Kash Patel, President Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, is expected to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.
Patel held numerous national security roles during the first Trump administration but would be a new face at the FBI.
Patel regularly attacks a “deep state” he blames for having “weaponized the government for their own political and personal agenda.”
He has said he would clear out FBI headquarters on his first day in office.
“I’d shut down the FBI Hoover building on Day 1 and reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state. And I’d take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to chase down criminals. Go be cops,” Patel said.
He’s sparked concerns among Democrats due to his past comments about “government gangsters,” penning a book by the same name that includes an appendix with a list of people he later said must be “held accountable.”
Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the top Democrat on the panel, announced earlier this week he would oppose Patel’s confirmation.
“Kash Patel has neither the experience, the temperament, nor the judgment to lead the FBI,” Durbin said in a statement after a 30-minute meeting with Patel.
“Mr. Patel’s political grievances make him a favorite of the MAGA world, but they have not prepared him to work night and day to keep us safe from violent crime, drug trafficking, terrorism, and other threats. Mr. Patel is the wrong choice to lead the FBI.”
Durbin previously asked a trio of national security agencies that employed Patel during the first Trump administration to turn over information from their personnel files.
The letters lay out a series of allegations, including that Patel pushed to stop transition coordination with the incoming Biden administration, sought to declassify information that would be favorable to Trump and was identified as a helpful figure for the man leading Trump’s efforts to thwart the transfer of power after losing the 2020 election.
