The United States Senate has voted to confirm former federal prosecutor Kash Patel as the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), continuing a streak of success for President Donald Trump’s government nominees.
But Thursday’s confirmation came by slim margins. Only 51 senators, all Republican, voted in favour of Patel in the 100-seat Senate.
There were two notable defections from the Republican Party: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. They joined 47 Democrats in opposing what critics have called a dangerous nomination to lead the FBI.
“ Mr Patel’s record demonstrates that he’s dangerous, inexperienced and dishonest,” Democratic Senator Dirk Durbin of Illinois said. “He should not and cannot serve as an effective FBI director.”
For his part, in a social media post, Patel thanked Trump and said he was honoured to be confirmed.
“The politicalization of our justice system has eroded public trust — but that ends today,” Patel wrote. “My mission as Director is clear: let good cops be cops — and rebuild trust in the FBI.”
But in the lead-up to the vote, a parade of Democratic lawmakers, including Durbin, took the Senate floor to warn against confirming Patel, saying he would indeed politicise the FBI.
They raised questions about his ability to lead the FBI fairly, given past statements that suggested he might use the bureau’s resources to go after Trump’s political rivals and journalists.
“ It is shocking that my Republican colleagues are willing to support him despite the serious threat he poses to our national security,” Durbin said.
“I’m sorry to say, I believe they will quickly come to regret this vote. When I think of giving this man a 10-year tenure as director of the leading criminal investigative agency in the world, I cannot imagine a worse choice.”
A narrow confirmation
Those concerns were reflected in the historically tight margins through which Patel’s confirmation passed. His predecessors at the FBI were approved with overwhelmingly bipartisan support.
Former FBI director Christopher Wray won confirmation in 2017 with 92 votes. Before him, in 2013, James Comey notched 93 votes in support. And for Robert Mueller in 2001, the vote was unanimous, 98 to zero.
Still, with a solid 53-member Republican majority in the Senate, none of President Trump’s nominees are expected to fall short in a confirmation vote.
Even Mitch McConnell of Kentucky — who has broken ranks with his fellow Republicans over the confirmations of Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F Kennedy Jr — threw his support behind Patel on Thursday.
But in separate statements, Collins and Murkowski explained they could not vote for Patel for fear he might use the FBI for political gain.
“My reservations with Mr. Patel stem from his own prior political activities and how they may influence his leadership,” Murkowski wrote. “The FBI must be trusted as the federal agency that roots out crime and corruption, not focused on settling political scores.”
Collins echoed that sentiment, saying Patel’s “aggressive political activity” cast doubt on his ability to lead a nonpartisan bureau.
“Mr. Patel’s recent political profile undermines his ability to serve in the apolitical role of Director of the FBI,” Collins explained in her statement.
This is not the first time that Patel has fractured Republicans under Trump’s leadership.
During Trump’s first term, from 2017 to 2021, Patel served in a variety of roles, including in the National Security Council and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
But news reports emerged that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Gina Haspel threatened to resign over the prospect of Trump naming Patel as her deputy.
In a memoir, Bill Barr, who served as attorney general during Trump’s first term, also recalled shooting down a proposal to make Patel the deputy director of the FBI, saying it would be “over my dead body”.
Facing Senate criticism
During his confirmation hearings in January, Patel defended himself against allegations that he would leverage the FBI to do Trump’s bidding. He also denied that he would do anything unlawful if confirmed as FBI director.
“I have no interest, no desire and will not, if confirmed, go backwards. There will be no politicisation of the FBI,” Patel told Democratic senators as he faced heated questioning.
Patel also sketched out his plans to increase the FBI’s law enforcement capabilities, including through the distribution of greater resources across the 50 states.
“A third of the workforce for the FBI works in Washington, DC,” Patel replied. “I am fully committed to having that workforce go out into the interior of the country where I live, west of the Mississippi, and work with sheriff’s departments and local officers.”
The son of Indian immigrants who moved from Uganda to Canada and later the US, Patel denounced the attacks on his character as “false accusations and grotesque mischaracterisations”.
But he has been repeatedly confronted with his own words, from multiple appearances on podcasts and books he has written.
Patel, for instance, has spread the conspiracy theory that the FBI planned the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, as a “false flag” operation to corner Trump supporters.
In a September interview on The Shawn Ryan Show, Patel also threatened to “shut down” the FBI headquarters in Washington, DC, and turn it into a “museum for the deep state”.
And speaking to Trump ally Steve Bannon in 2023, Patel pledged to go after the president’s political rivals, which he described as “criminals” and “conspirators”. He also repeated false claims that Trump’s election defeat in 2020 against Joe Biden was fraudulent.
“We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media,” Patel said. “We’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections.”
Patel has even penned a children’s book, The Plot Against the King, that depicted Trump as a monarch besieged by antagonists styled after Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, his Democratic rivals in the 2016 and 2024 presidential races, respectively.
And Democrats have slammed 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 before the Senate voted to confirm Patel, Democratic Senator Alex Padilla of California characterised Patel as using Trump as his “cash cow” — a tool to book media appearances and publishing deals.
Padilla also questioned whether Patel had the law enforcement or intelligence experience to qualify for the job as FBI director.
“Kash Patel has demonstrated a dangerous lack of judgement, lack of preparation and lack of independence,” Padilla said. “He’s shown that he’s either unwilling or unable of putting politics aside in order to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution, should he be confirmed to lead the FBI.”
Senator Adam Schiff, another California Democrat, echoed his colleague. He expressed concern that the FBI would be gutted under Patel’s leadership, as part of Trump’s slashes to the federal workforce.
“ In a democracy, law enforcement does not serve the president, let alone someone who fashions himself as a king. Law enforcement serves the people,” Schiff said.
“ I’m of the opinion that the people the FBI should be going on manhunts for are actual criminals, not the president’s enemies of the day. The FBI shouldn’t serve as Donald Trump’s army.”