Kash Patel, President Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, was at the center of a contentious confirmation hearing Thursday, facing intense grilling from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee about his past comments and allegiance to Trump.

To Republicans, Patel represents a chance to reform an agency whose public image has taken a hit and refocus the FBI on its crime-fighting mission.

To Democrats, Patel is an unqualified figure at risk of abusing FBI power.

“But Mr. Patel would have us believe that all of these public servants, all Republicans, all from the first Trump administration, and apparently anyone else who is critical of him, are nothing but government gangsters and deep state members, many of them have made his list of enemies,” Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the top Democrat on the panel, said.

“Our nation needs an FBI director who understands the gravity of this mission and is ready on day one, not someone who is consumed by his own personal political grievances.” 

A mix of commitments on how FBI power will be wielded

Democrats peppered Patel with a series of questions about how he would handle outside pressure from Trump.

It was a line of questioning that made frequent references to those Patel listed as “government gangsters” in an appendix to a book he wrote by the same name.

While Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) defended the list as a transparency effort that should not be misconstrued as an “enemies list,” Patel has used past fundraising emails to say the group must be held accountable.

Patel sought to assure the committee he would not take any illegal actions but would not commit to resigning if faced with such pressure.

“My answer is simply, I would never do anything unconstitutional or unlawful, and I never have in my 16 years of government service,” he said.

“I will always obey the law.”

He also dodged questions about whether he would follow through on past comments calling for a prosecution of former FBI Director Christopher Wray.

“I have no interest, no desire, and will not, if confirmed, go backwards. There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI should I be confirmed as the FBI director,” he said.

Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) argued that Patel had provided Democrats with the assurances they were looking for.

“I have been diligently listening over the last few hours, and what I have heard you say is this, that your duty is to protect American citizens, that you will work to uphold the Constitution,” she said.

“You said you will not allow there to be victims of government overreach, because it has happened to you. You talked about having no intention of going backwards. … You have said everything you do will be factual and constitutionally based.” 

Patel’s past Mar-a-Lago testimony sparks scrutiny 

Several Democratic lawmakers said the crux of whether Patel could resist Trump’s pressure and operate truthfully could be seen in a grand jury transcript from when the nominee was called to testify in former special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents investigation.

Patel previously said he saw Trump declassifying documents. While the claim was not specific to the documents at Mar-a-Lago in the center of the probe, Trump’s attorneys nonetheless pointed to the comment, and it may have featured in a defense had the case proceeded.

Patel was subpoenaed to provide testimony in the special counsel investigation into Trump and was granted immunity after pleading his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to many of the questions.

Democrats have sought the transcript and noted Thursday that Patel may speak freely about his own testimony, something Patel argued would violate grand jury secrecy.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said Patel was sidestepping the transparency he claims he’ll provide as FBI director.

“It would be irresponsible for us to move forward if we do not know that the future head of the FBI would break the law and lie for the president of the United States,” Booker said.

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said even by pleading the Fifth, Patel raised questions about his trustworthiness and commitment to following the law.

“I don’t know, but he may be the first nominee for FBI director in history who felt it necessary to plead the Fifth, to say he wouldn’t testify to a grand jury because it might incriminate him,” Schiff said.

Clashes over Patel’s past statements

The hearing served as a format to air some of Patel’s most controversial statements after a robust series of appearances on right-wing podcasts over the last four years.

Those interviews were a rich well for Democratic lawmakers, as Patel continually dodged and demurred while responding to his past remarks.

Patel didn’t respond to past comments that he would “shut down the FBI Hoover building on Day 1 and reopen it the next day as a museum of the ‘deep state.’”

When confronted with a lengthy quote about how he would “come after” journalists “criminally or civilly” who “helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,” Patel complained he was only shown a partial quote.

But perhaps his most confusing exchange resulted from questions about the public role he has played in promoting a song recorded by Jan. 6 defendants in prison 

“I’m not aware of that, sir, I didn’t have anything to do with the recording,” he said.

In later questioning Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) noted Patel had boasted of his involvement.

“As a matter of fact, as you put it, to Steve Bannon on his show: ‘Then we went into a studio and recorded it, mastered it, digitized it, and put it as a song, now releasing it exclusively in the War Room.’ That was the J6 Prison Choir song,” Blumenthal said.

“We, we, we,” Schiff added later, noting Patel seemingly included himself in the group’s work.

Patel later said he was using the “proverbial we” when Schiff asked if Patel lied to Steve Bannon.

Patel also previously promoted the group’s song and acknowledged he knew the background of the group.

“J6 Prison Choir consists of individuals who have been incarcerated as a result of their involvement in the January 6, 2021 protest for election integrity. They have sang the anthem every night since being incarcerated- lets help,” he wrote on social media in a 2023 post.

Clear divide over Patel and FBI reform

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) praised Patel as a figure who could restore the FBI’s reputation.

“When I go back home to Texas, I am somewhat regularly asked by Texans, should we abolish the FBI? Now my answer to that is an emphatic no. The FBI has a critical mission of stopping bad guys, whether serial killers or human traffickers or child molesters or terrorists. But it says something that a sizable percentage of America has so lost faith in the bureau that they believe it should be shut down,” he said.

Schiff, however, seemed exasperated by Patel’s nomination.

“[Trump has] chosen someone whose primary qualification, in my view, is his willingness to say ‘yes’ when everyone else would say ‘no.’ … That’s why he is sitting here,” he said.

“Look at the people who held that job before Mr. Patel, the stature of the people that held that job, the qualifications of the people [who held] that job, and how could any of us think that his background, his qualifications, hold a candle to the people who went before him? How did we get here, where we are defending a nominee like this, who makes songs with convicts who attack law enforcement? How did we get here?”

But Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) dismissed Democrats’ concerns.

“I don’t think they can believe you’re sitting where you’re sitting right now. But guess what? You are, and you’re going to get confirmed, and you’re going to lead this agency back to what it always should have been, which is to protect the American people, to fight crime, to put the bad guys in jail, not to execute a political agenda like some banana republic form of justice,” he said.