Republicans close ranks around Kash Patel at Senate panel hearing amid harsh Democrat criticism
New York(The Uttam Hindu): Republicans closed ranks behind Kashyap “Kash” Patel, the nominee to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in a polarised Senate Judiciary Committee where he was grilled by Democrats on past statements. Under interrogation by Democrats on Thursday, he tried to explain away some of his radical statements like shutting down the FBI headquarters on Day 1 and turning it into a museum of the “Deep State”, or the support forTrump’s supporters who participated in the January 6, 2021, riot (J6) at the Capitol.
The committee Chair Chuck Grassley started the session with a resounding endorsement of his confirmation by the Senate and praised his record in government, from a public defender of the indigent accused to the chief of staff to the acting defence secretary.“Mr. Patel’s career has been a study in fighting for unpopular but righteous causes, exposing corruption, and putting America First,” the Republican said. Noting that only 41 per cent of Americans have a good opinion of the FBI, he told Patel, “It’ll be your job to restore the public’s trust and return the FBI to its core mission of fighting crime. Your extensive background gives you a unique position to make this happen.”
As Patel started his testimony, he introduced his parents seated behind him, and greeted them with, “Jai Shri Krishna”. He said that they had travelled from India with his sister Nisha to be with him. He recalled his father fleeing Uganda during Idi Amin’s genocidal rule when “300,000 men, women and children were killed based on their ethnicity, just because they happen to look like me”. His childhood in New York was "the Indian way” in a “household of my father's seven siblings, their spouses and at least half a dozen children,” he said. “But we would soon learn the American way,” he added.
Defending Patel against accusations that he was a racist or associated with neo-Nazis, Senator Mike Lee pointed to his family background, of his father fleeing persecution, to refute them. Patel’s nomination is among those that have spurred vehement opposition and also intense scrutiny. Dick Durbin, the senior Democrat on the panel declared him unfit for the job. “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”, he said.
Patel tried to put some of the radical statements in his book, 'Gangster Government', and public utterances behind him, reassuring the Senators, "I will remain focused on the FBI core mission, that is to investigate fully wherever there is a constitutional factual basis to do so”. Patel said that he supported law enforcement and the police, showcasing the support he received from several organisations representing them. But repeatedly Democrats brought up the pardons that Trump had given to about 1,600 people who had participated in the J6 riots and asked if he supported the amnesty for those who had attacked police.
Patel gave a hint of divergence from Trump on this, without explicitly criticising the pardons. “I have repeatedly, often publicly and privately, said, ‘There can never be a tolerance for violence against law enforcement and anyone, anyone that commits an act of violence against law enforcement must be investigated, prosecuted and imprisoned', and on January 6, I said the same thing about acts against law enforcement,” he said.
Senator Amy Klobuchar and other Democrats brought up his threat to shut down the FBI headquarters. After initially saying it was a mischaracterization, he said that it was directed at the leadership of the FBI and he meant that too many FBI personnel, about a third of the force, were concentrated in the Washington area and should be distributed around the country. He said that he did not have a list of enemies that he would go after and that he would not launch politically motivated investigations of journalists or members of President Joe Biden’s administration. He said that he himself had been a victim of the FBI’s political investigations under Biden and knew its costs. Grassely -- and other Republicans - listed what they said were the political actions of the FBI against Patel and Trump, including the false allegations of Russian collaboration with the Trump campaign.
“In my time, I’ve never seen our law enforcement and intelligence community institutions so badly infected with political decision-making. They’ve broken faith with We the People”, Grassley said. “You must be fair, consistent, and aggressive. Your actions must be based on accountability,” he told Patel.
