It was closer than Tulsi Gabbard’s and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s confirmation, but on Thursday the Senate pushed Kash Patel across the finish line with a 51-49 vote. Patel will be the next director of an ailing Federal Bureau of Investigation
Two Republicans opposed Patel’s confirmation, Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, each of whom have cast votes that align with the U.S. Constitution less than half the time throughout their illustrious political careers. Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, who voted against Gabbard and Kennedy, voted to confirm Patel.
Tough Confirmation
Patel’s confirmation was a brawl from beginning to end. Democrats and their partners in mainstream media have screeched and wailed that Patel will go after President Donald Trump’s enemies. Just before the final vote, a small group of Democratic senators held a press conference in front of the FBI building to express their concern with Patel. California’s Adam Schiff dubbed Patel a “sycophant” and a “political hack,” an interesting attack coming from one of the members of the ultra-politicized J6 Committee and someone who received a preemptive pardon from Joe Biden. Patel told Epoch Times that Schiff is “the worst criminal in Congress in the last 250 years.”
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said Patel “will cause evil in this building behind us and Republicans who vote for him will rue that day.”
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, who also protested Patel’s confirmation, was among the most vocal opponent during Patel’s confirmation hearing. Patel, he had said, doesn’t have the temperament, experience, or the judgment to lead the FBI. He’s too loyal to Trump to be impartial and too much of a believer in “conspiracy theories” to be confirmed. He brought up Patel’s book Government Gangsters, which includes a list of 60 Deep State members. Durbin is someone who in 2023 advocated for the admittance of illegal immigrants into the U.S. military — proving correct, at least in part, the “conspiracy theorists” who warned there would be an effort to admit illegals into the military for the ultimate purpose of using it against the American people.
Background
The new director of the FBI is a former federal prosecutor at the Department of Justice. He served as chief of staff to acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Christopher C. Miller, and senior advisor to acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, both during Trump’s first term. He also led the interagency team that took down ISIS.
But Patel is known for his work in exposing the FBI’s illegal surveillance operation against Trump, known as Crossfire Hurricane. He worked as a staff member for the House Intelligence Committee during Trump’s first term, and he was the main author of the committee’s memo detailing FBI and DOJ abuses of the FISA process in obtaining a surveillance warrant of Trump campaign staffer Carter Page. This work helped expose the conspiracy by the intelligence community to convince the public that Trump colluded with the Russians to win the election in 2016.
Patel took to social media shortly after his confirmation, pledging that as the new director, he’ll “let good cops be cops — and rebuild trust in the FBI.” He also issued a stern warning to anyone who wants to harm Americans: “Consider this your warning. We will hunt you down in every corner of this planet.”
Patel said he plans to focus on the Bureau’s core mission, to investigate fully wherever there is a constitutional factual basis to do so. According to Patel, “The priority of the FBI, if I’m confirmed, will be to ensure that our communities are protected and safeguarded and our children have parks to play in and not needles to walk over.”
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