Feb. 6 (UPI) — Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday delayed the vote on Kash Patel’s nomination to be FBI director for a week.
Opposed to his nomination, Democrats want a second hearing to further question Patel.
He has repeatedly said he believes the FBI weaponized law enforcement against President Donald Trump.
Committee chair Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, refused to schedule the second hearing Democrats wanted and said Thursday the vote on Patel’s nomination will happen next week.
In his 2023 book Government Gangsters, Patel published an enemies list of what he called “Members of the Executive Branch Deep State.”
During his Senate nomination hearing Jan. 30, Patel tried to distance himself from his most controversial statements, including whether he will help carry out political retribution against people perceived as Trump administration enemies.
He told Sen. Chris Coons ,D-Del., “There will be no weaponization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI should I be confirmed as FBI director.”
Under senate questioning, he would not commit to keeping FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Patel served in Trump’s first administration as Deputy Assistant to the President and “senior director for counterterrorism” on the White House’s National Security Council.
At that time, he urged Trump not to accept President Joe Biden’s legal election as president.
In a post-election interview, he told Trump loyalist Steve Bannon, that others who support the president “will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media — yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’re going to figure that out — but yeah, we’re putting you all on notice.”
Republicans still have enough votes to confirm Patel, but Democrats used a committee rule to delay the vote for a week.
That move delaying the confirmation vote is allowed under Senate Judiciary Committee rules.
Trump is a state-court convicted felon who campaigned on taking political retribution against his political adversaries.
Trump used his presidential powers days ago to fire dozens of Justice Department prosecutors as he followed through on threats to retaliate against the legal system for prosecuting him based on collected evidence.
Several high-ranking FBI agents were fired.
On Jan. 27, Trump’s Justice Department fired over a dozen lawyers involved in criminal investigations against him.
Pending federal criminal cases against him were also dropped not on the legal evidence, but because of Trump’s presidential powers.
And Trump pardoned roughly 1,500 convicted Jan. 6 insurrectionist rioters who attacked the capitol when an armed Trump mob violently tried to prevent the constitutional transfer of presidential power in 2021.
Taken together, these events raise serious questions about what Patel would do for his boss if confirmed to lead the FBI, critics say.
Trump has repeatedly attacked the American federal justice system, asserting he was prosecuted for alleged crimes not on the evidence, but for political reasons.
He has appointed partisans Patel and Pam Bondi to lead the FBI and the DOJ, respectively, further raising concerns among Democrats that the Justice Department and federal law enforcement will be mere extensions of Trump loyalists doing his political bidding instead of fairly seeking justice.
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