Trump’s FBI pick distances himself from his own words

Kash Patel tried to allay concerns about his fitness to serve as FBI director at his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday by suggesting that he disagreed with President Donald Trump’s grants of clemency for violent Jan. 6 rioters and seeking to distance himself from his own heated attacks on the bureau.

Patel, alternating between deference and defiance, eagerly echoed Republican senators’ complaints about a “politicized” and “weaponized” FBI before pivoting to deflect intense Democratic questioning about his qualifications and temperament. He dismissed years of his own provocative public statements by claiming they were being mischaracterized in an effort to damage him, and claimed, remarkably, that he appeared on podcasts hosted by conspiracy theorists to debunk their views rather than endorse them.

In one early exchange, Patel said he “rejected outright QAnon baseless conspiracy theories” despite previously saying he agreed with “a lot” of what the movement promoted.

In another, Patel denied that the 60-person list included as an appendix to his book “Government Gangsters” was an enemies list. The list, which includes two recent FBI directors and two current bureau employees, has incited deep concerns that he would deploy the vast powers of the FBI to punish Trump’s perceived political opponents or those in government who worked on investigations that ensnared him. “It’s not an enemies list,” Patel said. “It’s a total mischaracterization.”

Under questioning from Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., Patel also repeatedly declined to say that Joe Biden had won the 2020 election, saying only that Biden had been “certified” as the president.

“The other way to say it is he won,” Welch said. “What’s so hard about just saying Biden won the 2020 election?”

The Judiciary Committee’s leaders set the partisan tone for the hearing in their opening statements. The chair, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, painted a portrait of a politicized FBI that he said was “in crisis,” a characterization that many of the panel’s Republicans embraced in their questioning. Democrats singled out caustic past statements by Patel about the agency he seeks to lead.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee, said Patel “does not meet the standard” to lead the FBI, citing his relative lack of law enforcement experience and unflinching loyalty to Trump.

The nomination of Patel, 44, a self-described Trump campaign surrogate, has upended the post-Watergate tradition of picking nonpartisan directors. If confirmed, Patel could provide Trump with a direct line into the FBI, eliminating guardrails meant to insulate it from White House interference.

It is unclear whether Patel has enough Republican votes to be confirmed, although his allies believe he will prevail. His unflagging loyalty to Trump and past inflammatory comments about the FBI have not incited the backlash that his critics had expected when Trump announced him as his pick in November.

Pressed on whether he agreed with Trump’s grants of clemency for people accused or convicted of crimes tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, Patel said he did “not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement.”

Patel said he appeared on podcasts with people who have been accused of racism and disinformation so he could debunk such assertions. But in a 2022 interview, Patel said he agreed with some claims pushed by QAnon followers about the government that have been “massively absorbed and pushed by the Q community.” He added, “Good, because that’s the truth, and why not?” Democrats quickly seized on those statements.

Democrats have already signaled that they will not support Patel’s nomination.

“After meeting with Kash Patel, I have grave concerns about his fitness for the role of FBI Director,” Durbin said. “Mr. Patel has neither the experience, the temperament, nor the judgment to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

Patel was questioned about a list of enemies in his book, “Government Gangsters,” a pugilistic takedown of bureau officials that takes aim at two current employees, among others.