What to know about an influential Trump loyalist carving out his own brand within the GOP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kash Patel, a national security aide and player in Donald Trump’s political orbit, is widely expected to take on an influential role in the federal government should the former president win a second term.

A swaggering campaign surrogate who mythologizes the former president while promoting his own brand, Patel has a pedigree that sets him apart from many other Trump advisers. He frequently cites that experience — as a defense attorney, federal prosecutor, top House staffer and national security official — when he pledges to jettison those disloyal to Trump and attacks the very intelligence community he could one day oversee.

Here are some key things to know about Patel:

What was his path to such influence?

After graduating from law school at Pace University, Patel failed to get a job at the prestigious law firms he’d hoped to join. Instead, he became a public defender and spent nearly nine years in local and federal courts in Miami before joining the Justice Department.

A little more than three years later, Patel was hired as a staffer for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence led by Rep. Devin Nunes, a fierce Trump ally.

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