Republican Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) has revealed that Kash Patel has now garnered enough support in the Senate to be confirmed as FBI director.
Patel’s confirmation would place a President Donald Trump loyalist in charge of an agency that has spent years targeting the Democrats’ opponents.
During Trump’s first presidential term, Patel played a prominent role in uncovering the FBI’s surveillance abuses against Trump’s 2016 campaign.
At the time, Patel was working as a staffer on the House Intelligence Committee under Devin Nunes.
Despite alarmist media coverage about Patel’s plans for FBI reform, the Trump ally is securing support from Republican senators.
Sen. Schmitt told ABC’s This Week that Patel is the right fit.
Schmitt cited Patel’s broad experience and the need for a reform-minded leader at the FBI.
“I do think Kash Patel is the right man for the job,” Schmitt said.
“He served as chief of staff for the Department of Defense.
“He was a prosecutor and public defender and let’s review the tape here.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray announced his upcoming resignation last week.
Although appointed by Trump, Wray lost the trust of the president-elect and most of his supporters as the FBI increasingly waded into domestic politics.
Wray, who ends his term three years early, resigned before he could be fired by Trump.
“The FBI was involved in spying on President Trump in 2016. The FBI was involved in the Hunter Biden laptop coverup,” Schmitt said.
“They pre-bunked that story with big tech.
The FBI has investigated Catholics because they attend traditional Latin Mass, and the FBI has investigated parents who show up to school board meetings because under the us auspice of the Patriot Act.”
“That agency is in desperate need of reform,” he said.
“Kash Patel is very qualified and I think he’ll get the support in the Senate.”
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Criticism of Patel has centered on claims from the Left that he allegedly plans to seek retribution on Trump’s behalf.
Trump has yet to confirm whether the FBI will investigate his former persecutors.
He told NBC News last week that he would let Patel decide what to do.
“I think he’s going to do what he thinks is right,” Trump said.
“If they think that someone was dishonest, or crooked or corrupt politicians, I think he probably has an obligation to do it.”
Patel’s growing support is likely good news for Trump’s other controversial Cabinet nominees, like Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard.
Hegseth and Gabbard have faced similar backlash over their plans to shake up Washington.
