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The United States Senate voted to confirm former federal prosecutor Kash Patel as the next director of the Federal Investigation Office (FBI), continuing a successful streak for the nominees of the government of President Donald Trump.
But Thursday’s confirmation occurred by thin margins. Only 51 senators, all Republicans, voted in favor of Patel in the Senate of 100 seats.
There were two notable defections of the Republican Party: Lisa Murkowski from Alaska and Susan Collins de Maine. They joined 47 Democrats to oppose what critics have called a dangerous nomination to lead the FBI.
“Mr. Patel’s record shows that it is dangerous, inexperienced and dishonest,” said Democratic Senator Dirk Durbin of Illinois. “It should not and should not serve as an effective director of the FBI.”
For its part, on social networks mailPatel thanked Trump and said he was honored to be confirmed.
“The politicization of our justice system has eroded public trust, but that ends today,” Patel wrote. “My mission as a director is clear: let the good police officers be police, and rebuild confidence in the FBI.”
But in the period prior to the vote, a parade of democratic legislators, including Durbin, took the floor of the Senate to warn against confirming Patel, saying that he would really politicize the FBI.
They raised questions about their ability to lead the FBI fairly, given past statements that suggested that they could use office resources to persecute Trump’s rivals and political journalists.
“It is shocking that my Republican colleagues are willing to support it despite the serious threat it represents for our national security,” Durbin said.
“I am sorry to say that I will quickly regret this vote. When I think of giving this man a 10 -year mandate as director of the leading criminal investigation agency in the world, I cannot imagine a worse choice. “
A narrow confirmation
These concerns were reflected in the margins historically adjusted through which patel confirmation passed. His predecessors in the FBI were approved with overwhelmingly bipartisan support.
The former FBI director Christopher Wray won confirmation in 2017 with 92 votes. Before him, in 2013, James Comey obtained 93 votes in support. And for Robert Mueller in 2001, the vote was unanimous, from 98 to zero.
Even so, with a solid republican majority of 53 members in the Senate, any of President Trump’s nominees are not expected to be short in a confirmation vote.
Even Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who has broken ranges with his republican companions for the confirmations of Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F Kennedy JR, gave Patel support on Thursday.
But in separate statements, Collins and Murkowski explained that they could not vote for patel for fear of using the FBI to make political profits.
“My reservations with Mr. Patel come from their own previous political activities and how they can influence their leadership,” Murkowski wrote. “The FBI must be trusted as the federal agency that runs crime and corruption, not focused on solving political scores.”
Collins echoed that feeling, saying that Patel’s “political activity” questioned his ability to lead a non -partisan office.
“Lord. Patel’s recent political profile undermines his ability to serve in the apolitical role of the director of the FBI,” Collins explained in it statement.
This is not the first time that Patel has fractured Republicans under Trump’s leadership.
During the first Trump mandate, from 2017 to 2021, Patel served in a variety of roles, even in the National Security Council and the Office of the National Intelligence Director.
But news reports arose that the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Gina Haspel, threatened to resign on the perspective that Trump appointed Patel as his deputy.
In a memory, Bill Barr, who served as a general prosecutor during Trump’s first mandate, also recalled having rejected a proposal to make Patel the FBI deputy director, saying that it would be “on my body.”
Face the criticism of the Senate
During his confirmation hearings in January, Patel defended himself against accusations that he would take advantage of FBI to make Trump’s tender. He also denied that he would do something illegal if confirmed as director of the FBI.
“I have no interest, or wish and, if confirmed, I will not go back. There will be no politicization of the FBI, ”Patel told the Democratic senators while facing heated interrogations.
Patel also drew his plans to increase the application capabilities of the FBI law, even through the distribution of greater resources in the 50 states.
“One third of the workforce for FBI works in Washington, DC,” Patel replied. “I am completely committed to this workforce from exiting into the country where I live, west of the Mississippi, and work with the departments of the Sheriff and local officers.”
The son of the Indian immigrants who moved from Uganda to Canada and after the United States, Patel denounced attacks on his character as “false accusations and grotesque erroneous characteristics.”
But he has repeatedly faced his own words, of multiple appearances in podcasts and books he has written.
Patel, for example, has disseminated the conspiracy theory that the FBI planned the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, as a “false flag” operation to sound to Trump’s supporters.
In a September interview at the Shawn Ryan show, Patel also threatened to “close” the FBI headquarters in Washington, DC, and turn it into a “museum for the deep state.”
And speaking with Trump Steve Bannon’s ally in 2023, Patel promised to chase the president’s political rivals, which he described as “criminals” and “conspirators.” He also repeated false statements that Trump’s electoral defeat in 2020 against Joe Biden was fraudulent.
“We will go out and find the conspirators, not only in the government but in the media,” Patel said. “We will come after people in the media who lied to US citizens who helped Joe Biden Rig the presidential elections.”
Patel has even written a children’s book, The Plot against the King, which represented Trump as a monarch besieged by antagonists designed after Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, his Democratic rivals in the presidential careers of 2016 and 2024, respectively.
And the Democrats have criticized him for his association with the “J6 Choir”, composed of accused who were arrested after the 2021 attack against the Capitol.
Democrats urge a ‘no’ vote
In the minutes before the Senate voted to confirm Patel, Democratic Senator Alex Padilla de California characterized Patel how to use Trump as his “cash cow”, a tool to reserve appearances in the media and publications.
Padilla also questioned whether Patel had the experience of the application of the law or the intelligence experience to qualify for work as director of the FBI.
“Kash Patel has demonstrated a dangerous lack of judgment, lack of preparation and lack of independence,” said Padilla. “He has shown that he is not willing or cannot leave politics aside to protect the American people and defend the Constitution, if he is confirmed to lead the FBI.”
Senator Adam Schiff, another California Democrat, echoed his colleague. He expressed concern that the FBI was destroyed under Patel leadership, as part of Trump’s cuts to the Federal Labor.
“In a democracy, the application of the law does not serve the President, much less to someone who shuts up as king. Police serve people, ”said Schiff.
“I am of the opinion that the people for whom the FBI should be in custody are real criminals, not the enemies of the president of the day. The FBI should not serve as Donald Trump’s army. “
