As Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, prepares for his Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday, a group of sidelined Republican former government officials is urging senators to reject Indian American Trump loyalist’s nomination.
“Confirming Patel would be a grievous mistake that would endanger the FBI’s integrity and compromise its critical mission,” they wrote in a letter to the Senate, The Hill reported.
The letter was signed by 23 people, including multiple former Justice Department officials from the Nixon and Reagan administrations and both Bush administrations, including Philip Allen Lacovara, a former Watergate prosecutor, and former acting Attorney General Stuart Gerson.
READ: Kash Patel blasts FBI for ‘endangering his life’ (August 29, 2022)
It also includes former associates of President Trump, including his former lawyer Ty Cobb and former Pence aide Olivia Troye, now outspoken critics of the president. Former GOP Reps. Barbara Comstock (Va.) and Joe Walsh (Ill.) also signed the letter.
“The FBI is a cornerstone of our justice system, tasked with defending our nation against threats both foreign and domestic,” they wrote. “Its director must be a person with strong ethics, sound judgment, and an unwavering commitment to enforcing the law. Kash Patel has repeatedly demonstrated that he is not this person.”
The letter recaps a series of concerns about Patel, describing him as “motivated by revenge.”
Patel has written a book called “Government Gangsters” that includes an appendix in which he lists numerous Democratic officials with that same label, a group he later said must be held “accountable.”
“Patel has said he will close FBI headquarters on his first day in office and convert it into a so-called ‘Deep State museum.’ He has also threatened to criminally investigate members of the J6 committee,” they wrote, referring to the House select committee that investigated the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“He has repeatedly vowed to go after individuals on perceived enemies lists. This is a vision of the FBI as an authoritarian weapon for pursuing his and Trump’s grievances.”
A Trump transition official defended Patel’s background.
“Mr. Patel was a public defender, decorated prosecutor, and accomplished national security official that kept Americans safe,” they said in a statement cited by the Hill..
“This is about stopping violent crime, stemming the fentanyl crisis, and enforcing the law against criminals so Americans can have safety and security. That’s what Kash Patel will do.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, requested documents from the Justice Department and intelligence community “reflecting or relating to allegations of misconduct by Mr. Patel, including referrals to DOJ or claims related to his tenure” at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, CNN reported.
Kash Patel, has for years battled US intelligence agencies over the handling of some of the government’s most sensitive national security secrets, CNN noted.
As a Republican congressional aide and Trump national security staffer, Patel fought to declassify and release documents to try to undercut the FBI’s investigation into connections between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.
READ: Lawsuit targets Kash Patel’s FBI nomination records (January 6, 2025)
Patel has accused the FBI and intelligence agencies of carrying out a “deep state” plot targeting Trump and his allies — including himself — and called for a major overhaul of both.
Patel has even suggested that the FBI should scale back its intelligence activities and instead focus on law enforcement. “Go be cops,” he said in a podcast interview last fall, according to CNN.