FBI Director-designate Kash Patel cleared a Senate panel in a party-line vote on Thursday, with Republicans moving the confirmation process to the floor of the upper chamber.
All 12 GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Patel’s confirmation, while 10 Democrats on the panel opposed it.
A former public defender, congressional aide and national security official in the first Trump administration, Patel, 44, received firm backing from Judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley for having undergone “rigorous vetting” and being committed to rooting out “political bias” at the FBI.
“Mr. Patel was instrumental in exposing Crossfire Hurricane. He showed that the Democratic National Committee funded false allegations against President Trump, that the DOJ and FBI hid information from the FISA court to wiretap a presidential campaign and that an FBI lawyer lied in the process,” Grassley (R-Iowa) said.
“As reward for his efforts to uncover the truth, he was attacked by the media, and the DOJ secretly subpoenaed his records. I know a thing or two about this kind of retaliation. My staff received similar treatment during our investigation.”
Senate Democrats delayed the vote last week — and have since accused Patel of perjuring himself during his confirmation hearing.
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat, has alleged he falsely claimed not to be aware of the recent dismissal of senior FBI officials but has been working behind the scenes after President Trump took office.
Other Democrats have pointed to Patel’s statements denying involvement with the production of a song “Justice for All” by Jan. 6 rioters held in federal prison, which Trump played at 2024 campaign rallies.
Grassley shot back in his opening remarks: “Before we even had a hearing, committee members called Mr. Patel ‘dishonest, untrustworthy, lacking in character, a wolf at the door, a conspiracy theorist, a staunch political loyalist and a nightmare.’”
“The purpose of this is quite obvious — throw everything at the wall and hope something sticks,” he added. “And they are directed at a nominee who served his country during both Democratic and Republican administrations.”
The Judiciary chair also said that the FBI was badly in need of “reforms” and “even firings” and that Patel was the right person for the job, pointing out that whistleblowers who spoke with his staff were retaliated against by the same bureau officials who were recently fired.
Trump, 78, said in November he tapped the nominee to also “end the growing crime epidemic in America, dismantle the migrant criminal gangs, and stop the evil scourge of human and drug trafficking across the Border. Kash will work under our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to bring back Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity to the FBI.”
In his confirmation hearing, Patel vowed to “cut in half” broad categories of crimes, including the “100,000 rapes in this country next year, make sure we don’t have 100,000 drug overdoses from Chinese fentanyl and Mexican heroin, and make sure we don’t have 17,000 homicides.”
Notably, he broke with Trump on the mass pardoning of Jan. 6 rioters — including those who assaulted Capitol police while stalling Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s victory in January 2021.
“I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement,” he said.
Patel also told senators he was not planning to use the bureau’s resources to investigate Democrats — and maintained that “98% of the FBI is courageous, apolitical warriors of justice.”
“They just need better leadership,” he told members of the Judiciary panel last month.
Patel would serve for a 10-year term as an FBI director if confirmed.
He is among the last of Trump’s controversial nominees — with the Senate confirming Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary.
