Kash Patel Rewrites His Own History in FBI Confirmation Hearing

Outside a hearing room in the Hart Senate Office Building, there was a long line of expectant MAGA supporters. Many had been waiting for hours, hoping to witness a defining moment ushering in a Trumpian takeover of one of the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agencies. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

They may well have. On Thursday, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, endured hours of questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, in what seemed more like a ceremonial exercise than a high-stakes confirmation hearing. The former Trump official faced no resistance from Republicans, who hold a 52-seat majority and can confirm him without any Democratic support. Even Democrats, who say Patel is unqualified and unfit for the role, seemed resigned to his fate.  

Still, the more Democrats grilled Patel, the more he distanced himself from the no-holes-barred bombast that made him a darling of the America First movement. He scaled back his fierce criticisms of the FBI as a cesspool, saying 98% of its agents are “courageous apolitical warriors for justice.” He repudiated far-right QAnon conspiracy theories. When pressed on comments he’s made on right-wing podcasts, he denied that his own words reflected his views, calling them “false accusations and grotesque mischaracterizations.” Most notably, Patel broke with Trump on granting clemency to all of the Jan. 6 defendants: “I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement,” he said. 

It was no secret why. With nearly the entire Republican Party under Trump’s control, Patel needs only to avoid alienating a small cohort of GOP Senators whose opposition could imperil his nomination. To that end, Patel played it safe, hoping to abate fears that he would end the bureau’s longstanding tradition of independence from the White House. 

He often tiptoed around potential tripwires and stripped Democrats of the chance to land any fatal blows. At the same time, though, he sent enough signals to Trump World that he would fulfill the President’s plan to refashion the FBI and impose his will on its far-flung investigators and prosecutors.

During the hearing, Patel refused to rule out opening investigations into former Attorney General William Barr, former FBI Director Christopher Wray, or any of the other people on a 60-person “deep state” roster included in his 2023 book, Government Gangsters. The list also includes Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, Merrick Garland, Robert Mueller and James Comey.

Patel eschewed direct questions about specific actions he would take in office, instead committing to avoid wrongdoing more broadly. “I would never do anything unconstitutional or unlawful,” he said.  When Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey asked him to share his grand jury testimony on Trump’s classified documents case, Patel rebuffed the request, saying (incorrectly) that he didn’t have the authority to do so. At another point, he refused to say whether Joe Biden won the 2020 election. 

Those evasions may be simply to get over the finish line. If the Senate confirms Patel, he will enjoy a 10-year term granting him enormous power over American life, leading a law enforcement entity of more than 38,000 agents who do everything from hunting down terrorists and prosecuting child sex predators to investigating political corruption. To MAGA, he offers a revolutionary opportunity to smash an institution that has investigated Trump and his allies. To critics, Patel is a Trump acolyte who represents a danger to constitutional norms. Recalling J. Edgar Hoover’s abuses—greenlighting improper investigations into Martin Luther King Jr.—they worry he would exploit his power to curtail Americans’ freedoms and target Trump’s political adversaries. 

Most of the Democratic line of questioning focused on Patel’s past statements. Patel told Senators that he “rejected outright QAnon baseless conspiracy theories”—a carefully worded answer that rhetorically disassociated himself from the far-right online community without technically contradicting his once partial embrace of it. In 2022, for instance, he said: “I disagree with a lot of what that movement says, but I agree with a lot of what that movement says.”

In a surprising move, Patel said he didn’t agree with Trump commuting the sentences of people who assaulted Capitol police officers on Jan. 6, 2021. “There can never be a tolerance for anyone who committed violence against law enforcement,” said Patel, who has called the rioters charged with crimes as “political prisoners.” Multiple Democrats pressed Patel on his longheld support for those involved with the attack, including producing a rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” sung by a choir of defendants imprisoned for attacking the U.S. capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, which topped Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart and became a staple at Trump rallies. Under questioning from Sen. Adam Schiff of California, who said it “glorified” the brutality of that day, Patel downplayed his involvement in the project.

Another point of contention was Patel’s dramatic designs to remake the bureau. “I’d shut down the F.B.I. Hoover Building on Day 1 and reopen it the next day as a museum of the ‘deep state,’” Patel said last year on a popular podcast. “Then, I’d take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to chase down criminals. Go be cops. You’re cops—go be cops.” 

Democrats persistently rung alarms about Patel’s professions of obeisance to Trump. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island suggested Patel fit the mold of an authoritarian foot soldier, characterizing him as vengeful, intemperate, and servile. “I’m afraid that the history of this nominee’s conduct raises those warnings,” he said. 

Republicans, for their part, defended Patel as the victim of partisan attacks. He was joined in the hearing room by allies such as Trump advisor Alina Habba, former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grennell, and former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker. His supporters depict him as a crusader for FBI reform who wants to tamp down prosecutorial misconduct and surveillance abuse. 

Senate Republicans seem to agree. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the committee chairman, said Patel has “exactly the qualifications we need,” describing his career as “a study in fighting unpopular but righteous causes.”