▶ 0:17:47Chair Grassley: Before we begin, I would like to say that our prayers over the victims in the first responders of the horrible tragedy at reagan national airport. It is reported that more than 60 souls were on board the plane and the helicopter that collided with it over the potomac river.
▶ 0:18:14Chair Grassley: This is a horrible, hard to understand disaster that demands answers. As first responders continue their recovery efforts and as investigators begin their work, congress will work with the administration to get to the bottom of this. We should all keep the people impacted in our prayers. So, maybe we should just for a short time think about this tragedy.
▶ 0:18:48Chair Grassley: Good morning. I want to welcome everyone to this very important hearing to consider the nomination of cash patel to serve as the director of the federal bureau of investigation's. Congratulations on your nomination. Thank you for your willingness to serve. Before we get started, going to set out a couple of ground rules.
▶ 0:19:21Chair Grassley: Kind of ordinary for controversial hearings like this. I want everyone here to be able to watch the hearing without obstruction. If people stand up and block the view of those behind them, or if they speak out of turn, it is quite obvious that it's not fair or considerate to everybody else in this room.
▶ 0:19:43Chair Grassley: So, officers would immediately remove those individuals. Now I will explain how we are going to proceed. I will give my opening remarks and then ranking member durbin will give his opening remarks. And then senator tillis will introduce the nominee. After that, Mr. patel will have his chance to give his opening statements after we swear him.
▶ 0:20:17Chair Grassley: Following his statement, we will begin the first rounds. Each senator will have an initial seven minute round of questions. After the first round, we will do a second three minute round of questions. I asked members to do the best to adhere to these limits so that we can proceed efficiently. I thank each of the members of this committee.
▶ 0:20:44Chair Grassley: When we had attorney general nominee bondi here, everybody stayed within their time. I expect Mr. patel to be treated fairly by my colleagues who are here today to consider the nomination of this--kash patel to serve as the director of the fbi. Mr.
▶ 0:21:12Chair Grassley: Patel, you are nominated to one of the most important offices in government. To get this far along in the process, the process of your nomination, you gave us much information. You submitted over 1000 pages of records to the committee. Over 1000 individual interviews and many hundreds of hours of media. Thanks to your family for coming.
▶ 0:21:41Chair Grassley: I know that some of them have traveled to get here. And I know they are very proud of you. I can determine that by looking them in the face. Public trust and the fbi is low. Only 41% of the american people think the fbi is doing a good job. This is the lowest rating in a century.
▶ 0:22:09Chair Grassley: It's no surprise that public trust has declined in an institution that has been plagued by abuse, lack of transparency, and weaponization of law enforcement. Nevertheless, the fbi remains an important, even indispensable, institution for law and order in our country.
▶ 0:22:33Chair Grassley: It is the people on the top floor of the j edgar hoover building, not your local fbi agents, that have caused the low approval rating. Mr. patel, I know you know this, but it is your job to restore the public trust and return the fbi to its core vision of fighting crime.
▶ 0:23:00Chair Grassley: Your extensive background gives you the unique position to make this happen. Mr. patel's career has been a study in fighting unpopular but righteous causes, exposing corruption, and putting america first. For almost a decade, Mr. patel served as a public defender, defending the constitutional rights of some of the least popular people in this country.
▶ 0:23:34Chair Grassley: After serving as a public defender, Mr. patel joined the department of justice under president obama as a counterterrorism prosecutor in the national security division. In this role, he investigated and he prosecuted many important cases, including the world cup bombing in uganda in 2010, for which he received an award of excellence.
▶ 0:24:03Chair Grassley: In 2017, representative devin nunes asked Mr. patel to join the house select committee on intelligence to uncover the truth about russia gate. Mr. patel did uncover the truth. It was during this time that, if you remember, I first met you, Mr. patel.
▶ 0:24:31Chair Grassley: Through tireless works he showed that crossfire hurricane was based upon fraudulent, discredited information paid for by the democratic national committee and the clinton campaign. As a reward for his efforts uncover the truth, mainstream media personally attacked Mr. patel and the fbi secretly subpoenaed his records. I know what that is.
▶ 0:24:59Chair Grassley: My staff received similar treatment during my investigations. The attacks that Mr. patel faced during his work with the house of representatives are similar to the ones he faces today. I expect many of these underhanded attacks will be repeated today. Mr.
▶ 0:25:21Chair Grassley: Patel has been accused of, and I, of having an enemies list . This is not a fair characterization, as he stated, "there is no revenge list." Mr. patel has identified those he believes who have put politics and personal ambition over service to the country.
▶ 0:25:49Chair Grassley: He has called out those who have used institutions like the fbi to achieve their own personal gain. Mr. patel has said that he believes that people who do this should be named and that americans deserve transparency, so that they can make their own judgments, as they did in the last election. Other attacks against him are similarly unfounded.
