The Senate on Thursday confirmed Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s option to be FBI director.
The ultimate vote was 51-49.
Two Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, voted towards Patel. Democrats have been unanimous of their opposition.
Regardless of his controversial nomination, Republicans rallied round Patel, arguing he’s the fitting individual to deliver reform to the nation’s high legislation enforcement company they allege has been corrupted.
“Mr. Patel ought to be our subsequent FBI director as a result of the FBI has been contaminated by political bias and weaponized towards the American individuals. Mr. Patel is aware of it, Mr. Patel uncovered it, and Mr. Patel has been focused for it,” Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, stated final week because the committee met to contemplate and advance his nomination.
Although not all GOP members backed him. Collins, explaining her resolution to vote towards his affirmation, stated there’s a want for an FBI director who’s “decidedly apolitical” and Patel’s “time over the previous 4 years has been characterised by excessive profile and aggressive political exercise.”
Murkowski voiced related considerations.
“My reservations with Mr. Patel stem from his personal prior political actions and the way they might affect his management,” the senator stated in a publish on X. “The FBI should be trusted because the federal company that roots out crime and corruption, not targeted on settling political scores. I’ve been dissatisfied that when he had the chance to push again on the administration’s resolution to pressure the FBI to supply a listing of brokers concerned within the January 6 investigations and prosecutions, he failed to take action.”
Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s option to be director of the FBI, seems earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee for his affirmation listening to, on the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 30, 2025.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP, FILE
Democrats, in the meantime, objected to Patel up till the final minute. Sen. Dick Durbin, the rating member of the Judiciary Committee, held a press convention outdoors FBI headquarters on Thursday morning railing towards Patel’s “weird political statements” on Jan. 6 to retribution.
He accused Republicans of “willfully ignoring purple flags on Mr. Patel,” who he argued has “neither the expertise, the judgment or the temperament” to be FBI chief for the subsequent 10 years.
“Mr. Patel might be a political and nationwide safety catastrophe,” Durbin stated.
Sen. Dick Durbin speaks at a press convention on Feb. 20, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Pictures
Patel, 44, is a loyalist to the president and labored in quite a lot of roles throughout Trump’s first administration, together with performing deputy director of nationwide intelligence.
Shortly after the November election, Trump indicated he would hearth then-FBI Director Christopher Wray and faucet Patel to take his place. Wray, first appointed by Trump in 2017, stepped down on the finish of the Biden administration.
Patel has been a vocal critic of the FBI for years, and beforehand stated he wished to wash out the bureau’s headquarters in Washington as a part of a mission to dismantle the so-called “deep state.”
He confronted pointed questions from Democrats on these feedback and extra — together with assist for Jan. 6 rioters and quotes that appeared favorable to the “QAnon” conspiracy motion — throughout his affirmation hearings final month.
Patel sought to distance from a few of his previous rhetoric, and advised lawmakers he would take “no retributive actions” regardless of his historical past of feedback about concentrating on journalists and authorities staff.
Patel will take over an company dealing with uncertainty and turmoil amid firings and different key adjustments.
The Justice Division’s sought a listing of probably hundreds of FBI staff who labored on Jan. 6 circumstances, ABC Information beforehand reported, prompting brokers to file a lawsuit to dam the trouble.
