FBI nominee Patel condemns clemency for attacks on police despite Trump pardons

Kash Patel, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee to be director of the FBI, looks on as he testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 30, 2025. / REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's nominee for FBI director, told lawmakers on Jan. 30 that he did not agree with shortening sentences for people who assault law enforcement, the week after Trump issued sweeping pardons to people charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"I have always rejected any violence against law enforcement," Patel told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual that committed violence against law enforcement."

Trump's grant of clemency covered nearly all 1,600 people charged in the attack, including hundreds who were convicted of assaulting law enforcement.

Patel, who as FBI director would oversee one of the largest U.S. law enforcement agencies, did not directly criticize the pardons.

Patel appeared before the Senate panel for a contentious confirmation hearing focused on his credentials and history of making false claims about the agency he's been tapped to lead.

"If confirmed as the next FBI director, I will remain focused on the FBI's core mission that is to investigate fully wherever there is a constitutional, factual basis to do so," Patel said.

Members of the panel's Democratic minority, led by Senator Dick Durbin, grilled the 44-year-old nominee about his false claims about the Capitol riot and other "conspiracy theories" he said Patel had espoused.

Durbin told Patel he had "neither the experience nor the temperament nor the judgment" to lead the FBI, pointing to officials in Trump's first administration who condemned him.

"Our nation needs an FBI director who understands the gravity of this mission and is ready on day one, not someone who is consumed by his own personal political grievances," Durbin said.

Democrats on their own will not be able to block Patel from being confirmed. Trump has so far succeeded in securing confirmation for one highly controversial nominee, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a 51-50 vote after Vice President JD Vance broke a tie caused by three Republican no votes.

The committee's top Republican, Chuck Grassley, sought to preempt Democratic attacks, denying that Patel has an "enemies list" of people he will target for investigation. He portrayed Patel as an iconoclast who has exposed corruption in federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

"Mr. Patel's career has been a study in fighting unpopular but righteous causes," Grassley said.

FALSE CLAIMS

Patel has falsely insisted that the FBI used undercover operatives to entrap rioters during the attack on the Capitol - a claim debunked by a recent Justice Department inspector general report.

He said in a September 2022 interview that he agreed with "a lot" of the QAnon movement, a far-right fringe faction that believes a cabal of cannibalistic child molesters inside the U.S. government has conspired against Trump.

A spokesperson for Patel said his comments on the Capitol attack were taken out of context and denied that he had supported QAnon.

A former aide to then-House Intelligence Committee Republican Chairman Devin Nunes, Patel helped spearhead the congressional probe into the FBI's handling of its investigation into contacts between Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.

A Justice Department internal watchdog report later concluded that the FBI made errors in the warrant application to conduct surveillance on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, but found no evidence of political bias.

Patel started his career as a public defender in Miami, first on local cases and later on federal ones. 

Before going to work on Capitol Hill, he worked in counterterrorism at the Justice Department for about three years. 

Later, he also briefly worked for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Council and finally, as chief of staff to the defense secretary.

Since then, however, Patel has exaggerated some of his prior experience.

In his book "Government Gangsters," for example, he claims he led the Justice Department's case against Islamic militant Ahmed Abu Khatallah, who was charged with helping organize the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

In reality, however, he did not play a leading role and only briefly provided a supporting role for the National Security Division, according to a person familiar with the matter.