Former national security adviser John Bolton called on the Senate to reject President-elect Trump’s nomination of Kash Patel as FBI director, even comparing the move to Joseph Stalin’s reign of terror.

Bolton, who served during the first Trump administration, made a statement to NBC News about his choice. “Meet the Press” host Kristin Welker shared the comment in a post Sunday morning on X.

“Trump has nominated Kash Patel to be his Lavrenty (sic) Beria,” the statement said. “Fortunately, the FBI is not the NKVD (People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs).”

“The Senate should reject this nomination 100-0,” Bolton added.

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Former national security adviser John Bolton compared Kash Patel to Lavrenti Beria, the head of the Soviet secret police under Stalin. (Getty Images/Reuters)

Bolton’s statement referred to Lavrenty Beria, the head of the Soviet secret police under Stalin. Beria is one of the most notorious figures in Russian history, organizing and implementing widespread surveillance, repression, ethnic cleansing and terror during Stalin’s rule.

The prospect of an outsider taking over the FBI sent shockwaves across Washington over the weekend. The nomination was announced Saturday evening by Trump, who called Patel a “brilliant lawyer, investigator and ‘America First’ fighter.”

During the first Trump administration, Patel served as senior director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council. He is considered a Trump loyalist who, if confirmed, will implement drastic reforms within the FBI.

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Kash Patel is followed by reporters as he leaves a deposition meeting with the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on December 9, 2021 in Washington, DC (Getty Images)

Patel said in a September interview with “The Shawn Ryan Show” that he was “closing the show.” FBI Hoover Building on the first day and will reopen the next day as a Museum of the Deep State.” He also authored a book entitled “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy.”

Patel is not the first Trump pick Bolton has criticized. During a “Meet the Press NOW” episode in November, Bolton said that Trump’s now-withdrawn nomination of Matt Gaetz to be U.S. attorney general was “the worst nomination for a Cabinet position in American history.”

The nomination of Kash Patel, a staunch supporter of President-elect Trump, sparked strong reactions from conservatives and liberals on Saturday. (Getty Images)

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“New Senate leadership should tell the president-elect that he is endangering Republican senators by forcing a vote on Gaetz’s nomination. Leadership should insist that this nomination be withdrawn,” Bolton said at the time.