Threats by Kash Patel, President-elect Trump’s pick for FBI director, to use the power of the bureau to scrutinize news outlets critical of the incoming administration are sending a chill through the media.

First Amendment advocates and legal experts say Patel's rhetoric raises new questions about press freedoms during a second Trump administration and is intensifying worries about whether the president-elect will go after perceived enemies in the media.

Patel, a longtime Trump supporter, got his start in politics as a staffer to former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), working as an adviser on the House Intelligence Committee.

As he rose through the intelligence community and in Trump’s orbit, Patel publicly railed against the so-called “deep state,” which he argues worked to undermine Trump’s agenda during his first term.

Part of this hostile apparatus, Patel and other Trump loyalists have said, is mainstream media outlets overly sympathetic to Democrats.

“We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media,” Patel said during a 2023 episode of Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast. “Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. We’re going to come after you. Whether that’s criminally or civilly, we’re going to figure that out. But yeah, we’re putting you all on notice.”

Those comments and others by Patel blasting........

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