Senate advances nomination of Kash Patel for FBI director to final confirmation vote

Kash Patel, who is President Trump’s nominee for FBI director to overhaul the bureau, is on a glide path to be confirmed by the full Senate later Thursday.

The Senate voted 51-47 on Thursday to end debate and advance the nomination to a final confirmation vote. The term of the post is 10 years.

Mr. Patel, a former prosecutor, has worked in the Defense Department and as an advisor to the White House National Security Council. He also served as a senior counsel to House Republicans investigating the FBI’s Trump-Russia collusion probe.

He is viewed by Mr. Trump and Senate Republicans as a “change agent” who will overhaul an FBI that has drifted from its core mission and become politicized against conservatives.

“FBI’s core mission is to protect the American people, but the majority of Americans have lost faith in the FBI these last few years,” The Senate Republican Conference said in a recent statement.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine broke ranks from fellow Republicans to vote against Mr. Patel, saying he was not the “decidely apolitical” director the FBI needs.

“While I strongly support efforts to ensure all federal employees perform their responsibilities ethically and in accordance with the law, Mr. Patel’s recent political profile undermines his ability to serve in the apolitical role of director of the FBI,” she said in a statement before the vote.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, said his oversight work has revealed that “the FBI has been infected by politicalization and this storied agency has been weaponized against political opponents.” “Mr. Patel’s the right man at the right time, his career has been a study in fighting for unpopular but righteous causes, exposing corruption and putting America first,” he said.

Democrats, though, have excoriated Mr. Patel, saying he has neither the experience, judgment nor temperament to lead the FBI.

Democratic lawmakers were dissatisfied with some of Mr. Patel’s responses at his confirmation hearing about his involvement with the so-called “J6 choir,” whether he would launch political retribution on behalf of Mr. Trump or if he had any knowledge of future firings at the bureau.

“My Senate Republican colleagues, sadly, are willfully ignoring myriad red flags about Mr. Patel, especially his recurring instinct to threaten retribution against his political enemies and President Trump’s perceived enemies,” Senate Minority Whip Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat of the Judiciary Committee, said during the floor debate, which lasted for days.

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

“There will be no politicization at the FBI,” he said at his confirmation hearing last month. “There will be no retributive action.”

Conservatives have long scrutinized the bureau over its leadership’s politicization that has led to scandals within the agency.

This includes 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 before the 2020 election, 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 immigration raids would occur.