In response to Senate Republicans confirming Kash Patel to be the FBI Director, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement: 

“Donald Trump thinks he is above the law. He likened himself to a king. He’s already weaponizing the presidency to target people on his political enemies list. We cannot give Trump’s henchmen the benefit of the doubt — especially when they’re in full control of federal law enforcement. I know Trump is starry-eyed for his boss Vladimir Putin, but we can’t let Kash Patel do his bidding and turn us into the next Russia. Patel’s confirmation puts our basic rights and national security at risk.”  

NEW: Senate Republicans voted to confirm Trump loyalist Kash Patel as FBI Director after he doubled down on his threats to “come after” Trump’s enemies and the free press and carry out Trump’s agenda of revenge and retribution. 

Manu Raju, CNN: “51-49, Senate confirms Kash Patel as FBI director on largely party-line vote. Two Rs — Murkowski and Collins — vote NO. All Dems vote NO. McConnell, who voted against three Trump nominees, votes for Patel’s confirmation.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar: “Have you referred to the media as the most powerful enemy of the United States that they have ever seen, is that right?”

Patel: *Doesn’t answer* 

…

Sen. Klobuchar: “You also said you would put the ‘entire fake news mafia press corps’ on your list. Is that correct? Is that what you said?” 

Patel: *Doesn’t answer* 

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: “Regarding his publication of his enemies list, Mr. Patel proclaimed, ‘the manhunt starts tomorrow’ and reposted a video depicting him taking a chainsaw to his political enemies. Is that you, Kash Patel, retruth, reposting that at the top of that page?”

…

Patel: “And that’s me at the top.”

Sen. Peter Welch: “Your boss has said General Milley, who served us with great distinction and I happen to have great admiration for, should be tried for treason, do you agree with that?” 

Patel: “Senator, everybody is entitled to their opinion.” 

As Trump continues to wreak havoc on the FBI and Justice Department, forcing critical counterterrorism agents and prosecutors out the door for being “insufficiently loyal”…  

NBC News: “[T]he Trump administration is facing the largest mass resignation of Justice Department lawyers since Watergate.” 

CNN: “Senior DOJ prosecutor quit after being told to investigate Biden climate spending, sources say”

Vanity Fair: “[The fired prosecutors are] deemed insufficiently loyal by a second Trump administration that is demanding that everyone around them bend the knee.” 

NBC News: “Many of the agents involved in the investigations of the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, work in the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, which operates Joint Terrorism Task Forces in cities across the country with federal and local law enforcement agencies. Those agents investigate terrorism threats both from inside the United States and from overseas groups, such as ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah.”

CNN: “Trump administration fires prosecutors involved in Jan. 6 cases and moves toward ousting FBI agents”

“A separate memo by Bove identified more than a half-dozen FBI senior executives who were ordered to retire or be fired by Monday, and also asked for the names, titles and offices of all FBI employees who worked on investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot — a list the bureau’s acting director said could number in the thousands.”

… Republicans confirmed Patel to stack the FBI with loyalists, “shrink” counterterrorism work, and gut law enforcement instead of keeping Americans safe. 

Wall Street Journal: “Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to run the FBI, is expected to shrink the bureau’s counterintelligence and counterterrorism work, according to his aides. During a Senate confirmation hearing last week, Patel mentioned China only in passing and didn’t speak about any threat from Russia.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar: “Did you say that the FBI headquarters should be shut down and reopened as a museum of the deep state?”

…

Patel: *Filibusters while Republican senators shout to end questioning* 

Sen. Klobuchar: “Mr. Chairman, I am quoting his own words from September of 2024. It is his own words. It is not some conspiracy. It is what Mr. Patel actually said himself. Facts matter.”

Sen. Cory Booker: “You have an assignment from Donald Trump to gut the FBI … do you agree that you have already prepared plans to remove certain individuals from their offices — for example, individuals that will be replaced by political personnel?” 

…

Patel: “We can move on.” 

Senate Republicans also helped Patel avoid answering questions and accountability about mass layoffs at the FBI. 

Politico: “In a letter first shared with POLITICO, the lawmakers are asking Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) for another formal hearing with the nominee, specifically to question Patel over the recent personnel shakeup at the FBI.” 

Scripps News: “Kash Patel’s FBI nomination passes Senate Judiciary vote despite Democratic objections”

New York Times: “The vote, 12 to 10, fell along party lines.”

REMINDER: Patel is a “frightening” Project 2025-linked Trump loyalist with zero qualifications to be FBI Director, who continues to defend violent insurrectionists while associating with white supremacists.  

Center for Renewing America: “Author: Kash Patel” 

Project 2025: The Center for Renewing America was a member of Project 2025’s advisory board.

CNN: “‘It’s inconceivable to me that an outsider with no experience in the organization, no knowledge of the work and the scope of authority that’s involved there could perform adequately,’ [said Former Trump Deputy FBI Director] McCabe.”

Former Trump AG Bill Barr on Patel in the first Trump administration: “Patel had virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency.”

Sen. Dick Durbin: “Do you think America is safer because President Trump issued these pardons to 1,600 of these criminal defendants, many of whom violently assaulted our police in the Capitol?” 

Patel: *Doesn’t answer*

Sen. Amy Klobuchar: “You said that Donald Trump has every right to tell the world that in 2020, 2016, and every other election in between was rigged by our government because they were. Yes or no, did you say that?” 

Patel: *Doesn’t answer* 

Sen. Dick Durbin: “Are you familiar with Mr. Stew Peters?”

Patel: “Not off the top of my head.” 

Sen. Durbin: “You made 8 separate appearances on his podcast. He promoted outrageous conspiracy theories and worked with a prominent neo-Nazi.”

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