Kash Patel, a national security aide and player in Donald Trump’s political orbit, is widely expected to take on an influential role in the federal government should the former president win a second term.

A swaggering campaign surrogate who mythologizes the former president while promoting his own brand, Patel has a pedigree that sets him apart from many other Trump advisers. He frequently cites that experience — as a defense attorney, federal prosecutor, top House staffer and national security official — when he pledges to jettison those disloyal to Trump and attacks the very intelligence community he could one day oversee.