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#KashPatel’s nomination has alarmed #Democrats who say he lacks both the background & gravitas to lead the nation’s premier #law enforcement agency. Of particular concern, they note, is his “#EnemiesList” of so-called “deep-state” actors Patel included in his 2023 book.

#FBI #USpol

https://www.c-span.org/event/senate-committee/fbi-director-nominee-kash-patel-testifies-at-confirmation-hearing/430428

The chairman of the #Senate #Judiciary Cmte, #ChuckGrassley of Iowa, began #KashPatel’s hearing by defending Patel from critics who have called him unqualified. Grassley also accused fmr #FBI director #ChrisWray of mismanaging the agency. The FBI is “in crisis,” & “infected by political decision-making,” the #Republican lawmaker said in his opening remarks.

Hoping to create an alternative headline, Grassley introduced previously undisclosed internal #FBI emails about the initiation of the origins of the #Trump investigation.

Quoting FBI internal emails, he reveals that the bureau’s initial investigation into Trump’s use of #FakeElectors to overturn the 2020 election—an inquiry eventually taken over by the special counsel Jack Smith— was code-named “Arctic Frost.”

Grassley was implying that just opening a #criminal investigation into #Trump — into his efforts to overturn his loss of the 2020 election — was self-evidently a corrupt & politicized scheme. The #FBI has “yet to learn a lesson,” Grassley tells #KashPatel. “I hope you will learn that lesson for them, or teach them that lesson.”

Richard Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the #Senate #Judiciary Cmte, told #KashPatel he “does not meet the standard” to lead the #FBI.

Durbin said Patel lacks the temperament to wield the power of an FBI director: “This is someone who’s left behind a trail of grievances throughout his life, lashing out at anyone who disrespects him or doesn’t agree with him.”

Durbin’s remarks highlight a theme of #KashPatel’s resume. Nearly everywhere he has worked, from the #DOJ to the #Defense Dept to the #Trump #WhiteHouse, Patel has complained that he was beset by people making bad decisions for improper, baldly political motives. Patel’s book brands them “government gangsters” who are part of the “deep state.” Durbin says that is conspiratorial thinking.

#KashPatel tried to defend himself on the issue of #Jan6 by saying he has always condemned violence against law enforcement, but he sidestepped entirely his involvement in producing the jailhouse recording of the so-called “Jan 6 choir” singing the national anthem. Several members of that “choir” were in custody specifically for violently assaulting police officers on Jan 6.

#KashPatel also tried to distance himself from #QAnon, a group that has embraced #ConspiracyTheories. Asked if he is a supporter or follower of QAnon, Patel says no, & that he “rejected outright QAnon baseless conspiracy theories.”

Previously, Patel had said he saw some value in the community. “I disagree with a lot of what that movement says, but I agree with a lot of what that movement says,” he said in a 2022 interview.

Re #Trump’s mass #pardons of #Jan6 insurgents, #KashPatel said he does “not agree w/the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement.”

It’s a very lawyerly answer. The 14 people who received sentence #commutations, not pardons, were accused of #SeditiousConspiracy — a crime that requires the defendants used #violent force against the govt. But those who got commutations were not involved in the most violent assaults against on J6.

#DickDurbin, the top Dem on the #Senate #Judiciary Cmte, pressed #KashPatel on appearances he made on a podcast hosted by #StewPeters. Peters has often expressed #antisemitic & #WhiteNationalist views.
Pressed by Durbin about why he has associated w/so many #extremists & #ConspiracyTheorists, Patel claimed he went on podcasts to take on people putting out #ConspiracyTheories in order to disabuse them of their false impressions & to talk to them about the truth. A flat-out #lie.
#NationalSecurity

In his book “Government Gansters,” #KashPatel made clear his hostility toward the so-called deep state, publishing a list of 60 names in an appendix.

It has been widely interpreted as an #EnemiesList & singles out fmr executive branch ofcls but is by no means “comprehensive,” acc/to Patel.

At his confirmation hearing to be #FBI director today, Patel rejected the idea that the group of names was an enemies list.

He just lied, lied & then lied some more.

