Former lawyer has backing of president, despite criticism that he is too quick to grandstand and has shared conspiracy theories.

FBI director Kash Patel has spoken out after four people were arrested as part of a New Year's Eve bomb plot in Los Angeles.

The chief said on Monday that five locations in LA were targeted, while a fifth person has been arrested for "planning a separate violent attack” in New Orleans.

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Mr Patel tweeted: “Over the weekend, the FBI disrupted a credible, imminent terrorist threat and arrested FOUR individuals connected to the Los Angeles area.

"The subjects self-identified as members of a radical offshoot of the Turtle Island Liberation Front (TILF), an extremist group motivated by pro-Palestinian, anti-law-enforcement, and anti-government ideology.”

The Republican is an ally of Donald Trump and had previously held roles in the current president’s first term from 2017 to 2021.

Kash Patel is an American lawyer who has served as the director of the FBI, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, since February 2025 - shortly after his ally Donald Trump took office.

Republican-aligned Mr Patel, 45, was born in New York and has been dating country singer Alexis Wilkins, 27, since 2023.

His father is Pramod Patel, a Ugandan of Gujarati Indian descent.