Patel Dodges Judiciary’s Jabs

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, walked into his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday with more than a little baggage. He has a record of comments, actions, and associations that seemed like ready fodder for Democratic senators looking to call into question his ability to perform in his job.

But they struggled to leverage much of the controversial parts of Patel’s past. Unlike the strategic and targeted questioning by Democrats on the Armed Services Committee of Pete Hegseth—which effectively put a spotlight on his lack of qualifications for defense secretary, though not enough to derail his confirmation—interrogations of Patel from Judiciary Committee members were mostly scattered and ineffective.

A Trump loyalist, Patel was a public defender before he was a staffer for the House Intelligence Committee, later working for the National Security Council and serving as chief of staff to the secretary of defense in the president’s first administration. Since the end of Trump’s first term, he has called for removing the intelligence arm of the FBI and turning the agency’s headquarters into a “museum of the deep state,” vowed to “come after” members of the media, and created an index of members of the “Executive Branch Deep State” in his 2023 book Government Gangsters that critics have dubbed an enemies list.

Democrats on the committee brought all of these topics up at some point, but they did so in an unfocused manner that didn’t seem to damage Patel much. Republicans, in turn, allowed Patel to defend himself. When he introduced Patel, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina held up a bingo card, mocking some of the attacks Patel has faced. 

Rather than putting Patel on the defensive, Democrats used much of their time during the five-hour hearing reciting incendiary comments Patel has made in the past and asking him to justify certain actions from Trump. They inflicted little damage, if any, on his confirmation prospects, likely missing the opportunity to deter enough Republicans from voting for him once his nomination reaches the full Senate.

At one point Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island lobbed several questions at Patel regarding social media posts and podcast appearances he had made. A Whitehouse staff member held up a poster that depicted Patel saying it was “beyond a reasonable doubt” that members of federal law enforcement were involved in starting the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Patel called that characterization “completely incorrect” and was about to respond to the charge, but Whitehouse would not let him.

“I’ll give you the opportunity in writing, but this is my time now,” Whitehouse replied, sparing Patel from needing to defend the remark. 

During her questioning, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota claimed Patel called for prosecuting Justice Department officials under a RICO statute, brought up his promotion of a supplement line he said would help people “detox” from the COVID vaccine, and noted that former Attorney General Bill Barr was on his “Executive Branch Deep State” list. Patel gave short answers in response as Klobuchar rushed through his comments and actions.

Democrats also brought up his involvement with the J6 Prison Choir, a group of people charged with crimes related to the riot. The group recorded a track of themselves singing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” interspersed with soundbites of Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Patel attempted to distance himself from the group, saying he “didn’t have anything to do with the recording.”

However, no one mentioned Patel’s remarks from January 2024, when he told former Rep. Devin Nunes on the latter’s podcast that he received recognition from Billboard after the recording reached No. 1 on the charts. “I literally have a Billboard with my name on it for doing the Donald Trump-January 6 Prison Choir Song. And Billboard called us and said, ‘We don’t want to give you a Billboard.’ They didn’t want to put Donald Trump’s name on it.”

Later, Democrats spent time sparring with Patel over the release of the transcript of his testimony before a grand jury in special prosecutor Jack Smith’s defunct classified documents case against Trump. Patel testified after he was compelled to do so and given limited immunity. Several senators on the panel, including Whitehouse and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, insisted that Patel himself could authorize the release of the testimony and speak to the committee about it, while Patel maintained that he was not allowed to discuss it. Nevertheless, he still called for its release.

“Get my grand jury testimony. I want it made public. I asked the Department of Justice to make it public, and they refused to do so,” he told Sen. Cory Booker.

There were some instances in which Democrats did make Patel appear to sweat. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the committee’s ranking member, asked him at the beginning of the hearing if he was familiar with Stew Peters, a far-right podcast host who has made antisemitic comments.

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

“You made eight separate appearances on his podcast,” Durbin retorted.

The closest they came to matching that moment was when Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont asked Patel, who has associated with figures who claim the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, whether Joe Biden won that contest.

“Joe Biden was the president of the United States,” he replied.

Welch then pressed Patel further, noting the nominee’s continued refusal to simply say that Biden was the victor in the 2020 election. The senator contrasted that with his own openness in saying that Trump won in 2024.

“What I can say is the same for both of them, Senator,” Patel replied, speaking of Biden and Trump. “Both of their elections were certified, and they are both—one was and one now is—president.”