WASHINGTON – Kash Patel cleared his final proceedings vote to become FBI director Thursday morning – his nomination was expected to secure final approval later that day.
The Senate voted 51-47 to end the debate over the Long Island nomination, with Sen. Susan Collins (R Maine) breaking the ranks and 46 Democrats and filibuster President Trump.
Trump said Patel, 44, is shaking the bureau and attempting to depoliticize decisions after a series of controversies that include allegations or proven bias against the Republican Party.
“I think Kash will do great things,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview aired Tuesday. “I think they have to do great things, we have a problem. But when we see what they did, what they did, what they did, what they did, what they did, what they did, what they did, and what they did, Their reputation will be shot.”
Patel appeared unharmed from his confirmation hearing last month as Democrat senators focused on much of the time he accused participants of sympathy in the Capitol riots of being sympathetic.
At that hearing, Patel pledged to reform rather than unravel the bureau after Trump's allies called for the FBI to be dissolved after the August 2022 attack on the Florida residence.
Patel said, “Please make sure there are no 100,000 rapes in this country next year, there are no 100,000 drug overdose from Chinese fentanyl and Mexican heroin, and there are no 17,000 murders. .”
“These numbers need to be cut in half right away,” he said.
Patel worked as a public defense attorney in Florida for 12 years before serving as a trial counsel at the Department of Justice between 2014 and 2017.
He then worked in Congress and executive branch roles during Trump's first term.
Former FBI director Christopher Ray resigned on January 19th – a day before Trump became the 47th president – after the commander signaled that the chief commander would replace him. Ray hosted the Trump investigation and took heat from Congressional Republicans for messing around with doing official business to abandon the holiday monitoring hearing.
The Justice Department this month denounced the agency's leadership of “disobedience” in a review of allegedly “weaponization” of law enforcement under former President Joe Biden. Patel is expected to work closely with Attorney General Pam Bondi on its initiative.
Trump accused the FBI of politicizing the investigation. This includes a pair of criminal cases that opposed him, who allegedly mismanaged the classified documents and challenged the 2020 election results.
During the 45th presidency, evidence emerged that key leaders were biased against him, investigating whether Trump conspired with Russia to win the 2016 election.
Top Counter Intelligence official Peter Struzok, who opened the probe, exchanged anti-Trump messages with his mistress, FBI lawyer Lisa Page, calling Republicans “idiot” and “humans” and probed the probe I called it. “Insurance contract” in case he wins.
Biden's Department of Justice last year I agreed to pay Strzok for $1.2 million $800,000 pages to resolve lawsuits that alleged privacy was violated by the publication of these messages.
