Lawyer Behind Trump Lawfare Runs A New Op Against Kash Patel

Norm Eisen, the founder of multiple anti-Trump groups that participated in at least four lawfare attempts to throw Trump off the ballot or in jail during his 2024 presidential candidacy, is now running an op against Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel.

Eisen co-authored a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Dick Durbin on Monday, demanding the committee grill Patel on two issues Eisen portrayed as “ethics” concerns. Eisen claimed Patel “was issued 25,946 shares” of stock in Trump Media, where he serves on the board of directors in a role he had pledged to resign if confirmed as FBI director, and alleged Patel had potentially run afoul of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) by doing work for Qatar without registering as a foreign agent. But Patel pledged in written testimony to Congress that he had not and would not accept such shares, and a source close to the confirmation process says his work for Qatar did not rise to the definition of a foreign agent.

Eisen’s History of Anti-Trump Lawfare

Eisen, who was counsel for Democrats’ first attempt to impeach Trump, is the co-founder of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the group behind the effort to throw then-candidate Trump off the Colorado ballot in 2024. CREW “helped find the plaintiffs who brought the case in Colorado and funded the lawsuit,” according to The New York Times. This effort to deny Coloradans the right to vote for their preferred candidate was repudiated 9-0 by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Another group co-founded by Eisen, State Democracy Defenders Action, filed multiple amicus briefs in various lawfare cases against Trump, including one just last month arguing that New York Judge Juan Merchan should proceed with sentencing Trump in a sham trial despite Trump’s election to presidential office. In the Biden Justice Department’s prosecution of Trump for retaining documents from his presidency, both CREW and State Democracy Defenders Action filed amicus briefs asking the 11th Circuit to overturn Judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling that the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith to prosecute Trump was unconstitutional.

States United Democracy Center, another Eisen-founded group, filed an amicus brief in Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis’ “get-Trump” case opposing Trump’s motion to dismiss the charges, which were invented based on a bizarre application of gangbusting laws. And in 2023, States United created a 47-page “road map” for prosecuting Trump associates and furnished it to the Democrat attorney general of Arizona, who subsequently charged 18 Trump allies related to their roles in providing an alternate slate of electors in the 2020 election. In the memo, Eisen’s group specifically recommended “further investigation” into Trump’s “actions, intent, and knowledge.”

After his groups’ various attempts to thwart the election of Donald Trump failed, Eisen launched a new project with Jennifer Rubin: a publication called “The Contrarian” which, like every other Democrat media outlet, views its mission as fighting the “authoritarian threat” posed by the elected president.

Patel: ‘I Did Not and Will Not Accept that Compensation’

In his Monday letter, Eisen urged the committee to hold another hearing to grill Patel on the concerns Eisen raised, including his allegations that Patel received shares from Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of Truth Social. But senators had already asked Patel about the receipt of any such shares, and Patel provided an explanation.

A common part of the confirmation process is for senators to send written “questions for the record” to nominees after their confirmation hearings. After Patel’s hearing on Thursday, Jan. 30, senators on the Judiciary Committee sent Patel a list of questions, which he answered in a 147-page document that’s available publicly on the committee’s website.

In that exchange, Democrat Sen. Adam Schiff asked Patel if he had “ever received shares or other financial gifts or compensation” from Trump Media, to which Patel responded that he had “never received compensation for serving as a board member for Trump Media and Technology Group.”

Further, Patel explained: “On January 28, 2025, the TMTG board convened without my presence or participation and awarded all board members—including myself—compensation for past services provided, including a monetary award and shares. Even though this represented compensation for past services I had provided, out of an abundance of caution and to avoid any appearance of any conflict, I did not and will not accept that compensation.”

Since Patel has pledged to the Judiciary Committee he “will not accept” any shares the board may have awarded him, Eisen’s concern that Patel “has not committed to divest those holdings” appears moot.

FARA Allegations

Eisen also tried to gin up alarm about Patel not being registered as a foreign agent. The Foreign Agents Registration Act requires anyone who qualifies as an “agent of a foreign principal” to register as such with the U.S. Department of Justice. The first prong of FARA’s definition of an “agent of a foreign principal” requires such a person to be an “agent, representative, employee, or servant” or anyone who otherwise serves at the request or direction of a foreign principal or whose “activities” are controlled or funded by a foreign principal. The second prong further requires that, to qualify as a foreign agent, such a person:

(i) engages within the United States in political activities for or in the interests of such foreign principal;

(ii) acts within the United States as a public relations counsel, publicity agent, information-service employee or political consultant for or in the interests of such foreign principal;

(iii) within the United States solicits, collects, disburses, or dispenses contributions, loans, money, or other things of value for or in the interest of such foreign principal; or

(iv) within the United States represents the interests of such foreign principal before any agency or official of the Government of the United States…

A source close to Patel’s confirmation told The Federalist his work for Qatar was limited to securing the 2022 FIFA World Cup and other security measures, not the kind of representation that would require FARA registration. As a counterterrorism prosecutor in Barack Obama’s DOJ, Patel had investigated the 2010 bombings at the World Cup held in Uganda. Furthermore, FARA includes specific exemptions for those engaged merely “in private and nonpolitical activities in furtherance of the bona fide trade or commerce of such foreign principal.”

The day after Eisen’s letter, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Grassley demanding another hearing that would likely delay Patel’s confirmation vote. On Tuesday, Grassley slammed their “baseless efforts to mischaracterize and malign” Patel and deemed a further hearing “unnecessary.”

Elle Purnell is the elections editor at The Federalist. Her work has been featured by Fox Business, RealClearPolitics, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Independent Women’s Forum. She received her B.A. in government from Patrick Henry College with a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @_ellepurnell.