The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Kash Patel’s nomination for FBI director in a party-line 12-10 vote Thursday.

Although all Democrats voted against Mr. Patel, he’s likely to be confirmed by the GOP-controlled Senate.

Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, defended Mr. Patel’s nomination, saying Democrats have made unfair attacks against the former senior Defense Department official while the FBI fired top leadership.

Mr. Grassley said the firings were necessary because the bureau’s leadership became politically infected and unable to clean up its own agency.

This includes the FBI targeting traditional Catholic families, scrutinizing parents at school board meetings, coordinating with social media platforms to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story and raiding President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.

Most recently, the FBI has been blasted by senior Trump administration officials for leaking information about when and where ICE raids would occur.

This “put the lives of ICE agents at risk,” Mr. Grassley said. “And, if true, the material can’t be overstated: The FBI has fallen into really old habits and is long overdue for massive reform.”

He said Mr. Patel exposed some of the problems and was “targeted for it.”

“Mr. Patel was instrumental in exposing Crossfire Hurricane. He showed during that investigation that the Democratic National Committee funded false allegations against President Trump,” Mr. Grassley said. “The Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation hid information from the FISA court to wiretap a presidential campaign, and then an FBI lawyer lied in the process.”

Mr. Grassley noted that the Justice Department secretly subpoenaed Mr. Patel’s records as a means of retaliation.

“Now I and my staff know a thing or two about this kind of retaliation, because my staff received similar treatment during our investigation,” the senator said.

Mr. Grassley also read a series of quotes from FBI whistleblowers about senior bureau officials who pulled the clearances of FBI agents as retaliation for refusing to take the COVID-19 shot, questioning the bureau’s Jan. 6 investigation or suspicion of supporting Mr. Trump.

The top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, said Mr. Patel is already weaponizing the FBI on behalf of the president.

“Despite his status as a private citizen, as I revealed earlier this week, multiple whistleblowers have disclosed to my staff, highly credible information indicating that Mr. Patel, a civilian, is personally directing the ongoing purge of senior law enforcement officials at the FBI,” Mr. Durbin said, referencing the recent terminations of FBI personnel.

• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.