During his contentious Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Patel, nominated by President Trump to lead the FBI, faced scrutiny from Democrats over his past incendiary statements and his ties to the former president. Patel insisted he would not politicize the FBI or target adversaries, but Democrats remained unconvinced, citing his past rhetoric and his close association with Trump.
He said the suggestion that he had an “enemies list” — a 2023 book he authored includes a lengthy list of former government officials he says are part of the so-called deep state — was a “total mischaracterization.”, insisted to deeply skeptical Democrats on Thursday that he did not have an “enemies list" and that the bureau under his leadership would not seek retribution against the president's adversaries or launch investigations for political purposes.
“There is an unfathomable difference between a seeming facade being constructed around this nominee here today, and what he has actually done and said in real life when left to his own devices,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat. His colleague, Sen. Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota, later added, “It is his own words. It is not some conspiracy. It is what Mr. Patel actually said himself.
Patel is a former aide to the House Intelligence Committee and an ex-federal prosecutor who served in Trump’s first administration. He's alarmed critics with rhetoric — in dozens of podcasts and books he has authored — in which he has demonstrated fealty to Trump and assailed the decision-making of the agency he’s now been asked to lead.
Patel pledged if confirmed to be transparent and said he would not involve the FBI in prosecutorial decisions, keeping those with Justice Department lawyers instead. That close bond would depart from the modern-day precedent of FBI directors looking to keep presidents at arm’s length.
FBI Confirmation Hearing PATRICK PATEL DONALD TRUMP DEMOCRATS REPUBLICANS POLITICAL SKEPTICISM DEEP STATE
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