’s first impeachment trial, ex-National Security Council official Fiona Hill told House investigators she was concerned Mr Patel was secretly serving as a back channel between Mr Trump and Ukraine without authorisation. Mr Patel denied those allegations.
After Mr Trump left office in January 2021, Mr Patel was one of several people he designated as a representative for access to his presidential records. He was one of the few former Trump administration officials who claimed, without evidence, that Mr Trump had declassified all of the records in question.
He was later subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury in connection with the probe.
As a private citizen, Mr Patel wrote a book called “Government Gangsters” which Trump in 2023 declared would be used as a “roadmap to end the Deep State’s Reign”.
In his 2023 book Government Gangsters: The Deep State, The Truth, And The Battle For Our Democracy, Mr Patel lays out his case against what he refers to as “the deep state” – an amorphous term he says includes elected leaders, journalists, Big Tech tycoons and “members of the unelected bureaucracy” – calling for “a comprehensive housecleaning” of the Justice Department, which he claims has protected high-ranking members of the Democratic Party while unjustly targeting Republicans and their allies.
Mr Trump has praised the book as a “blueprint to take back the White House and remove these gangsters from all of government”.
While Mr Patel’s work life is widely known, information regarding his personal life has been less accessible.
He is not married despite some reports that he tied a knot in a “secret” Hindu wedding.
Several years ago, Mr Patel participated and then left a charity bachelor auction that included several of his colleagues after a blogger pointed out that his Florida practice licence seemed outdated, the New York Times reported.
