On this, Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee for FBI director, falls short. While some senators may disagree about whether Patel has sufficient experience to manage the Bureau’s 38,000 employees, his lack of independence is disqualifying.

The nominee for F.B.I. director made his nonprofit into a publicity machine, selling his children’s book, his clothing brand and his image as Donald Trump’s ultimate loyalist.

Patel’s mother and father are Indian Gujarati immigrants who moved to Canada in the 1970s from Uganda, East Africa, after facing ethnic repression. They later moved to the U.S., and Patel’s father reportedly landed a job at an aviation firm working as a financial officer.