Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said Thursday on MSNBC's “The Last Word” that President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, “shuts down the FBI's role in protecting us.” He claimed that he had a “nightmarish view” of what would happen. against foreign terrorism.
The White House said: “Remember the history of all this: As Americans, we have long been determined that we do not want the CIA or any other American intelligence agency to operate in the United States against Americans.'' And the FBI had criminal law enforcement responsibilities, primarily focused on terrorism as a criminal act.
“Then 9/11 happened, and the firewall between outward-looking intelligence agencies and the FBI, which looks only inward at criminal issues, was a failed recipe and needs to be better coordinated,” he added. And people realized, we had to break down the firewall and make sure that the FBI knew where Lane was and that the Intelligence Committee knew where Lane was. It was a successful change and 9/11 And to be totally unaware of that and think that the FBI has no proper role. He said the CIA should step in and start doing FBI work in the United States. What are you thinking? Or do you just stop looking at terrorism when it happens? It just makes no sense.”
Whitehouse added: “With Patel, you don't have to be on your toes. He's going to show it right away. He's going to shut down the division of the FBI that protects us from foreign terrorism. I'm not much of a fan of Hooverville, but from day one? It's so confusing. Where are people going to work now? And of course he's being investigated by the FBI. I think I should go And if, in his view, the government's view, the media is not telling the truth, he will go after people like you, both civilly and criminally. He says he has a promise to do so. So any of that is pretty much invalidated. And the fact that he brings all this nightmarish view into his work is a lively hearing. It will be.”
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