In what has shaped up to be one of the most contentious Cabinet nominations yet, Kash Patel faced tough questions about his professional experience and past comments as he seeks to be confirmed as the next director of the FBI.

In the hours-long hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Senate Democrats grilled Patel on a number of issues, claiming the Trump ally does not have the experience needed to lead the agency and airing concerns he would use the top agency position to exact revenge on those who have previously investigated the president.

Republicans pushed back on those accusations, defending Patel as a strong choice to lead the FBI.

“I want to add my dismay and my disgust for the fact that you’ve been smeared, you’ve been attacked, you’ve been associated with racism, with being a Nazi,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said during the hearing. “You are none of those things.”

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, speaks during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee for Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's choice to be director of the FBI, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. | Ben Curtis

The hearing comes at a crucial time for Patel, who faces a battle to be confirmed by the upper chamber as Democrats have opposed his nomination. If all Democrats vote against him, Patel can only afford to lose support from three Senate Republicans.

Patel has faced criticism from those across the ideological spectrum, ranging from Senate Democrats who have vowed to oppose his confirmation to former Trump administration officials such as former national security adviser John Bolton and former Attorney General Bill Barr who have urged Republicans to oppose him.

However, Democrats on the committee did little to sway his supporters away from him, making it likely that the committee will vote to advance his nomination to the full Senate.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., speaks during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee for Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's choice to be director of the FBI, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. | Ben Curtis

Patel faces questions over concerns of political retribution

Democrats have repeatedly expressed concerns that Patel, if confirmed, would target officials who previously investigated Trump while he was out of office — exacting political retribution on FBI agents who work with special counsels to do so.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., had a tense exchange with Patel on whether he would commit to protect against “the firing of the FBI agents who work with the special Counsel’s Office on these investigations.”

“Every FBI employee will be held to the absolute same standard, and no one will be terminated for cases,” Patel responded.

“I’m not going to accept that answer,” Blumenthal interjected. “Because if you can’t commit that those FBI agents will be protected from political retribution, we can’t accept you as FBI director.”

Ranking Member Dick Durbin, D-Ill., criticized Patel throughout his opening remarks, urging lawmakers to read his book “Government Gangsters,” calling Patel “someone who has left behind a trail of grievances throughout his life, lashing out at anyone who doesn’t agree with him.”

But Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, defended Patel’s previous statements, claiming Democrats’ criticism is “not a fair characterization.”

“Mr. Patel has identified those he believes have put politics and personal ambition over service to the country,” Grassley said. “Mr. Patel believes that people who do this should be named.”

Patel pressed on comments on COVID-19 vaccines, Jan. 6 attack

Tensions boiled over at one point in the hearing when Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., pressed Patel on comments he made on a range of issues such as COVID-19 vaccines and the 2020 election. Klobuchar then questioned Patel on past comments proposing to close the FBI headquarters “and reopen it as a Deep State museum.”

Patel pushed back, accusing Klobuchar and other Democrats on the committee of “false accusations and grotesque characterizations.”

“I am quoting his own words,” Klobuchar said, raising her voice to insist Patel answer her questions as her time expired.

Patel also faced questions about his past comments related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot suggesting Democrats knew about the threats in advance and that undercover FBI agents played a part in entrapping rioters to enter the Capitol building on that day.

Durbin pressed Patel on the Capitol attack, particularly in relation to President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon rioters who have been charged. Notably, Patel broke with the president on that decision, noting he does “not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement.”

“I have always advocated for imprisoning those that cause harm to our law enforcement,” Patel said.

Republicans jumped to Patel’s defense, with some senators even insisting Grassley deduct time from Klobuchar’s questioning after she insisted on answers despite her allotted time expiring.

“If you’re going to let someone over there get three minutes over, I want my extra three minutes,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said.

Grassley brushed off those criticisms, noting that “sometimes, it’s faster to get things done here just letting people shout.”

Patel defends appearances on podcasts with prominent conspiracy theorist

One of the most frequent attacks thrown at Patel on Thursday were his appearances on podcasts that are accused of promoting conspiracy theories.

Durbin questioned Patel on whether he was familiar with Stew Peters, who is known for promoting misinformation about COVID-19 and other conspiracy theories.

“Are you familiar with Stew Peters?” Durbin asked.

“Not off the top of my head,” Patel responded.

“You appeared on his podcast eight times,” Durbin shot back. “He promoted outrageous conspiracy theories and worked with a prominent neo-Nazi.”

Patel defended his appearance on alt-right media, arguing he does so to speak with those promoting conspiracy theories and “disavow them of their false impressions and to talk to them about the truth.”

“That is something that I will always continue to fight for,” Patel said.

Patel pressed on whether he lied for Trump in federal investigation

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., asked Patel about previous testimony he gave before a grand jury related to Trump’s classified documents case.

During that investigation, Trump claimed he had declassified the national security documents that were found at his Mar-a-Lago resort — which Patel later publicly said was true. Investigators then called Patel as a witness to testify under oath whether that was true, which would make it a crime if it was a lie.

Booker repeatedly pressed Patel to share with the committee what he testified under oath, prompting the nominee to say he can’t share what he testified under grand jury rules. However, Booker pushed back to cite law that states witnesses are not bound to keep their testimony a secret, prompting a tense back and forth between the pair.

“Will you lie for the president of the United States?” Booker asked. “Will you lie for Donald Trump?”

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“No,” Patel said.

Lee came to Patel’s defense, posting to X that he was “not following Booker’s logic” to demand the nominee recall his previous testimony.

“Kash can’t be expected to recite verbatim everything he said years ago to the grand jury over several days,” Lee wrote. “In any event, I still don’t grasp the suggestion that Kash Patel’s answer—that he wouldn’t lie for Donald Trump—can’t be taken seriously unless he recites everything he said years ago to a grand jury over a period of multiple days."

Patel later told Booker he did in fact witness Trump “issue a declassification order for documents” before he left office, but said he didn’t know if that extended to the documents that were found at Mar-a-Lago.

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