Kash Patel Under Scrutiny Over Payment From Russian-Owned Film Company

Donald Trump's nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, is facing scrutiny after he submitted financial disclosures which showed he was paid $25,000 in 2024 by a U.S.-Russian film company tied to Kremlin-backed conspiracy content.

Why It Matters

Patel is currently awaiting confirmation by the Senate to be Trump's FBI director.

He is widely considered one of Trump's most controversial nominees, given his criticism of the FBI's investigation into the Trump-Russia scandal, which involved allegations that Donald Trump's 2016 campaign coordinated with Russia's efforts to interfere in the election, leading to a major FBI investigation and Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe, which found Russian meddling but no proven criminal conspiracy.

If confirmed, he would lead the agency tasked with countering Russian espionage, despite recently accepting money from a Kremlin-linked figure.

What To Know

Documents obtained by The Washington Post show that Patel received the money from Global Tree Pictures, a Los Angeles-based company run by Igor Lopatonok, a Russian national who also holds U.S. citizenship, whose previous projects include a pro-Russian campaign funded by a program created by Vladimir Putin. He has also produced programs promoting "deep state" conspiracy theories and anti-Western views advanced by the Kremlin.

Patel worked with Lopatonok as an executive producer on a six-part series, titled All the President's Men: The Conspiracy Against Trump, which aired in November on right-wing broadcaster Tucker Carlson's online network. In the series, Patel and other veterans of the first Trump administration were depicted as victims of a deep state conspiracy that "destroyed the lives of those who stood by Donald Trump in an attempt to remove the democratically elected president from office."

The fourth episode focused on Patel's years-long effort to portray the Trump-Russia scandal as a Democratic-led hoax. Patel made a number of false claims in the episode, including that the FBI and the rest of the U.S. intelligence community that investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election "knew it didn't exist." He also asserted that "globalists" had been working with Al-Qaeda to make a profit.

In another segment, Patel vowed to "shut down the FBI headquarters building and open it up as a museum to the 'deep state.'" He also called the agency a "corrupt" enterprise and claimed it had been on the Democratic Party's "payroll."

"I'm the guy that's going to tell you they need major reforms. I'm going to tell you to shut down the FBI headquarters building and open it up as a museum of the Deep State the next day. Seriously, you need 50 guys in Washington running the FBI," Patel said.

The documentary also featured Steve Bannon, Rudy Giuliani, and Michael Flynn, who resigned in 2017 over false statements about talks with Russia's ambassador. Bankruptcy filings reveal Lopatonok's Global Tree Pictures paid Giuliani Communications $100,000 for his participation.

What People Are Saying

Erica Knight, Kash Patel's spokesperson, told Newsweek: "Mr. Patel has gone above and beyond in this advice and consent process. That includes countless meetings with Senators, disclosing and reporting all sources of income, submitting hundreds of pages of documents, replying to hundreds of pages of questions for the record, and testifying for six hours with multiple rounds of questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Senate has evaluated all potential conflicts and concerns. Mr. Patel looks forward to a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee this Thursday and being swiftly confirmed by the Senate so he can start working to refocus the FBI on making our country safer."

A spokesperson for Senator Chuck Grassley, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, said in a statement: "As part of the nominations process, Patel has complied with all financial disclosure requirements. The Office of Government Ethics and the Department of Justice have reviewed and approved his financial disclosures. Any effort to raise concerns about Patel's financial disclosures should be dismissed as an obvious smear campaign."

What Happens Next

Patel's confirmation process is expected to remain contentious, with Democrats strongly opposing his nomination while Republicans push for his approval. The final vote will likely hinge on whether moderate senators are swayed by concerns over Patel's past statements and Trump ties.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote on Patel's nomination next week after a vote last week was delayed by Democratic members of the panel.

Update 2/8/25, 07:40 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with a comment from Erica Knight, Kash Patel's spokesperson.