Kash Patel to face Senate hearing in bid to reform scandal-plagued FBI

FBI Director-designate Kash Patel will field questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, capping off a charm offensive that has seen most of the Senate Republican Conference warm to the Trump-aligned critic of the intelligence committee.

A Trump advisor from the first administration, Patel has been a stalwart backer of Trump for most of his political tenure and a vocal critic of what he calls institutional rot in key American agencies. His 2023 book “Government Gansters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy” provided what President Donald Trump himself called a “brilliant roadmap” for uprooting a politicized bureaucracy.

Trump picked Patel for the role in late November as grassroots supporters led #kashonly to trend on X. The then-president-elect called Patel “a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People.”

His nomination roiled FBI insiders, with reports emerging that the bureau could face mass resignations should he secure the post. But it landed better with the senators, who saw him as a far more conventional nominee than Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon. Patel has previously served as a prosecutor, public defender, senior advisor to the director of national intelligence, and as the Defense Department’s chief of staff.

Even intelligence hawks and moderate lawmakers such as Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, have been optimistic Patel’s prospects in the narrowly divided Senate. Pressed in December on whether Patel would secure confirmation, Cornyn simply told radio host Hugh Hewitt that “yes, he will be.”

A scandal-plagued agency

During the Trump administration and President Joe Biden’s subsequent four years, the FBI became mired in political controversy and scandal. It’s conduct was a leading factor in driving Trump’s claims of political weaponization.

Among the earliest controversies were the anti-Trump messages of now-former FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, both of whom worked on special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russian interference investigation. Those messages referenced "an insurance policy" should Trump win. 

The bureau also came under fire over a memo from the Richmond Field Office suggesting that attendees of the traditional Catholic Latin Mass might harbor extremist sympathies.

FBI Director Christopher Wray’s tenure, also saw allegations of retaliation against whistleblowers, the abuse of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants, and politicized security clearance reviews.

They spied on Patel

Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz in December published a report confirming that the FBI had secured Patel’s phone records, along with those of two members of Congress and dozens of other staffers. The move came as part of an investigation into leaks of classified materials to the media.

Horowitz further found that the FBI failed to inform the court that the materials they sought “related to requests for records of Members of Congress or congressional staffers.”

The report drew outrage from Trump supporters, as well as lawmakers, some of whom had warm words for Patel amid the revelations. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who leads the Judiciary Committee, said afterward that “Kash understands that cooperation with Congress is not optional and whistleblower protection is essential.”

"This report highlights exactly why Kash Patel is the perfect leader to reform and rebuild the FBI,” a spokeswoman for Patel said at the time. “Kash understands the critical balance between national security and protecting civil liberties. His commitment to accountability, transparency, and upholding constitutional principles makes him uniquely equipped to ensure the FBI serves the American people with integrity and fairness.”

Dems already against him

Despite Patel’s extensive record in the intelligence field, Democrats have said he is not qualified to lead the agency and that his chief appeal to Trump’s supporters were the axes he had to grind with the government. “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,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said earlier this month. “Mr. Patel is the wrong choice to lead the FBI.”

His prospective policies also featured heavily during Attorney General-designate Pam Bondi’s own confirmation hearing, with many Democrats asking her if she would support many of his rumored moves at the agency. Republicans assured her that the lawmakers’ focus on Patel indicated they had few substantial concerns about her own nomination.

The Senate Judiciary Democrats official account this week called Patel an “unapologetic extremist,” sharing a photo of Patel outside of a castle holding a watermelon with an apparent image of Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., on it.

“Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s pick for FBI Director, shared a video launching a United States Senator out of a catapult and posed with it. An unapologetic extremist,” the post read. In actuality, Patel stood next to a trebuchet, a medieval-era siege engine that employs a counterweight to hurl stones. It was not a catapult.

No Republicans have opposed him

Thus far, no Republican senator has announced their opposition to Patel, though Sens. Susan Collins, Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, have yet to decide on the matter. Both voted against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and have a track record of bucking Trump’s policy preferences.

Nonetheless, their opposition would not sink his nomination as Republicans hold 53 seats in the upper chamber. Some former Republican officials, namely neoconservative foreign policy figures and anti-Trump personnel, have urged senators to oppose him.

Among the most prominent is former national security advisor John Bolton. Moreover, 20 law enforcement veterans affiliated with the GOP signed on to a letter this week urging the Senate to block his confirmation, The Hill reported. Bolton was one of the 51 former intelligence officers whose security clearances were revoked in Trump's first week.