Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s controversial pick to lead the FBI, was voted out of committee along party lines on Thursday morning.
The 12-10 vote from the Senate Judiciary Committee paves the way for Patel to be confirmed by the full Senate in the coming weeks, when he’ll take the helm of the federal law enforcement agency amid a massive leadership shakeup. The committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, has accused Patel of helping from the outside to oust some of the Justice Department’s top officials in the early days of the Trump administration.
If confirmed, Patel would become a key leader in Trump’s broad efforts to root out those deemed disloyal to his cause from the federal government.
“He’s been subjected to relentless attacks on his character,” said committee Chair Chuck Grassley of Iowa in opening remarks. “The FBI has fallen into really old habits and is long overdue for massive reform. Mr. Patel is the man to do it, and that’s why he’s being attacked so viciously right now.”
Trump named Patel to lead the FBI even before Christopher Wray, who Trump previously selected as agency director during his first administration, had yet to complete his 10-year term. Trump and his allies have accused Wray of weaponizing the agency against the president, particularly in wake of the 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago as part of the investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents.
Patel’s previous remarks have suggested he would go after perceived adversaries in line with Trump’s desires. In a previous podcast with Steve Bannon, Patel said, “We’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections.”
A Trump loyalist who previously worked to discredit the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Patel served in Trump’s first administration as chief of staff at the Department of Defense and an official at the National Security Council.
“He is already actively undermining the bureau he seeks to lead,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.). “I see in Mr. Patel an alarming willingness to do the bidding of a vengeful White House.”
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee had previously asked Grassley for a second chance to question Patel in a public hearing, but Grassley swiftly denied the request.
Grassley said he would “not facilitate a campaign to undermine the results of the election by delaying the consideration of nominees who promise to execute the policies that President Trump ran on and for which the American people elected him.”
