The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced the nomination of Kash Patel in a strict party-line vote, clearing the way for President Trump’s pick to lead the FBI to get a vote on the full Senate floor.
The 12-10 vote will allow Patel to be considered by the Senate as early as next week.
Patel advanced amid a swirl of controversy, both about his truthfulness during his confirmation hearing and a series of firings of top FBI leadership shortly thereafter.
Patel is also dogged by a series of controversial past comments, many of which he dodged questions about during a hearing earlier this month.
Still, none of those questions appear to have stuck with Republicans, who are expected to almost universally back Patel on the Senate floor.
“We are inviting a political disaster if we put Kash Patel into this job,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the panel.
“Mr. Patel’s directives have already thrown the girl into chaos. Senior executives who collectively have hundreds of years of experience have been forced out. Thousands of line agents across the country are living in fear of losing their jobs simply because they did the job they were assigned to do. How does any of this make America safer? The American people need an FBI Director focused on keeping the public safe from terrorism, drug trafficking and violent crime, not petty personal grievances.”
Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) defended Trump’s pick.
Mr. Patel has spent his whole career fighting for righteous causes. He’s been a public defender, “representing the accused against the power of the state. He’s been a congressional staffer investigating the partisan weaponization of our legal system, and he served in key national security roles, protecting Americans from foreign enemies,” he said.
“Mr. Patel should be considered our next FBI director, because the FBI has been infected by political biased and weaponized against the American people. Mr. Patel knows it. Mr. Patel exposed it, and Mr. Patel has targeted for it.”
Patel’s consideration comes after a purge of top FBI leadership and some field office heads, while agents who worked on Trump’s two criminal cases were escorted out of the building.
The Justice Department has since asked for a detailed list of the agents who worked on the cases of the 1,500 charges in connection with storming the Capitol.
Patel claimed to have no insight into the rumored firings that ultimately took place the day after his hearing.
But Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has since accused Patel of misleading the committee – asking Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz for an investigation into Patel citing a whistleblower tip that he coordinated with Trump administration officials about the planned firings.
FBI agents have sued over the Justice Department’s ask to turn over a list of the agents that investigated Jan. 6, igniting a fight over whether the department could release their names. After a fraught battle, DOJ agreed not to do so while the case proceeds.
“It is outrageous that these sworn FBI agents who were simply doing the jobs assigned to them now fear for their livelihoods and their safety and the safety of their families,” Durbin said.
“It is unacceptable for a nominee with no role in government to personally direct the unjustified, potentially illegal firing of dedicated non partisan FBI officials, and if these allegations are true, Mr. Patel has come dangerously close to perjury before this Senate Judiciary Committee.”
Democrats also drew attention to a number of other past comments from Patel, noting he wrote a children’s book about the investigations into Trump and also drafted a list of “government gangsters” in a book by the same name.
He’s said he would “shut down” FBI headquarters on Day One in office to turn it into a museum to the Deep State.
He’s also pledged to “come after” journalists.
Patel has also boasted of his role in helping promote a recording of the national anthem sung by Jan. 6 defenders held in prison, but he sought to downplay his involvement during his hearing.
The Senate has confirmed all of Trump’s nominees that have come to the floor, including other controversial picks like Director of Nation Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Overall, the Senate has confirmed 14 nominees, with that number set to rise to 16 by the end of the week when it greenlights Robert F. Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and Brooke Rollins to lead the Department of Agriculture.
That figure far outpaces the number of confirmations during the president’s first term or former President Biden’s tenure.
