FBI Director Kash Patel is once again reigniting one of the most contentious political battles of the Trump era, accusing the FBI of knowingly using false information to obtain surveillance warrants against Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and later members of his administration.
Speaking during an appearance on “Hang Out with Sean Hannity,” Patel described what he called a yearslong effort to uncover how federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies allegedly relied on politically funded opposition research to justify secret surveillance operations targeting Trump associates.
“It took me two years of my life to prove the following,” Patel said. “That a political party in the United States of America in the 21st century would go overseas and hire some bogus intelligence asset to manufacture fraudulent, fake, unverified information.”
Patel was referring to the now-infamous Steele dossier, a collection of allegations about Trump and Russia compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. The dossier was funded indirectly through the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 election through opposition research firm Fusion GPS.
According to Patel, that material was then funneled into the FBI and used to secure Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants against Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
“And then take those packaged lies that they had paid for with campaign finance funds and go into a secret surveillance court and illegally spy on your opponent to be the president of the United States,” Patel said.
Trump has long argued that the Russia investigation itself was politically motivated and orchestrated by top Democratic officials, including Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama. Both have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing or involvement in unlawful surveillance efforts.
Patel’s comments arrive as Congress continues debating the future of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a controversial intelligence authority allowing U.S. agencies to collect communications involving foreign targets overseas. Critics, including Trump allies, argue the program also sweeps up communications involving American citizens and creates opportunities for abuse.
Trump has consistently opposed renewal of Section 702, warning that intelligence agencies have previously weaponized surveillance powers against political opponents.
Patel, who served in multiple senior national security roles during Trump’s first term, claimed the surveillance extended beyond Trump campaign officials and reached congressional staffers and administration personnel as well.
“I was illegally spied on by the likes of Rod Rosenstein and Chris Wray and 10 other staffers on the Hill,” Patel alleged.
Patel became one of the central figures challenging the FBI’s handling of the Russia investigation during Trump’s presidency. As a top investigator for then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, Patel helped author the 2018 “Nunes Memo,” which accused the FBI and Department of Justice of abusing FISA authorities by failing to fully disclose weaknesses and political origins tied to the Steele dossier.
Subsequent Justice Department investigations did uncover serious problems with the FBI’s FISA applications. Inspector General Michael Horowitz identified multiple inaccuracies and omissions in the warrants used to surveil Carter Page, including failures to disclose potentially exculpatory evidence. The FISA court later sharply rebuked the FBI’s conduct and ordered corrective reforms.
“The FISA court themselves came back and said these warrants were illegal,” Patel said during the interview. “The FBI did not provide evidence of exculpatory evidence and innocence and that the FBI essentially lied in those applications and all the information was unverified.”
Patel argued the broader problem of political weaponization inside federal law enforcement agencies continued after Trump left office and intensified under President Biden.
“I knew in the four years that we were out of office, that they continued to regenerate that institution of weaponization,” Patel said.
He also hinted that additional revelations could emerge, referencing what he described as discovering a “burn bag” room at FBI headquarters containing sensitive documents tied to the Russia investigation.
“I said, ‘We only got a bit of it. We only got maybe half of it,’” Patel told Hannity.
