Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee to guide the Federal Bureau of Investigation, pushed again in his affirmation listening to after he was grilled on the president’s pardoning of January 6 rioters.
“So do you suppose that America is safer as a result of the 1600 folks have been given a possibility to return out of serving their sentences and dwell in our communities once more?” Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin requested Patel in Thursday’s listening to, urgent him on January 6 rioters who assaulted cops having their sentences commuted earlier this month.
Patel responded with a reference to Biden’s choice within the last hours of his presidency to free Leonard Peltier, a far-left activist convicted within the 1975 murders of two FBI particular brokers, Ronald Williams and Jack Coler, who had been gunned down in a shootout in South Dakota.
“Senator, I’ve not checked out all 1600 particular person instances,” Patel mentioned.
DOZENS OF FORMER FBI AGENTS RALLY AROUND KASH PATEL’S CONFIRMATION: ‘LIVES HAVE BEEN SHATTERED’
Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin and FBI Director nominee Kash Patel (AP/Reuters)
“I’ve all the time advocated for imprisoning people who trigger hurt to our legislation enforcement and civilian communities. I additionally imagine America is just not safer as a result of President Biden’s commutation of a person who murdered two FBI brokers. Agent Coler and Williams household deserve higher than to have the person that time clean vary fired a shotgun into their heads and murdered them, launched from jail. So it goes each methods.”
Durbin responded by downplaying the comparability between Peltier and January 6 rioters.
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Sen. Dick Durbin speaks throughout a listening to of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on Capitol Hill, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photograph/Mark Schiefelbein)
“Leonard Peltier was in jail for 45 years,” Durbin responded. “He is 80 years previous, and he was sentenced to residence confinement. So he is not free. As you might need simply urged. He killed two FBI brokers. That he did, and he went to jail for it and will have. My query to you, although, is, do you suppose America’s safer as a result of President Trump issued these pardons to 1600 of those prison defendants, a lot of whom violently assaulted our police in capital?”
Patel responded, “Senator, America shall be secure when we do not have 200,000 drug overdoses in two years, America shall be secure when we do not have 50 homicides a day.”
Kash Patel speaks throughout a marketing campaign occasion for Republican election candidates. (Brandon Bell/Getty Photographs)
Conservatives and supporters of Patel on social media praised Patel for his response.
“Brutal actuality test,” political commentator and Verify 47 govt director Camryn Kinsey posted on X.
In his opening remarks, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley mentioned, “Public belief within the FBI is low.”
“Solely 41% of the American public thinks the FBI is doing an excellent job. That is the bottom score in a century,” he continued.
Grassley touted Patel’s expertise as a public defender and on the Justice Division, in addition to his involvement within the Home Everlasting Choose Committee on Intelligence in 2017 to analyze the origins of the Trump-Russia probe.
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Patel has “managed giant intelligence and protection bureaucracies, recognized and countered nationwide safety threats, prosecuted and defended criminals,” Grassley mentioned. “He has executed this whereas combating for transparency and accountability within the authorities,” giving him “exactly the {qualifications} we want at the moment” to go up the bureau.
Patel’s nomination has sparked early criticism from some Democrats forward of his affirmation listening to, who’ve cited his earlier vows to prosecute journalists and profession officers on the Justice Division and FBI that he sees as being a part of the “deep state.”
Fox Information Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report