▶ 0:26:20Chair Grassley: To take just one example, in fact, or to take just one example, he has been accused of jeopardizing hostage rescues. In fact, those allegations have been repeatedly shown to be false smears. As numerous national security officials have said publicly, and on the record, Mr.
▶ 0:26:42Chair Grassley: Patel played a critical role in returning americans safely home and has done so through hard work and great costs to him. Mr. patel has accused -- been accused -- of being unqualified to be fbi director. This suggestion ignores his impressive career at the highest levels of government service.
▶ 0:27:13Chair Grassley: After exposing russia gate, scandal in the congress, Mr. patel served in roles such as senior director of counterterrorism at the national security council, deputy director of national intelligence, and chief of staff to the acting secretary of defense. Mr.
▶ 0:27:37Chair Grassley: Patel managed large intelligence and defense bureaucracies, identified and countered national security threats, prosecuted and defended criminals. He has done this while fighting for transparency and accountability in the government. Mr. patel has precisely the qualifications we need at this time, when the fbi is not being respected by the public.
▶ 0:28:07Chair Grassley: Mr. patel, should you be confirmed, you will take charge of an fbi that is in crisis. Recently, oversight exposed that a special agent in charge of the fbi new orleans field office was on vacation during new year's eve and new year's day. Of course, that was also included in the sugar bowl.
▶ 0:28:37Chair Grassley: The senior personnel should be at the phones and not on vacation during critical security events. We all remember what happened at that time in new orleans. Of course, the fbi, this fbi agent would find it acceptable to do what he did. In august of 2022, and fbi oversight hearing of this committee decided to leave early.
▶ 0:29:05Chair Grassley: I asked him to stay just one hour 20 minutes longer. He already made up his mind that he was going to leave. Later, under questioning in november of that year, by senator hawley, director ray admitted that he left the committee hearing early so that he could go on vacation.
▶ 0:29:33Chair Grassley: These two incidents among others are examples of the blatant disrespect that the fbi leadership has shown to this committee and indirectly to the american people. In november of 22, I released an internal fbi record that my office received pursuant to lawful whistleblower disclosures.
▶ 0:29:56Chair Grassley: Those records provided data about how hundreds of fbi employees who had retired or resigned who had retired or resigned to o had retired or resigned to avoid retired or resigned to avoid discipline, many of those employees engaged in sexual misconduct in the workplace.
▶ 0:30:13Chair Grassley: Those records also showed lower level fbi employees were punished, lower level employees of the fbi were punished more harshly than senior-level employees. Fairness was out the window.
▶ 0:30:37Chair Grassley: [coughing] one year later, with no response from the fbi, I asked the director about this before the committee. He publicly pledged to get me the data I requested a year before in november. He and his deputy director never followed through.
▶ 0:30:59Chair Grassley: I also questioned director wray about improperly classified information related to afghan evacuees place in our country, at that time approximately 50 evacuees were already deemed potential national security concerns. So, what is the number now? The public has the right to know.
▶ 0:31:25Chair Grassley: I have also raised concerns about whistleblower disclosure, saying that the fbi moved agents from child sex abuse cases to those january 6 cases. The fbi under director ray never got his priorities straight. With respect to weaponization, I would like to turn to a letter that I wrote in july of 2022.
▶ 0:31:55Chair Grassley: The letter noted that the assistant special agent in charge, t-ball, was the key official involved in opening the electric case that became the john jack smith law fair operation. That's not supposed to happen. An official at that rank and position isn't supposed to open cases.
▶ 0:32:25Chair Grassley: That's the job of special agents. For those who don't remember, tebow was the anti-trump agent who violated the hatch act for his political conduct in office. My letter also noted that richard pilger, who ran the justice department election crime branch was involved in the approval.
▶ 0:32:55Chair Grassley: Now, I would like to call the attention of the committee to something I'm going to share with you. Information about the fbi that's never been made public before. Um, do you have those? >> right over here.
▶ 0:33:11Chair Grassley: In my hand are a series of fbi emails. The first is an email that tebow sent to support an agent on february the 14th, 2022.
▶ 0:33:30Chair Grassley: He said, "here's a draft opening language we discussed." the draft opening was a text that included material that would later become part of jack smith's electric case. The second email, february 24th, 2022, and email from tebow to john crabb, a prosecutor in the U.S.
▶ 0:33:59Chair Grassley: Attorney's office for the district of columbia, saying -- I had a discussion with the team and we believe that there is predication to include donald trump as a predicated subject." this fbi case would later be codenamed arctic frost.
