FEBRUARY 20, 2025
The Senate on Thursday narrowly voted to confirm Kash Patel as the FBI’s ninth director, installing a close ally of President Donald Trump and a staunch critic of the bureau to lead the country’s premier law enforcement agency.
Patel was approved 51-49, a remarkably tight margin for a position that historically has seen nominees win overwhelming bipartisan support. Each of the last three FBI directors garnered the votes of at least 92 senators.
While Democratic senators expressed deep concerns about Patel, pointing to his history of inflammatory rhetoric and calls for retribution against perceived enemies, many of their Republican counterparts hailed him as the person needed to fix an agency they say has become politicized.
The GOP-majority Senate has approved every Trump nominee to come before the chamber so far, though three Republican defections on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth meant Vice President JD Vance, who serves as Senate president, was called in to cast the tiebreaking vote.
On Thursday, Republicans Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) voted against Patel.
Patel, a former assistant public defender and federal prosecutor, assumes command of the FBI while it is engulfed by turbulence and uncertainty. Since Trump’s inauguration, at least eight top FBI officials have been forced out, and people familiar with the bureau’s workforce say morale has plummeted amid fears of further staffing shake-ups.
While FBI leaders in the modern era have sought to keep some distance between themselves and presidents, Patel appears to be the first director to have so closely allied himself with the commander in chief who appointed him.
Since long before his nomination, Patel has called for profound changes within the FBI. In a 2023 book, he described the bureau as “a tool of surveillance and suppression of American citizens” and said its powers should be dramatically curtailed. He has also echoed Trump’s calls to go after political enemies and other nemeses, prompting deep unease among some national security veterans and Democrats on Capitol Hill.
In his new role, Patel will take over a mammoth organization with more than 30,000 employees, hundreds of offices nationwide and a sprawling mandate to investigate cases involving national security, terrorism, counterintelligence and violent crimes.
Patel drew strong support from high-profile GOP senators including Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (Iowa), who called him “a reformer.”
Before voting to support Patel’s nomination, Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) said he looked “forward to working with Mr. Patel to restore the integrity of the FBI and get it focused on its critical mission.”
In a statement before voting no on the nomination, Collins said she doubted Patel could lead the FBI “in a way that is free from the appearance of political motivation.”
Murkowski posted on social media that she had reservations due to Patel’s “own prior political activities and how they may influence his leadership.”
“I truly hope that he proves me wrong about the reservations I have of him today,” she added.
On Thursday morning, Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee made a public plea to their GOP colleagues to oppose Patel’s nomination.
“Mr. Patel will be a political and national security disaster if confirmed,” Sen. Dick Durbin (Illinois) said at a news conference outside the FBI headquarters — a building Patel has said he would shut down and reopen as a museum to the so-called deep state.
Durbin then appeared to allude to statements from his colleagues across the aisle about supporting the bureau’s rank and file, saying, “It’s up to a handful of Senate Republicans as to whether they have the courage to step out and do publicly what they have told the agents they want to do.”
In an interview, Durbin said some Republican lawmakers had privately expressed concerns about Patel leading the bureau.
Durbin has accused Patel of directing purges at the FBI while awaiting confirmation, an allegation Patel’s spokeswoman has denied.
Durbin and his colleagues emphasized what they’ve repeatedly described in hearings and floor speeches as the “red flags” in Patel’s background. They questioned his financial ties to a Chinese company, history of bombastic rhetoric, and support for right-wing conspiracy theories and rioters involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, which Patel has said the FBI had planned for a year.
Before the vote, some Democrats appeared to acknowledge the likelihood Patel would be confirmed.
“We will vote no,” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California) said at the news conference. “Our Republican colleagues, intimidated by this president and threats of primary challenges from MAGA world, may vote to confirm him. But … they will have to live with that vote.”
This is a developing story.
Courtesy/Source: Washington Post
