Kash Patel is President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI Director. He had his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.
Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence, called out the weaponization of intel in her opening statement on Thursday before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Patel took a similar tack in his statement.
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READ MORE: Tulsi Destroys Dems in Brutal Opening Statement, Breaks Down Shocking Misuse of Intel
Kash Patel Hearing Starts Off With a Bang, Future FBI Director Cooks Democrats
One of the funniest moments occurred when Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) asked Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) for more time because he had let Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) go over her time by three minutes. “Mr. Chairman, Mr Chairman!” he interrupted Grassley, who shot back with a funny gruff, “What do you want?”
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CHAOS erupts in the Kash Patel hearing and Chairman Grassley puts Klobuchar in her place!
Senator Kennedy: “I think you are a star spangled chairman!” pic.twitter.com/QBj25r8gUT
— Rey Leija (@rey_leija) January 30, 2025
“I love this guy!” Kennedy gushed. He said he wanted an extra three minutes but conceded Grassley was a “star-spangled awesome chairman.”
Grassley said let’s see if anyone else abuses the time limit.
Kennedy retorted, “Well, I’m just telling ya, I’m going to abuse it.” That brought down the house, as Grassley responded, “Well, I’m not going to let you abuse it!”
Grassley also read a letter from 56 former FBI agents who were supporting Patel’s confirmation.
Then, when Kennedy got his chance, he was in typical smoking form. First he noted how Patel had made “a lot of people mad” and maybe he’d made “the right people mad,” Patel agreed.
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WATCH: Senator Kennedy’s FULL exchange with Kash Patel. pic.twitter.com/fB9ZZScWMM
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 30, 2025
Patel said that, as his FBI agents told him, “If you’re not ticking off some people, you’re not doing your job right.”
Then Kennedy said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) called Patel a “conspiracy theorist.”
He pointed out how Patel was instrumental in showing that the Russian collusion conspiracy theory was a hoax. “Sounds to me like we need to get some new conspiracy theories, because all the old ones turned out to be true,” Kennedy laughed.
Patel agreed, “Facts matter, Senator.”
Kennedy joked that the “conspiracy theories” were up like something, “37-0” at this point.
Kennedy then began just laying out some of the good cases of the FBI, then some of the bad, raising the interesting questions of Hillary Clinton’s lawyer’s access to the FBI, the Hunter Biden tax case, and allegedly deducting “hookers.”
Patel had a great response when asked about Hunter Biden: “The American people are entitled to a singular form of justice.” Indeed, one that applies to all, not one based on politics.
Then Kennedy hit on former FBI agent Peter Strzok’s anti-Trump comments, and Strzok saying it didn’t influence his work. “Do you believe in the Tooth Fairy…You believe Jimmy Hoffa died of natural causes?” Kennedy said in disbelief.
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Then Kennedy got down to it, noting there were good people and bad people at the FBI, and he said Patel had to find out the bad people, consistent with the rule of law and due process, and “lift up” the good people. Patel then committed to making the FBI the “premier law enforcement agency in the world.”
That’s why Patel is desperately needed to bring reform there — he gets it, he knows what to do, and he knows the issues and people who have to be addressed. That’s also exactly why the Democrats don’t want him there.