By SARAH N. LYNCH Reuters
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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s pick to head the FBI, Kash Patel, won the approval of the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, clearing the way for a vote to confirm a director who has called for a radical reshaping of the nation’s top law enforcement agency.

In a 12-10 party-line vote, the panel approved Patel’s nomination despite deep reservations by Democrats who said he is unfit to lead the bureau.

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“We are inviting a political disaster if we put Kash Patel into this job,” said the panel’s top Democrat, Dick Durbin.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, a Republican of Iowa, said Patel had been fully vetted and subjected to “relentless attacks on his character” throughout the confirmation process.

Patel’s nomination has not yet been scheduled for full Senate debate and votes.

Patel, a fierce Trump loyalist, has previously called for the FBI’s Washington headquarters to be permanently shuttered, and has repeatedly pushed false conspiracy theories suggesting the bureau’s employees were involved in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Patel pledged during his confirmation hearing not to seek political retribution against FBI employees.

But not long after his confirmation hearing ended, senior Trump-backed Justice Department officials fired eight senior career FBI officials and ordered the FBI to hand over a list of every employee who worked on January 6 investigations so that the department could review whether “additional personnel actions are necessary.”

The demand has stoked fears among FBI agents and prompted agents and employees to file two lawsuits against the Justice Department in a bid to prevent senior officials from publicly releasing their names and putting them at risk.

On Friday, the Justice Department reached an agreement with the plaintiffs in those two cases and agreed not to publicly release the names without at least 48 hours’ notice.

Earlier this week, Durbin asked the Justice Department’s internal watchdog to investigate, after whistleblowers came forward with evidence suggesting that Patel was overseeing an FBI purge behind the scenes.

Patel has been among the most vocal critics of investigations into Trump, depicting them as the work of “deep state” law enforcement and intelligence officials bent on undermining the president.