Republicans and Democrats sharpened their arguments over Kash Patel’s fitness to lead the FBI, offering starkly different versions of the nominee ahead of a confirmation vote expected Thursday.
Senate Republicans have rallied around Patel’s nomination and his pledges to fight crime, while Democrats have described him as perilously unsuited for the job amid concerns that he would wield the FBI’s sprawling investigative authority to target President Donald Trump’s perceived enemies.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, in a floor speech Tuesday, touched on Patel’s experience, saying Patel has been a fighter for transparency in government and praised him as the “right man at the right time.”
“Mr. Patel’s résumé doesn’t look like a normal one for [an] FBI director. But everybody knows in this Congress, and maybe in the United States, that we’re not living in normal times,” Grassley said.
Grassley added the FBI has been “infected” by politicization and said the “storied agency has been weaponized against political opponents.”
Senate Judiciary ranking member Richard J. Durbin and at least six other Democrats on the committee plan to hold a news conference Thursday morning outside FBI headquarters ahead of a procedural vote on the Patel nomination.
In a floor speech Tuesday, Durbin said Republicans were deliberately ignoring “myriad red flags” about Patel. “Especially his recurring instinct to threaten retribution against his political enemies and President Trump’s perceived enemies,” the Illinois Democrat said. “This is an extremely dangerous characteristic for someone who seeks to lead the nation’s most powerful domestic investigative agency for the next 10 years.
“It will be a political and national security disaster if he’s confirmed,” Durbin said.
In an interview with Fox News, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the Senate would hold a confirmation vote Thursday on Patel.
Patel has branded himself as an enthusiastic fighter against what he calls the “deep state” and has shown steadfast loyalty to Trump.
After serving in the first Trump administration, Patel established a track record of partisan and inflammatory commentary. He’s called Democrats “vindictive, evil, vicious” and at one point reposted a meme-style video showing him taking a chain saw to images of Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as prominent Republican Trump critics such as former Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.
But since being named as Trump’s pick for FBI director, Patel has taken a more measured tone compared with the swaggering pro-MAGA bravado that he displayed on social media and as a frequent guest on conservative shows. Patel told lawmakers in a written response that the meme was intended to be humor, and he noted that it showed him chainsawing the Truth Social logo as well.
He has also had to explain his past commentary surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. On social media, he promoted a song from people arrested for the attack, shared a post about a show that featured a Jan. 6 defendant and referred to Jan. 6 defendants as “political prisoners” despite them being afforded due process protections.
“This powerful and moving song raises awareness and support for the political prisoners still locked in jail without trial following the January 6th protest in 2021,” said one post on Patel’s social media.
At his confirmation hearing, Patel said he didn’t know everyone in the “J6 choir.” In a written response, Patel condemned violence against law enforcement and said individuals who did so during the 2021 Capitol attack should have been prosecuted swiftly. Patel also said during his confirmation hearing that he would focus on combating violent crime and cooperating with congressional oversight if confirmed as the agency’s next director.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said in a floor speech Wednesday that Patel would get the agency to focus on its core mission of fighting crime.
“If you want justice and accountability, confirm Kash Patel. If you want to keep our communities safe, we need to confirm Kash Patel,” Barrasso said.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., posted on social media that he would support Patel’s confirmation. “I’ve spoken to multiple people I respect about Kash Patel this weekend — both for and against. The ones who worked closely with Kash vouched for him,” Cassidy posted. “I will vote for his confirmation.”
Democrats have raised concerns with Patel’s integrity, pointing out that a Colorado court overseeing a 14th Amendment challenge to Trump’s candidacy found Patel was “not a credible witness.”
Patel also has a history of anti-press rhetoric, including his idea to “come after” certain members of the media. Patel, in a written response to lawmakers, said there is no role for the FBI to undertake defamation cases on behalf of private citizens.
In an interview posted in September 2022, Patel questioned whether FBI informants convinced people to conduct criminal activity on Jan. 6, 2021.
“I’m going to venture a guess here that once we see the documentation from Jan. 6, you will see the FBI’s confidential human source corruption cover-up network on blast,” Patel said.
In December, a report from the Justice Department inspector general found that of the throngs of Trump supporters who poured into D.C., there were only 26 FBI informants in the District of Columbia on Jan. 6, 2021, in connection to the events. Twenty-three were there on their own initiative.
None of the FBI informants was authorized to go into the Capitol, or a restricted area, and none of them were directed by the agency to push others to commit illegal acts, according to the report.
Critics of Patel’s nomination have also called attention to his financial disclosure, where he reported receiving income from a range of sources, including from the Trump Media & Technology Group and the Embassy of Qatar.
Patel’s financial disclosures also show he started working in April 2024 as a consultant for Elite Depot Ltd. and left the position last month. The Associated Press has reported that the entity is the parent company of Shein, a clothing company that was established in China. The FBI has described China as a grave national security threat.
Patel received between $1 million and $5 million in unvested stock in Elite Depot Ltd., according to the financial disclosure and Patel’s ethics agreement. The stock units will vest quarterly, and the first portion was set to be doled out at the beginning of this month, the ethics agreement stated.
The ethics agreement said Patel would keep the stock units because there would only be a “remote” likelihood that his duties would involve the company.
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