Senator #SheldonWhitehouse (D-RI) recited quotations from snr first-term Trump admin officials saying #KashPatel is completely #unqualified & #inappropriate to run the #FBI He cited Patel’s behavior & statements, including vowing to go after the #media & reposting a social media image showing him cutting off the heads of political adversaries of #Trump with a chainsaw.

Nearly every time he is faced w/his own words #KashPatel feigned indignation & dismissed his statements as being taken out of “grotesque context.”

Sen #AmyKlobuchar spent several mins reading Patel’s own words back to him VERBATIM — including his proposal to shutter #FBI HQ & turn it into a museum for the ‘deep state.’ Patel repeated the refrain her quotation a “grotesque” mischaracterization. Other times he claimed not to remember his comments. “I am quoting his own words,” Klobuchar insisted.

Sen #ChrisCoons asked whether #KashPatel would open an investigation into a political adversary because #Trump asked him to do so, or if he would stop a legitimate investigation into an ally of Trump if pressed. Patel says he will simply obey the #law, but evades Coons’s question of whether he would resign if forced or directed to do otherwise.

The hearing went back to the issue of the #Jan6 choir. #KashPatel, raised his voice & said that the choir’s recording of the national anthem did not “glorify” #violence. #Trump used the recording frequently during his presidential campaign as a way to highlight the phony plight of the Capitol rioters, whom he often referred to as “hostages” & “political prisoners.”

#KashPatel kept saying he would not “go backwards” when asked if he’ll investigate #Trump’s perceived enemies, not a real answer, #criminal investigations, by their very nature, look backward to determine who may have committed a crime.

Patel refused to say whether or not he would use his position to investigate the fmr #FBI dir #JamesComey or others on his #EnemiesList saying only that he would abide by the #law & #Constitution. Sen #MazieHirono correctly says he didn’t answer the questions.

Senator #JohnKennedy (R-LA) asked #KashPatel who investigated Timothy McVeigh, who killed 168 people in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. “The #FBI,” Patel answered.

Another correct answer would have been #MerrickGarland, the Biden’s AG who years earlier played a key role in the prosecution of the McVeigh case. Kennedy & other Senate #Republicans have spent years railing against Garland’s supposed mismanagement of the #DOJ.

Sen Kennedy ends the morning session with an odd admonition to #KashPatel: “Don’t go over there & burn that place down, go over there and make it better.” It is a strange remark coming from Kennedy, who in recent years has been a fierce #FBI critic.

After lunch #KashPatel says that 98% of the #FBI is made up of “courageous apolitical warriors for justice. They just need better leadership.” This does not comport with Patel’s statements & writings over the last decade, nor is it clear how Patel determined that the other 2% (~760 people of ~38k FBI employees) were determined supposedly partisan.

#KashPatel tells #CoryBooker that he can’t tell him what he testified before a #GrandJury in the #ClassifiedDocuments case because it’s secret under grand jury rules. Booker (correctly) informs him that as a witness he is not bound to keep what he said secret.

The issue is, after Trump claimed he had declassified all the #NationalSecurity docs (w/his mind) found at MAL, Patel publicly said that was true. There is no evidence of that, & other Trump ofcls said they never heard of such an order.

Investigators called #KashPatel as a witness to ask him under oath whether what he had said was true. It is not a #crime to #lie to the public, but it is a crime to lie #UnderOath. Booker was trying to get Patel to say whether, under oath, he recanted his corroboration of #Trump’s claim.

#KashPatel is trying not to say that Joe #Biden won the 2020 election. Under repeated questioning from Sen #PeterWelch (D-VT), Patel concedes only that Biden was “certified” as the president. “The other way to say it is he won,” Welch said. “What’s so hard about just saying Biden won the 2020 election?”

In the afternoon session of his confirmation hearing, #KashPatel is starting to push back more against his critics, & trying to paint himself as a defender of the #FBI. “You can say whatever you want about me,” Patel says. “Bring it on. But you will not denigrate the men and women of the FBI.” For years, Patel has vowed to fire its leadership, empty the FBI headquarters building & bring law enforcement agencies “to heel.”