Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, was buoyed by good news on Thursday as a leading Republican U.S. senator confirmed that he has enough support to be confirmed by the body.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), a top ally to Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and who ran for majority leader last month, told conservative media figure Hugh Hewitt that Patel, a former intelligence leader, will undoubtedly head up the beleaguered Bureau next year. “Yes, he will be” the next director, the Texas Republican confirmed.
“People I have great respect for – people like Trey Gowdy – have recommended him highly. I’m still working to schedule a meeting with Kash, but I think certainly he has vast experience including working on the House Intelligence Committee, the Russiagate scam, and the Steele dossier scandal. So, I look forward to meeting with him.”
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With all eyes and inkwells focused on Pete Hegseth’s embattled nomination for defense secretary, Patel — a controversial figure in his own right — has escaped relatively unscathed from public scrutiny about his past statements. He has threatened to “come after” journalists he accused of spreading false information about the Trump administration, a remark one anonymous U.S. senator called “vile,” according to NBC News.
In an interview last year, Patel promised to “shut down” the FBI’s Washington, D.C. headquarters and “reopen it the next day as a museum of the ‘deep state.’”
“Kash Patel is going to deliver on President Trump’s mandate to restore integrity to the FBI and return the agency to its core mission of protecting America,” Alex Pfeiffer, a spokesperson to the Trump transition team, said in a statement to the outlet. “Kash is committed to safeguarding Americans’ First Amendment rights, unlike Joe Biden who weaponized the DOJ to target journalists.”
If confirmed, Patel would represent a significant milestone for President-elect Trump in his mission to overhaul a federal government he has long accused of maliciously targeting him with criminal charges.
Matt Gaetz, his pick for U.S. attorney general, withdrew after achieving Senate confirmation appeared insurmountable in light of a forthcoming ethics report on sexual misconduct allegations. Others, like Trump’s selection to head up the Drug Enforcement Agency, have withdrawn as well, most likely in response to pressure from conservative activists who unearthed past statements or actions that they found traitorous. Trump’s transition team has promised a fresh round of “scrutinizing” all his current and upcoming nominations.
Through it all, Patel has persisted. He would take over from Christopher Wray, breaking with a post-Watergate tradition of affording Bureau directors 10 years on the job to avoid the appearance of political deference to the president. That precedent flew out the window after the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago in 2022 as agents searched for classified documents in Trump’s possession. The case, brought by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, was later dismissed after a federal judge determined Smith was improperly appointed.
