Senate panel advances FBI Director nominee Kash Patel out of committee

President Trump’s pick to root out anti-conservative bias and politicized investigations at the FBI moved another step closer on Thursday to securing the top job at America’s premier federal law enforcement agency.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Kash Patel’s nomination for FBI director in a party-line vote, setting up a final confirmation vote in the full Senate as soon as next week.

Although all Democrats on the committee opposed Mr. Patel in the 12-10 vote, he is expected to easily win confirmation by the Senate’s GOP majority.

Mr. Patel, a former federal prosecutor and national security official, has been an outspoken critic of what he describes as a politicized FBI.

Responding to accusations that he plans to turn the FBI into Mr. Trump’s weapon for political retribution, he insisted he wants to take the politics out of the agency.

“There will be no politicization at the FBI,” Mr. Patel said at his confirmation hearing. “There will be no retributive action.”

Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, accused Democrats of launching unfair attacks against the former senior Defense Department official, such as allegations that Mr. Patel was behind recent firings at the FBI.

Mr. Grassley said that the ouster of FBI officials was necessary because politics had infected the bureau’s leadership and they had proven unable or unwilling to clean up the agency following years of scandals.

The scandals included the targeting of Catholics and parents at school board meetings, the suppression of news reports about the disturbing content discovered on Hunter Biden’s laptop computer and the raid on Mr. Trump’s home at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.

Most recently, the FBI has been criticized by senior Trump administration officials for leaking information about when and where ICE raids would occur.

“It put the lives of ICE agents at risk,” Mr. Grassley said. “And, if true, the material can’t be overstated, the FBI has fallen into really old habits and is long overdue for massive reform.”

He said Mr. Patel exposed some of the problems, and was “targeted for it.”

“Mr. Patel was instrumental in exposing Crossfire Hurricane. He showed during that investigation that the Democratic National Committee funded false allegations against President Trump,” Mr. Grassley said.

The top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, said that Mr. Patel is already weaponizing the FBI on behalf of President Trump.

He again accused Mr. Patel of orchestrating the firings at the FBI despite being a private citizen.

“The ramifications of these terminations are dangerous, and they go beyond Mr. Patel’s fitness for office,” Mr. Durbin said. “This purge has greatly weakened the FBI’s ability to protect the country from national security threats and made America less safe.”

Democratic lawmakers on the panel also accused Mr. Patel of perjuring himself during his confirmation hearing when he said he did not know of a plan to fire FBI employees involved in Jan. 6 investigations or the Mar-a-Lago raid.

“It is outrageous that these sworn FBI agents who were simply doing the jobs assigned to them now fear for their livelihoods and the safety of their families,” Mr. Durbin said.

“Mr. Patel seems to be unable to wait for Senate confirmation to carry out his plan of retribution on behalf of President Trump,” Mr. Durbin said. “This is a private citizen. Patel with no role in government, allegedly directing baseless firings of career public servants and then misleading this committee about his actions.”

Democrats delayed the panel vote last week, saying they wanted Mr. Patel to testify again, but Republicans rejected their demands.