But here’s the thing. There is nothing in the law that requires a background check of any sort on appointees. The “tradition” in the Senate for conformation is just that, a tradition. Those who claim that they want background checks for the sake of national security are hoping Americans don’t realize that anyone who will receive classified documents must go through a non-FBI background check AFTER THEY ARE HIRED. It is conducted by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Administration.

These Democrat and RINO Senators aren’t concerned about national security. They’re concerned about their own interests and their own power.

More Senate Republicans other than the gang of 4, McConnell, Collins, Murkowski, and Thune are now openly speaking out against confirmation of Trump nominees without a lengthy process and FBI background checks.

Maybe it's the RINO's who need investigated. Traitors!

— Mike Engleman (@RealHickory) November 25, 2024

Under no circumstances should President Trump let any of his top appointees be dragged through the mud in the form of a scandal-seeking background check by the FBI.

Patel and former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan are the frontrunners to replace FBI Director Christopher Wray, who Trump appointed in 2017 after firing then-FBI Director James Comey. McCabe expressed nervousness about Trump potentially choosing Patel, a former Trump administration official, as Wray’s replacement, saying Patel would be more dangerous as the agency’s number two person.

“No part of the FBI’s mission is safe with Kash Patel in any position of leadership in the FBI and certainly not in the deputy director’s job. So just as a… as an example, the deputy director job in the FBI is unique because, of course, the director is a political appointee and the and the deputy director is typically a senior FBI agent, somebody who spent their entire career learning about the FBI, understanding its people and doing its work. So the deputy director actually runs the FBI on a day to day basis,” McCabe told CNN host Kaitlan Collins. “You’re essentially the chief operating officer.””

“I can tell you from my own experience, there is no way I could have successfully performed in that role without having spent the first ten years of my career doing criminal work in the FBI and the next 10 years doing national security work. The scope of authority is enormous. I think I had about 78 or 80 direct reports when I served as FBI director, deputy director, 56 of those people ran entire field offices,” McCabe continued. “So you are enmeshed in every aspect of the FBI’s work if you enter into that position with nothing more than a desire to disrupt and destroy the organization, um, there is a lot of damage someone like Kash Patel could do in a position like deputy director at the FBI you mentioned that director is a political job puts it in there.”

McCabe was fired as deputy director of the FBI in 2018 following an inspector general’s report that accused him of lying about leaks to the media, but the firing was reversed in 2021 following a legal settlement after President Joe Biden took office.

Patel served as a public defender before working with then- Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of California on the staff of the House Intelligence Committee. Patel also served in multiple national security positions, including chief of staff for acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

The FBI and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said they have “no information suggesting cyber activity against U.S. election infrastructure” that has “compromised the integrity of voter registration information, prevented an eligible voter from casting a ballot, impacted the integrity of any ballots cast, or disrupted the ability to count votes or transmit unofficial election results in a timely manner.”

But the two agencies said that foreign adversaries still might promote “false or misleading narratives” to sway the election or to undermine American confidence in its election systems and processes.

Specifically, the two agencies warned of election-related content produced by artificial intelligence (AI) that has lowered the guardrails for malicious or foreign actors to create more advanced schemes to influence the election.

“We are seeing foreign actors use these tools to develop and distribute more compelling synthetic media messaging campaigns and inauthentic news articles, as well as synthetic pictures and deepfakes (video and audio) at greater speed and scale across numerous U.S.- and foreign-based platforms,” their joint bulletin said.

“These efforts to develop content are designed to undermine voter confidence and to entice unwitting consumers of the information to discuss, share, and amplify the spread of false or misleading narratives.”

In one example of AI-aided content produced by foreign actors ahead of the election, the agency said that Russian groups have “created and deliberately designed” web pages “to look like legitimate mainstream news websites” such as The Washington Post or Fox News.

“Russian malign influence actors also created fake social media profiles posing as U.S. citizens to direct users to these fake news websites and purchased social media advertisements to drive traffic to the specific fake articles on the fake news site,” the two agencies cautioned.

The PSA highlights specific examples of tactics we have seen used by Russia and Iran during the 2024 election cycle to target all Americans. These include things from mimicking national level media outlets like The Washington Post and Fox News and creating inauthentic news sites posing as legitimate media organizations to using paid influencers to hide their hand.

In late September, three Iranian government employees were charged and identified by the Department of Justice for a wide-ranging hacking conspiracy that targeted both current and former U.S. officials as well as political campaigns.

The bulletin was referring to an indictment that was returned last month that accused Masoud Jalili, Seyyed Ali Aghamiri, and Yasar Balaghi of trying to hack the campaign of a presidential candidate, without providing names. But in a news conference last month, Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed that they were targeting the campaign of former President Donald Trump.

Iran-backed hackers who breached the Trump campaign in June and July sent emails with hacked campaign materials to people associated with President Joe Biden’s campaign as well as various media outlets, said the FBI, CISA, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence last month.

But the agencies said that the the campaign of Biden, who suspended his presidential bid in late July, was not interested in the hacked materials. There is also no evidence the Biden campaign even responded to the emails, which were described by the intelligence and cybersecurity agencies as unsolicited.

“It is important for voters to critically evaluate information sources, particularly as disinformation campaigns evolve to use AI-generated content,” both CISA and the FBI said in a news release accompanying the bulletin. “Both agencies urge the American public to rely on trusted information from state and local election officials and to verify claims through multiple reliable sources before sharing them on social media or other platforms.”