Kash Patel gets quick praise from some Republicans as Trump's FBI pick
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Kash Patel speaks at a Turning Points Action conference on Oct. 24, 2024. Photo: PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images.
A handful of moderate and establishment Republican lawmakers on Sunday offered receptiveness and even praise of Kash Patel, President-elect Trump's controversial nominee to lead the FBI.
Why it matters: Patel will need to garner the votes of nearly every Senate Republican in order to be confirmed – a potentially uphill battle for several of the president-elect's more inflammatory picks.
What they're saying: Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), a centrist from a swing district, said on CNN's "State of the Union" that he has no reservations about Patel serving as FBI director.
- "Donald Trump campaigned on reforming the FBI and the Department of Justice, so I don't know why any of this is, frankly, surprising to people," Lawler said, listing off details of Patel's national security background.
- Sens. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), both conservative Trump allies, offered effusive praise for Patel on NBC's "Meet the Press" and Fox Business' "Sunday Morning Futures," respectively.
Zoom in: Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) was slightly more equivocal on Patel during an ABC "This Week" appearance, saying Trump "has the right" to nominate who he wants and that "it doesn't surprise me that he will pick people that he believes are very loyal."
- Rounds said current FBI director Chris Wray is a "very good man" and noted he has several more years before his term expires, but said the Senate will "provide advice and consent" on Patel's nomination.
Zoom out: Patel is a staunch Trump loyalist who wants to upend what he says is the entrenched bureaucracy running federal law enforcement.
- He served as a senior aide to the House Intelligence Committee and Directorate of National Intelligence before serving as chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller.
- He was caught up in several of the major scandals of Trump's first term, with Trump even scheming to appoint him as deputy CIA director in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
The other side: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said on "Meet the Press" that he will oppose Patel's nomination and "organize not just my colleagues but the American public to understand what's happening here."
- "Kash Patel's only qualification is because he agrees with Donald Trump that the Department of Justice should serve to punish, lock up, and intimidate Donald Trump's political opponents," Murphy said.
- Citing a bomb threat he received on Thanksgiving, Murphy said he wants an FBI director who will "go after anybody that tries to threaten the American political system, that goes after Republicans or Democrats."
