The Senate has confirmed Kash Patel to serve as the director of the FBI. He was confirmed 51-49, with two Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — joining all 48 Democrats in voting against him.
Patel’s confirmation makes a conspiracy theorist and Donald Trump loyalist the federal government’s top crime-fighter. Patel has issued public threats to go after Trump’s perceived political enemies, including publishing a list of members of the so-called deep state he’d investigate if given power. He has also openly promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory and shown support for the violent insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol to overturn the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021.
In separate statements on Thursday announcing their plans to vote against him, Collins and Murkowski expressed concerns about Patel’s political activities. “The FBI must be trusted as the federal agency that roots out crime and corruption, not focused on settling political scores,” Murkowski said in her statement.
Patel’s allegiance to Trump appears unbreakable, and their relationship is unprecedented for an FBI director. During Trump’s Inauguration Day festivities, Patel told a crowd of Trump supporters in Washington that “we have been given a gift by God today to usher in a new dynasty because we just inaugurated Donald Trump as our 47th president.”
Before his hearing, there’d been some media speculation that Patel would face some difficulty being confirmed due to conservatives’ concerns about his extremism. But during the hearing, Republican senators spent the bulk of their time running defense for him, claiming the numerous and unmistakable public threats he made, often on extremist podcasts, were taken out of context.
And when he appeared to blatantly lie — for example, when he denied having promoted QAnon conspiracy theories or knowing antisemitic podcaster Stew Peters — Republicans did nothing to hold him to account.
It’s also an open question whether and how Patel’s finances might impact his work. As I wrote earlier this month, Patel refused to divest his multimillion-dollar stake in Elite Depot, Ltd., a company that controls Shein, the controversial Chinese clothing brand that has faced accusations of human rights abuses. (The company has denied the allegations.)
Patel told senators earlier this month that the U.S. Office of Government Ethics determined he did not need to divest from the company “because the likelihood that my duties will involve” the financial interests of Elite Depot, Ltd. “is remote.”
“Accordingly, I have agreed to not participate personally and substantially in any particular matter that to my knowledge has a direct and predictable effect on the financial interests Elite Depot, Ltd.,” he added.
Last week, Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called for a watchdog investigation into whether Patel perjured himself during his Jan. 30 confirmation hearing when he said he was not aware of plans to fire FBI officials. (A spokesperson for Patel dismissed the allegation as a “false narrative.”)
My colleague Hayes Brown has described Patel as a mix of former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Patel is just as conspiratorial as Jones and just as politically driven as Hoover, who infamously used his post to snoop on civil rights leaders and activist groups. Indeed, no FBI director since Hoover has had such an extensive list of his political targets published for the world to see.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.