Kash Patel told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday that he would focus on combating violent crime and cooperating with congressional oversight if confirmed as the next FBI director, as top members of the committee offered sharply different views over his fitness for the role at his confirmation hearing.
Patel, a former Trump campaign surrogate and former Trump administration official, used his opening remarks to tell the panel that he would put a focus on the agency’s core mission if confirmed.
“That is to investigate fully wherever there is a constitutional factual basis to do so and to never make a prosecutorial decision that is solely the providence of the Department of Justice and the attorney general,” Patel said.
If confirmed, Patel said the priority of the FBI would be to make sure communities are “protected and safeguarded,” and said law enforcement should be provided the tools and resources to “get after” violent crime.
Patel also said lawmakers in Congress have submitted hundreds of questions that have not been answered by the agency in recent times, he said.
“That will not occur if I am confirmed. All appropriate requests for information will be responded to expeditiously and fully,” Patel said.
Critics have framed Patel as a perilously unqualified pick for the role and say his nomination raises concerns that he would use the agency’s sprawling investigative authority to target Trump’s perceived enemies. Conservatives say he’s the right person to bring changes to an agency that has lost the public’s trust.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley sought to defend Trump’s pick for FBI director, saying in his opening statements that Patel’s career “has been a study in fighting unpopular but righteous causes, exposing corruption and putting America first.”
The Iowa Republican highlighted Patel’s work as a public defender, touched on his work as a federal prosecutor and outlined positions he held during the first Trump administration, which included a three-month stint as chief of staff to the secretary of Defense.
Grassley also pushed back on arguments from some Democrats that Patel included an “enemies list” in an appendix of his book, saying it was not a “fair characterization.”
“Mr. Patel has identified those he believes have put politics and personal ambition over service to the country,” Grassley said. “He has called out those who’ve used the institutions like the FBI to achieve their own personal gain.”
“Mr. Patel has said he believes that people who do this should be named,” Grassley added.
The list, included in Patel’s book “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy,” features the names of 60 people Patel has deemed members of the “Executive Branch Deep State.”
On the list are high-profile Democrats and former Trump administration officials who have rejected his false 2020 election fraud claims.
In public comments, Patel has repeatedly fumed against what calls the “deep state,” and told a crowd at a Nevada rally last year: “We are on a mission to annihilate the deep state.”
Sen. Richard J. Durbin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary committee, used his opening statement to harshly criticize Patel’s nomination, and said Trump’s pick did not have the experience, temperament or the judgment to head the agency.
“This is someone who’s left behind a trail of grievances throughout his life, lashing out at anyone who disrespects him or doesn’t agree with him,” Durbin said.
“Mr. Patel’s record is clear — he traffics in debunked conspiracy theories that serve or benefit his political beliefs,” Durbin said.
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