Kash Patel campaigns for Trent Staggs in Utah

U.S. Senate candidate Trent Staggs has received endorsements from several pro-Donald Trump conservatives, with the latest nod coming from former Trump administration official Kash Patel.

Patel served in various positions in the Trump administration, primarily in intelligence, and was the chief of staff to former Trump Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller. He also served as the deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council.

Patel attended two private events with Staggs Friday, and joined the Riverton mayor for an interview with the Deseret News that afternoon.

Staggs is running to replace Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who announced earlier this year he would not run for reelection. Also in the running for the Republican nomination are former Utah House speaker Brad Wilson, Roosevelt Mayor Rod Bird Jr., Carolyn Phippen and others. Rep. John Curtis, who represents Utah’s 3rd Congressional District, is also rumored to be considering joining the race.

Patel is just the latest pro-Trump conservative to endorse Staggs, joining Arizona Republican Kari Lake, Charlie Kirk, Mark Levin and former ambassador Ric Grenell.

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Staggs, who has already endorsed former President Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican primary, is running on an “America First” platform, having endorsed several of the policies favored by Trump, including taking a hardline approach on border security, disengaging from some foreign conflicts, protectionist trade policies and fighting crime.

In their interview with the Deseret News, Staggs and Patel emphasized their agreement on foreign and immigration policy.

“What I learned in my time in the administration, especially in a senior post in the Trump administration, was we didn’t have the allies we needed to push forward President Trump’s agenda when it came to shutting down the border, taking on the drug cartels, shutting down fentanyl, taking on Iran, China, rolling out our sanctions — multilateral efforts along with our tariff efforts — along with our national security mission of basically ending the forever wars and wiping out terrorists,” said Patel.

He said he thinks Staggs would by an ally on the Trump agenda in the Senate, unlike Romney, who frequently spoke out against Trump.

Staggs said he supports Trump’s immigration policies, and would like to see the border wall completed, and for fewer migrants to cross the southern and northern borders. A record number of migrants have been apprehended at the border in recent years, and Staggs criticized the Biden administration, saying the president hadn’t done enough to secure the border.

“Those that literally live right there on the border, and they see the human trafficking, and some of the horrific stories that they’ve shared ... the compassionate thing to do is to get the border secured, closed off, have great ports of entry,” said Staggs. “And one thing I would like to see, frankly, is to streamline the immigration process for those that want to come here to this country and pledge allegiance to that flag, irrespective of where they’re from.”

On refugees, Patel said his father had to flee “a genocidal dictator in East Africa,” gradually making his way to the United States.

“My dad stood in line for three years to get into this country, even though his family was getting murdered,” said Patel. “There’s a law and there’s an order and there’s a way to do it.”

Patel and Staggs also spoke about their concerns about the fentanyl coming across the border, and said it should be treated as a national security issue.

Patel, who worked as a federal public defense attorney and a federal prosecutor, said he is familiar with how the cartels operate, and said he believes they are exploiting American immigration laws in order to traffic drugs and people into the U.S.