The US Senate voted to confirm the former federal prosecutor Kash Patel as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), continuing a success sequence for candidates of the Donald Trump government.
But Thursday’s confirmation came from thin margins. Only 51 senators, all Republicans, voted in favor of the Patel in the Senate of 100 seats.
There were two notable defections of the Republican Party: Lisa Murkowski from Alaska and Susan Collins from Maine. They joined 47 democrats to oppose that criticisms called a dangerous appointment to lead the FBI.
“Mr. Patel’s file demonstrates that he is dangerous, inexperienced and dishonest,” said Democratic Senator Dirk Durbi of Illinois. “He should not and cannot serve as an effective director of the FBI.”
For its part, in a social media jobPatel thanked Trump and said he was honored to be confirmed.
“The policy of our judicial system has eroded public confidence – but it ends today”, Patel wrote. “My mission as a director is clear: let the good cops be cops – and reconstruct confidence in the FBI.”
But in the accounting of the vote, a parade of Democratic legislators, including Durbin, took the prosecution of the Senate to confirm the patel, claiming that it would indeed politicize the FBI.
They raised questions about his ability to direct the FBI fairly, given the previous statements that suggested that he could use the resources of the office to take care of Trump’s political rivals and journalists.
“It is shocking that my republican colleagues are ready to support him despite the serious threat he represents in our national security,” said Durbin.
“I’m sorry to say that I think they will quickly regret this vote. When I think of giving this man a 10 -year term as director of the main criminal investigation agency in the world, I cannot imagine a worse choice. »»
Narrow confirmation
These concerns were reflected in the historically narrow margins by which the confirmation of the patel passed. His FBI predecessors were approved with extremely bipartite support.
Former FBI director Christopher Wray won confirmation in 2017 with 92 votes. Before him, in 2013, James Comey won 93 votes in support. And for Robert Mueller in 2001, the vote was unanimous, 98 to zero.
However, with a solid republican majority of 53 members in the Senate, none of President Trump’s candidates should fail in a confirmation vote.
Even Mitch McConnell of Kentucky – who broke up with his republican colleagues for the confirmations of Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F Kennedy Jr – launched his support behind Pate on Thursday.
But in separate statements, Collins and Murkowski explained that they could not vote for a patel for fear that he could use the FBI for political purposes.
“My reservations with Mr. Patel come from his own previous political activities and the way they can influence his leadership”, Murkowski wrote. “The FBI must trust as a federal agency which excites crime and corruption, not focused on the rule of political scores.”
Collins echoed this feeling, affirming that “aggressive political activity” of Patel questioned its ability to lead a non -partisan office.
“Mr. Patel’s recent political profile undermines his ability to play in the apolitical role of the director of the FBI,” said Collins in her statement.
This is not the first time that Patel Fracture Les Républicains under the direction of Trump.
During the first term of Trump, from 2017 to 2021, Patel held various roles, notably in the National Security Council and the office of the Director of National Intelligence.
But the reports have emerged that the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Gina Haspel, threatened to resign from the prospect that Trump names Patel as a deputy.
In a memoir, Bill Barr, who was a prosecutor general during Trump’s first term, also recalled a proposal to make the Patel the deputy director of the FBI, saying that it would be “on my corpse”.
Facing the criticism of the Senate
During his confirmation hearings in January, Patel defended himself against the allegations that he would take advantage of the FBI to make Trump’s auctions. He also denied that he would do everything that was illegal if he was confirmed as director of the FBI.
“I have no interest, no desire and I will not, if confirmed, go back. There will be no politicization of the FBI, “said Patel to the Democratic senators by facing heated interrogations.
Patel also sketched its plans to increase the capacities of the FBI police, in particular by the distribution of higher resources in the 50 states.
“A third of FBI’s workforce is working in Washington, DC,” replied Patel. “I am fully determined to bring this workforce out inside the country where I live, west of Mississippi, and to work with the Sheriff’s departments and local officers.”
The son of Indian immigrants who moved from Uganda to Canada and later the United States, Patel denounced the attacks on his character as “false accusations and grotesque errors”.
But he has been confronted several times with his own words, from several appearances on podcasts and books he wrote.
Patel, for example, disseminated the conspiracy theory that the FBI planned the attack on the American Capitol on January 6, 2021, as an “false flag” to wedge Trump supporters.
In a September interview on the Shawn Ryan Show, Patel also threatened to “close” the FBI seat in Washington, DC, and transform it into a “museum for the deep state”.
And speaking to Trump Ally Steve Bannon in 2023, Patel undertook to attack the president’s political rivals, which he described as “criminals” and “conspirators”. He also repeated false claims that Trump’s electoral defeat in 2020 against Joe Biden was fraudulent.
“We will go out and find conspirators not only to the government but in the media,” said Patel. “We are going to come after the people of the media who lied to American citizens who helped the presidential elections of Joe Biden Rig.”
Patel even wrote a children’s book, the intrigue against the king, who represented Trump as a monarch besieged by antagonists called Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, his rivals Democrats in the 2016 and 2024 presidential races, respectively.
And the Democrats criticized him for his association with the “J6 Choir”, made up of defendants who were arrested after the 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Democrats urge a “no” vote
In the minutes preceding the Senate’s vote to confirm Patel, Democratic Senator Alex Padilla of California qualified Patel to use Trump as “milk cow” – a tool to reserve media appearances and publishing agreements.
Padilla also asked if the Patel had the experience of the police or intelligence for qualifying for the position of director of the FBI.
“Kash Patel has shown a dangerous lack of judgment, a lack of preparation and a lack of independence,” said Padilla. “He showed that he is not disposed of or unable to put aside politics to protect the American people and maintain the Constitution, if he was confirmed to lead the FBI.”
Senator Adam Schiff, another California Democrat, echoed his colleague. He expressed his concern that the FBI would be emptied under the direction of Patel, as part of Trump’s oblique bars in federal workforce.
“In a democracy, the police are not used by the president, not to mention someone who recovers as king. The police serve the people, “said Schiff.
“I am of the opinion that the people for whom the FBI should be likely for man are real criminals, not the enemies of the president of the time. The FBI should not serve as a Donald Trump army. “”
