WASHINGTON—The Senate on Feb. 20 confirmed Kash Patel as director of the FBI.
Senators voted 51–49 to confirm Patel, who gained prominence for exposing alleged FBI and Justice Department malfeasance during the Crossfire Hurricane probe into the Trump campaign. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) crossed the aisle to join Democrats in voting against Patel’s nomination.
“The American people deserve an FBI that is transparent, accountable, and committed to justice. The politicalization of our justice system has eroded public trust—but that ends today,” he wrote.
“My mission as Director is clear: let good cops be cops—and rebuild trust in the FBI.”
Patel will lead an agency that President Donald Trump and some Republicans have accused of being weaponized for political purposes.
During the hearing, he condemned the Crossfire Hurricane investigation and denied having an “enemies list”—an allegation stemming from a list of names at the end of his book, “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy.”
In an appendix to the book, Patel described the individuals named as “members of the executive branch deep state.”
In the same hearing, Patel pledged to aid Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) in identifying those implicated in the child sex trafficking activities of Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and child sex offender.
“Child sex trafficking has no place in the United States of America, and I will do everything if confirmed as FBI director to make sure the American public knows the full weight of what happened in the past,” Patel said.
The top Republican and Democrat on the key Senate Judiciary Committee, which advanced Patel’s nomination in a 12–10 vote along party lines, are sharply divided over the former Trump administration official, who has a law degree from Pace University and an international law certificate from University College London.
After serving as senior counsel for the House Intelligence Committee, where he worked closely with then-Chair Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) in a probe of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, Patel oversaw a Counterterrorism Directorate on the first Trump administration’s National Security Council. He later served as senior adviser to the acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell, and as chief of staff to Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller.
Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) acknowledged Patel’s unconventional background, which does not include senior-level law enforcement experience, but said he is “the right man at the right time.”
“His career has been a study in fighting for unpopular but righteous causes, exposing corruption and putting America first,” Grassley said ahead of the Feb. 18 procedural vote to advance Patel’s nomination in the full Senate.
Rep. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the Judiciary Committee’s ranking Democrat member, opposed moving Patel’s nomination forward, joining other Democrats on the Judiciary Committee in voting against it on Feb. 13.
“After reviewing Kash Patel’s record, meeting with him, and questioning him at his hearing, I am even more convinced that he has neither the experience, the judgment, nor the temperament to lead the FBI,” Durbin said in a statement at that time, noting that he had supported previous Republicans chosen to lead the agency.
Durbin drew attention to whistleblower accusations he says show that Patel was already directing firings in the FBI prior to his confirmation.
The allegations derived, in part, from information from a Jan. 29 meeting called by acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll, the man Patel is replacing. Previous FBI Director Christopher Wray resigned shortly before Trump took office.
At that meeting, it was “relayed” that certain FBI employees must resign or be fired, according to Durbin. He cited notes from the meeting that read, “KP wants movement at FBI, reciprocal actions for DOJ.”
Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) hosted a press conference earlier in February with other House Democrats to voice similar concerns over Patel’s nomination.
FBI directors, as “civil officers of the United States,” can be impeached under the Constitution for committing “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) introduced a resolution in 2023 to impeach Wray.
However, at the press conference, Ivey told The Epoch Times that Democrats’ lack of control of the House would make an impeachment effort a non-starter.
“Impeachment? You know, if we could just get to transparency, disclosure, and accountability, that would be a big step in the right direction,” he said.
The FBI is part of the Department of Justice, now helmed by Pam Bondi, former Florida attorney general.
Another key federal law enforcement agency, the Department of Homeland Security, is now led by Kristi Noem, who was confirmed in January.
During the January Judiciary hearing, Patel said the FBI would assist the Department of Homeland Security where appropriate in its efforts to deport special interest aliens—illegal aliens from countries that present major national security and counter-intelligence risks to the United States.
“I believe primacy rests with other agencies,” he told Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.).
