Democrats on a key Senate committee delayed Kash Patel‘s nomination to be FBI director for one week, moving to “hold over” the nomination, although he is still on track to be confirmed by the full Senate.
Democrats voice serious concerns about Patel’s nomination, saying the Trump ally frequently pushes conspiracy theories and misinformation, has close associations with racist people, and has vowed to weaponize the justice system to investigate the president’s political enemies.
The Senate Judiciary Committee met on Thursday morning to discuss whether to approve Patel out of the committee, but Democrats moved to “hold over” the nomination — with the committee’s ranking member, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), arguing Patel “does not have the temperament for the job.”
Durbin and all the Democrats on the panel urged Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to delay Patel’s confirmation vote until the nominee agreed to testify for a second time under oath about the recent removals and reassignments of FBI civil servants, among other things.
Grassley declined to grant a second confirmation hearing and described the effort as a “delay tactic” designed to stall Patel from taking the reins of the law enforcement agency.
Patel’s confirmation hearing went more smoothly than the hearings for some of President Donald Trump’s other Cabinet nominees. During his Jan. 30 hearing, Patel sought to assuage worries about his loyalty to Trump and brash rhetoric. He declared that Joe Biden won the 2020 election and said he disagreed with the president’s pardons of violent Jan. 6 defendants. He vowed that if confirmed, he would only open investigations when there was a “constitutional factual basis” to do so amid concerns he would target political adversaries.
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Once passed out of committee, Patel’s nomination would head to a full Senate vote. The Republican Party has a 53-47 majority in the upper chamber, which means any of Trump’s Cabinet nominees can lose three Republicans’ support and still get confirmed.
There are several Republican senators to watch during the floor vote, including Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME), and John Curtis (R-UT), who have not indicated how they will vote.