Kash Patel is One Step Closer to Head the FBI After Senate Judiciary Committee Advances his Nomination
- The 12-10 vote along party lines comes after a contentious hearing where the Indian American defended his position, and portrayed himself as a loyal ally to law enforcement, touting his years of experience as an assistant public defender, federal prosecutor and congressional staffer.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has cleared Kash Patel’s nomination to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation in a 12-10 partisan vote. It moves the Indian American a critical step closer to being confirmed to a role that his critics have said would politicize the federal law enforcement agency amid a massive shakeup.
During today’s vote, the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, accused Patel of helping to oust some of the Justice Department’s top officials in the early days of the Trump administration. But Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) defended Patel, saying that has been “subjected to relentless attacks on his character.” He accused the FBI of falling “into really old habits” and noted that its “long overdue for massive reform.” Patel is t”he man to do it, and that’s why he’s being attacked so viciously right now,” Grassley said.
Shortly after Trump took office, the Justice Department ordered the review of any FBI agent involved in cases relating to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot or Trump’s handling of classified documents. Nine FBI agents filed suit last week seeking to prevent the DOJ from compiling a list of the agents who investigated Jan. 6 cases.
Once confirmed, Patel will head an agency that employs more than 35,000 people, who he will oversee, and will also be responsible for its day-to-day operations. Since the FBI is an agency within the Department of Justice, the director reports to the U.S. attorney general. The FBI director is appointed for a single 10-year term by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. The 10-year term is meant to insulate the position from politics. But Trump forced FBI director Chris Wray to resign, making it clear that he’d fire him. This gave Patel a clear path.
Although the FBI director’s post is not a cabinet position, it is the most powerful law enforcement organization, catapulting Patel into a position of immense power. Of course, Patel is not the first Indian American to have a high-profile post in an administration. In Trump’s first term as president, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki
Haley held an important Cabinet position — U.S. Ambassador to the United States. One cannot forget Kamala Devi Harris, who broke many glass ceilings in 2020 to become the first woman, first South Asian, and first Black vice president. But one can argue that hers was more of a symbolically powerful position.
Patel has been making headlines for his views on the FBI and Trump’s second term as president. Speaking to podcaster Shawn Ryan, he said he’d “shut down the FBI Hoover Building on day one… and reopen it as a Deep State museum.” He would even “send the 7,000 employees in the building ‘across America’ to go be cops instead of having them in D.C.”
He has also broadly vowed to retaliate against Trump’s “enemies” during a second stint in the White House. Steve Bannon on his “War Room” podcast said that he wanted to go after perceived enemies “not just in government but in the media.” They are going “to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,” Patel said, referring to the 2020 election. “We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminally or civilly. … We’re putting you all on notice.”
Additionally, Patel laid out his vision for retribution against the FBI and Justice Department” in a book, “Government Gangsters,” in which he called for “clearing out the top ranks of the bureau, which he called a threat to the people,” according to The New York Times. He also wrote a children’s book, “The Plot Against the King,” in which he reveals “the major players and tactics within the permanent government bureaucracy, which has spent decades stripping power away from the American people and their elected leaders,” according to its synopsis.
During his Jan. 30 confirmation hearing, Patel defended his position, mostly to Senate Democrats, while occasionally sparring with them. He portrayed himself as a loyal ally to law enforcement, touting his years of experience as an assistant public defender, federal prosecutor and congressional staffer.
He told the committee that the FBI must return to tackling violent crime and committing to transparency for the law enforcement organization. He pledged not to abuse his power: “If confirmed as the next FBI director, I will remain focused on the FBI core mission that is to investigate fully wherever there is a constitutional factual basis to do so and to never make a prosecutorial decision,” he said.
But he repeatedly refused to admit that Trump lost the 2000 election and Joe Biden won it. “What’s so hard about saying Biden won the 2020 election?” Asked Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.). “President Biden was certified and sworn in,” Patel responded. “I don’t know how else to say it,” he added. “The other way to say it is, he won,” Welch replied. “I can say Trump won. I didn’t vote for him, but he won,” he said. “You’re so skillful. You understand what I’m asking,” Welch said. “ Can you say the words, ‘Joe Biden won?’” Patel said: “Joe Biden was the president of the United States.”
Patel also declined to tell senators what he testified about when he appeared before a grand jury investigating Trump’s handling of classified records after his first term ended. In late 2022, Patel initially pleaded the fifth when called to appear but was later compelled to testify after the Justice Department granted him testimonial immunity. “I did not commit a crime,” Patel said under questioning from Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). “I utilized my constitutional rights during that process with the advice and consent of counsel.” When Booker pressed him if he’ll “lie for the president of the United States Patel replied “no.”