▶ 0:34:25Chair Grassley: The third email, february 24 at 2022, email from tebow to john crabb, noting that the attorney general's fbi approval would be sought to open the case. The fourth email, february 25, 2022, email from tebow supporting an agent saying that they added trump and others as a criminal subject to the case.
▶ 0:34:55Chair Grassley: Tebow responded "perfect." the fifth email, march of 22, 2022, from tebow, emailing a version of an investigative opening for approval. This did not include president trump. I want to make it clear, that one didn't include trump as a criminal subject.
▶ 0:35:20Chair Grassley: The sixth email was april 11, 2022, from tebow, approving the opening of arctic frost. The seventh email was april 13, 2022, from an fbi agent to tebow, stating that the fbi deputy director approved its opening.
▶ 0:35:45Chair Grassley: The eighth email on the same date had tebow emailing john crabb that the electric case was approved. Crabb responded "thanks a lot, let's talk next week." between march 22 and april 13, other versions of the document opening the investigation existed because a ninth email showed that the fbi general
▶ 0:36:16Chair Grassley: Consul office made edits on march 25. Was trump still removed as an investigative subject? If so, which justice department fbi officials other than jack smith later added him for prosecution? I expect a production of all records on this matter in order to better understand the full fact pattern and whether other records exist.
▶ 0:36:47Chair Grassley: Notably, notably, approval of these documents being given by richard pilsner. This committee has written about pilcher undermining the justice department efforts during the 2020 election for partisan purposes. These emails and documents substantiate, by july of 22, my letter which the fbi ignored.
▶ 0:37:15Chair Grassley: I hope you, when you get there, won't ignore me. Partisan fbi agents and doj officials tried and ultimately succeeded in launching a full field criminal investigation and prosecution of the president of the united states.
▶ 0:37:38Chair Grassley: Justice department and fbi leadership acted in concert to further a political scheme to take on trump, just like they did with crossfire, hurricane, they have yet to learn the lesson. I hope you will learn that lesson for them. Or teach the lesson. Their conduct yet again seriously eroded the integrity of this once storied institution.
▶ 0:38:07Chair Grassley: As I have said before, if a politically charged investigation is to be opened, it must be done the right way and that didn't happen here. Mr. patel, and my time I have never seen our law enforcement intelligence community institution so badly infected with political decision-making.
▶ 0:38:31Chair Grassley: I say intelligence community because you know what happens when 50 five people, former or present intelligence agents sign a letter in 19 or 2020 that the laptop was a russian hoax as an example. So, all of this sees these institutions breaking faith with weak, the people. Mr. patel, you must be fair.
▶ 0:38:59Chair Grassley: You must be consistent, but you must to be aggressive. Your actions must be based on accountability. Transparency brings that accountability. Should you do so, you will have my support. Remember, either you are going to run your agency or the agency is going to run you.
▶ 0:39:23Chair Grassley: The agency certainly ended up running director ray and probably people before him. Without objection, I'm going to put in this letter in the record. This letter was sent to director ray december 9 last year, calling for him and his deputy to step down.
▶ 0:39:47Chair Grassley: It is titled "failures." now I turned to ranking member durbin.
▶ 0:39:55Sen. Durbin: Mr. chairman, I appreciate your commitment to the long-standing bipartisan practice of betting presidential nominees. A little history. The fbi dates back to the start of the last century. 19 oh eight. Then the attorney general charles bonaparte organized a special agent force. J edgar hoover became the director of the fbi in 1924 and led the bureau for 48 years.
▶ 0:40:25Sen. Durbin: That was until his death in 1972. He is credited with professionalizing the bureau in developing its investigative ability. However, with little or no oversight, hoover used the bureau's investigative powers improperly. He infamously directed the fbi to spy on Dr. martin luther king jr., thurgood marshall, and other civil rights leaders of the day. In 1975 the U.S.
▶ 0:40:53Sen. Durbin: Senate created the frank church committee and then disclosed the widespread abuses by the fbi and other U.S. intelligence agencies. The committee concluded that the agency having engaged in illegal surveys and as a result groups and individuals had been assaulted, oppressed, harassed, and disrupted because of their political views, social beliefs,
▶ 0:41:23Sen. Durbin: And lifestyles. "the intelligence agencies have served the political and personal objectives of presidents and other high officials." the hoover era of the fbi, the watergate scandal, the findings of the church committee highlighted the risk of political interference in fbi investigations and led to significant important reform.
▶ 0:41:49Sen. Durbin: 1976, congress passed a law that limits the fbi director to a single term of 10 years, which was intended to insulate the position from political influence. Critically, we made the fbi director appointment subject to the advice and consent of the senate. It's why we are here today. Since 1935, the motto of the fbi has been fidelity, bravery, integrity.
