Kesh Patel, who was nominated by the US President Donald Trump to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation, received a $25 000 fee last year from a Russian film company that promoted pro-Russian and anti-Western views.
This is reported by the American newspaper The Washington Post, citing documents that Patel provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The film company Global Tree Pictures, which paid Patel, is based in Los Angeles. But it is owned by Igor Lopatenko, a Russian with US citizenship. It was financed by a foundation created by Russian leader Vladimir Putin. In 2014, Lopatenko made the film “Maidan Massacre”, in which he denied that pro-Russian mercenaries were behind the killings of activists on Maidan. He has publicly rejected accusations that he is a “Putin agent”.
A few months after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Lopatenok proposed a project to “stop the process of financing the war, stop the supply of weapons and the flooding of Ukraine with money from the US and its satellites”. And in March 2023, he was appointed artistic director of a Russian influence campaign that received about $31 000 from a fund that Putin created for cultural initiatives.
Kesh Patel
The Washington Post
Kesh Patel himself received a fee for participating in Lopatenko’s documentary series “All the President’s Men: The Conspiracy Against Trump”. In it, he and other members of the first Trump administration were portrayed as victims of a conspiracy that “destroyed the lives of those who supported Donald Trump in an attempt to remove the democratically elected president from office”. In one episode, Patel promised to “close down the FBI headquarters building and open it as a museum of the ʼdeep state’.”
Patel has promised to stop some of his previous work while he is FBI director, including divesting his interests in companies such as Apple and Meta. However, he will continue to receive royalties and licensing income from published books, and he has said he will retain shares in the company in the Cayman Islands where he previously worked.
These details add to the uncertainty surrounding Patelʼs confirmation as FBI director. If confirmed by the Senate, the agency responsible for protecting the United States from Russian espionage operations will be led by a man who took money from a suspected Kremlin ally months ago.
The Senate Judiciary Committeeʼs vote on his nomination was postponed after Democrats were outraged. They generally opposed Patelʼs nomination, saying he was an "extremist with little government experience" who would use the FBI to retaliate against "Trumpʼs enemies".
- Previously, Donald Trump selected Kesha Patel to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation, his candidacy must be confirmed by the US Senate. Patel will be loyal to the president-elect, having already worked with Trump during his first presidency.
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