[caption id="attachment_24004" align="alignnone" width="1024"] PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images[/caption]

By Virginia Kruta. Media: DailyWire.com

Former U.S. Senate candidate Tiffany Smiley (R-WA) said on Sunday that the American people were probably not bothered by the fact that Washington, D.C., insiders had concerns about President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). During a panel discussion on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Smiley argued that there was a fairly widespread lack of trust in the FBI — meaning that it was likely seen as a net positive when those who were seen as a part of the establishment appeared nervous. WATCH: “Well, there’s a lack of trust in the FBI with the American people, and that’s exactly what we saw with Donald Trump getting elected,” Smiley began. “And with Kash, he has worked national security roles — in fact, he was a prosecutor at the DOJ … under Obama. He’s worked with Democrats, he’s worked with Republicans.” “Donald Trump wants change agents,” she continued. “The fact that people here in DC — DC insiders and people within the FBI perhaps — don’t want Kash is a really good sell to the American people.” The Los Angeles Times senior legal analyst Harry Litman was among those criticizing the Patel nomination — calling it “an affront to professionals in the FBI, who won’t forget it even if Patel goes down.” He also argued that Trump had essentially thrown down the gauntlet, calling the move a “challenge to the Senate to see if it will just roll over.” The responses to Litman only served to bolster Smiley’s claim. “You can judge a nominee by his enemies. In this case, the top ‘Senior Legal Affairs’ guy for the L.A. Times. This tweet is like the Good Housekeeping Seal Of Approval for Patel,” Kevin McKeever posted. “Congrats on explaining exactly why Patel was nominated. The ‘professionals’ at the FBI have been a law unto themselves for too long. They’ve abused their power. They’ve failed at their jobs repeatedly. Voter accountability is back. Deal with it,” RedState’s Bonchie said. “‘These FBI agents are professionals who will hold a grudge and hurt you because they don’t like the person you pick to lead them.’ Sounds super professional,” Jesse Kelly added. “‘Patel nomination is an affront to professionals at the FBI,'” Varad Mehta posted. “When you explain why the nomination happened and accidentally endorse it, but don’t realize it.”