On Thursday, Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on why he believes he should be approved to serve as head of the agency.
He will undoubtedly face questions relating to his frequent assertion that Justice Department resources should be used to punish those he has deemed opponents to Trump.
In the past, Patel has worked as a terrorism prosecutor at the Department of Justice (DOJ); as senior counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; as chief of staff for the Department of Defense; and as counterterrorism adviser within the National Security Council under Trump’s first term.
His time in the federal government was riddled with controversies. While working on the National Security Council in 2020, for example, Patel broke protocol during international hostage negotiations “by publicly commenting without authorization” about the retrieval of two Americans being held captive in Yemen, according to a whistleblower report that was shared with the Senate Judiciary Committee. The leak of that information could have had an enormous cost, as Patel had expressed his views on the negotiations “before the hostages were in the confirmed custody of the United States.”
Throughout his career, Patel has displayed incredible loyalty to Trump and vitriol toward Trump’s opponents.
As Trump was facing an investigation into his unauthorized transfer of classified White House documents to his Mar-a-Lago estate, for example, Patel falsely asserted that Trump’s action was covered under the Presidential Records Act.
“When you’re president and you leave, you can take whatever you want. And when you take it, whether it’s classified or not, it’s yours,” Patel said in the summer of 2023.
Patel also founded a nonprofit legal organization that provided aid to people who had been charged with violently attacking the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to disrupt the certification of former President Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 election.
He has repeatedly expressed disdain for journalists who are critical of Trump, once stating that he wanted to “come after people in the media” who reported on Trump in a negative light.
Patel has also peddled merchandise that is decidedly pro-Trump. He has sold numerous items on his website ridiculing Trump’s opponents, and wrote a series of children’s books featuring a character with Trump’s likeness, entitled “The Plot Against the King.”
More recently, Patel shared on his social media an AI-generated video of himself attacking individuals he and the Trump administration have opposed, including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, former Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine, former President Joe Biden, and others.
Patel has even gone so far as to create a list of people he believes should be targeted by the administration, which many have described as an “enemies list.” The individuals, numbering around 60 in total, are named in Patel’s 2022 book, “Government Gangsters,” and include Democratic Party officials, progressive advocates, and even former Trump administration officials who have since become critical of the president.
Patel hasn’t hidden his desire to use the power of the government to punish Trump’s perceived enemies. “We will go out and find the conspirators” against Trump, he said in a 2023 podcast interview. “Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out.”
Patel appears to be “singularly focused on pleasing Trump,” The Atlantic’s Elaina Plott Calabro wrote in August, noting that, “even in [the past Trump] administration full of loyalists, Patel was exceptional in his devotion.”
Consistent with their statements on other cabinet picks, the White House is warning Republicans against blocking Patel’s nomination. “It’s pass-fail. You either support everyone or you don’t,” a senior White House official told NBC News regarding Patel’s upcoming hearing.
If the Senate Judiciary Committee votes to advance Patel, he would need 50 votes in the Senate to become head of the agency. (His nomination would advance with Vice President J.D. Vance casting a tie-breaking vote). If all senators are present for his full chamber vote, that would mean Patel could only be denied confirmation if four Republicans joined all Democrats in the Senate to vote against him.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), who serves as the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, has already expressed misgivings regarding Patel’s nomination.
“He’s accused [DOJ officials] of political weaponization of law enforcement and then promised to deliver exactly the same thing if he’s given this opportunity,” Durbin said last month.
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