The Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines on Thursday to advance the nomination of Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s pick for FBI director, pushing past Democratic concerns that he would operate as a loyalist for the president and target perceived adversaries of the White House.
The committee voted 12-10 to send the nomination to the Republican-controlled Senate for full consideration.
It was not immediately clear when the final confirmation vote will occur, but so far even nominees once seen as having uncertain prospects — including new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence — have been able to marshal sufficient support from Republicans eager to fall in line with Trump’s agenda.
Patel has raised alarm for his lack of management experience compared to other FBI directors and because of a vast catalog of incendiary past statements, which include calling investigators who scrutinized Trump “government gangsters” and describing at least some defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S Capitol as “political prisoners.”
At his confirmation hearing last month, Patel said Democrats were taking some of his comments out of context or misunderstanding the broader point that he was trying to make, such as when he proposed shutting down the FBI headquarters in Washington and turning it into a museum for the so-called “deep state.” And Patel denied the idea that a list in his book of government officials, who he said were part of a “deep state,” amounted to an “enemies list,” calling that a “total mischaracterization.”
Patel, who was selected by Trump in November to replace Christopher Wray as FBI director, would inherit an agency riven by turmoil amid the recent forced departures of a group of senior executives and by a highly unusual Justice Department demand for the names of all agents who participated in investigations related to Jan. 6.
A letter this week from Senator Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the committee, cited undisclosed sources in saying that Patel was covertly involved in that process despite telling the panel at his confirmation hearing that he was unaware of any plans to fire agents. A Patel spokeswoman called the allegations “gossip” aimed at pushing what she said was a “false narrative.”
Democrats portrayed Patel as a dangerous and inexperienced loyalist who would abuse the FBI’s law enforcement powers at a time when the country is facing an escalated threat including from China and international terrorism.
“This is a guy whose judgment is beyond questionable. It’s appallingly bad,” said Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. He added: “Mark my words: this Patel guy will come back to haunt you.”
Durbin told his colleagues “we are inviting a political disaster if we put Kash Patel into this job.”
Addressing Republicans on the committee, Durbin said, “I know you want to vote for all these nominations. I know none of you want a call from Elon Musk reminding you what he might do to somebody who votes the wrong way, but this really gets down to the heart of the future of an agency that is critical to the security of this nation.”
Republicans, by contrast, praised Patel as the right person for the job, insisting he was needed to fix an FBI that they claim has been tainted by bias amid criminal investigations into Trump.
“The American people are sick and tired of two tiers of access, tiers of treatment and two tiers of justice. And during the Biden years, this was writ large in the acts of the DOJ and the FBI,” said Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.
Senator Ashley Moody, a Republican from Florida, said that Patel “might not have served in the upper echelons of the FBI, but aren’t we asking this agency to set a new course? Don’t we want a nontraditional candidate at this moment in time, with extensive federal experience?”
A former Justice Department prosecutor, Patel attracted Trump’s attention during his first term when, as a staffer on the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee, he helped author a memo with pointed criticism of the FBI’s investigation into ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Patel later joined Trump’s administration, both as a counterterrorism official at the National Security Council and as chief of staff to the Defense Department.