▶ 0:42:19Sen. Durbin: These qualities represent the core values of the bureau of high standards that are expected of all of its employees, including the director. After meeting with Mr. patel to review these records, I do not believe that you have these standards. Mr. patel has neither the experience, judgment, or standards to lead this agency and its men and women across the globe.
▶ 0:42:48Sen. Durbin: During the time I have offered the committee four fbi nominations for director. Each was a republican and I voted for all of them. My concerns were not partisan. As much as republicans claim that president bind in the former attorney general garland weaponize of the fbi, let's look at the record. The president cap to the fbi director who had been appointed by trump, lifelong republican.
▶ 0:43:19Sen. Durbin: Contrast that with trump who fired his first fbi director, james comey, force that his second director, chris wray for being non-loyal. With Mr. patel, he has found a loyalist who touts conspiracy theories and threatened the efforts of the trump candidates.
▶ 0:43:50Sen. Durbin: How do we know what motivates them, what he really believes? He wrote it in a book. "government gangsters." I urge all of you to read before you choose to vote for this gentleman. At the back of this book he has published a list of 60 people that he calls members of the "deep state." the list includes many distinguished public servants who have dedicated their lives to our nation.
▶ 0:44:18Sen. Durbin: Among them are democrats and republicans, including former trump administration officials like the former secretary of defense. Then there is his plan to "shut down the fbi day one, reopen it as a museum of the deep state." he has said that we are going to come after people in the media, we are going to come after you, criminally or civilly, we are
▶ 0:44:49Sen. Durbin: Putting you all on notice. Does this sound like the kind of nonpartisan law enforcement professional who should lead the fbi? Not to me. This is someone who has left behind a trail of grievances throughout his life, lashing out at anyone who disrespects him or doesn't agree with him. Don't take it from me. Listen to these republicans who worked with him during the first administration of donald trump.
▶ 0:45:17Sen. Durbin: Attorney general barr, "I categorically oppose making patel deputy fbi director. I said it would happen over my dead body. Patel had virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve the highest level of the world's preeminent law enforcement agency. -- agency." national security advisor john bolton, "I did in the key was qualified. He demonstrated no policy aptitude at all. I was forced to hire him.
▶ 0:45:51Sen. Durbin: -- tim." charles cumberland, "the idea that kash patel will be the fbi director is appalling. His legal career is modest at best. His ideas are ludicrous." gina haspel threatened to resigned after trump proposed making patel cia director. Mark esper said "Mr.
▶ 0:46:16Sen. Durbin: Patel lied about whether nigeria had approved a hostage rescue operation, putting american lives at risk." but he would have us believe that all of these public servants, all republicans, all from the first trump administration, and apparently anyone else critical of him, are nothing but government gangsters and deep state members. Many of them have made his list of enemies.
▶ 0:46:44Sen. Durbin: Later -- earlier this week cnn reported that during the trump administration they refer him to the justice department for criminal investigation for sharing classified information without authorization. Last week I asked the justice department intelligence community for information on any criminal referrals related to misconduct by Mr. patel. I have yet to receive a response. Mr. patel's record is clear.
▶ 0:47:13Sen. Durbin: He traffics in debunked conspiracy theories that serve or benefit his political beliefs. Let's start with january 6. He dedicates a whole chapter of the book to it. Something that each and every one of us, as witnesses to january 6, have our own view on. I will be grateful always to the capitol hill police officers who risked their lives defending me, members of congress, and visitors to the capital on that day. Mr.
▶ 0:47:42Sen. Durbin: Patel posted on social media , "january 6, never an insurrection. Tolerance in uniform exposed." -- "cowards and uniforms exposed." who was in the capital building on january 6? The capitol police. Do you think they were cowards? Many of them risked their lives or gave their lives.
▶ 0:48:13Sen. Durbin: How about the D.C. police? They were in uniform. Cowards risking their lives as well? Some of them beaten by those mobsters who came into the capital. Mr. patel claims that the fbi agency, get this, was planning january 6 for a year, saying the fbi was planning january 6 for a year.
▶ 0:48:40Sen. Durbin: He has gone so far as to coproduce and sell musical recordings to a song performed by january 6 writers and -- rioters in jail who violently assaulted police officers. He has described this january 6 choir as political prisoners. Political prisoners. At least six members pled guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers.
▶ 0:49:10Sen. Durbin: All six have been pardoned by trump. Here are some of those people who receive blanket clemency by trump on his first day in office of his second term. Julian cater, assaulted capitol police officers with pepper spray, incapacitating three officers. Ryan nichols sprayed pepper spray on multiple police officers.
▶ 0:49:36Sen. Durbin: After the attack he posted on facebook, "yes I'm calling for violence and they will be violent." jordan mink, struck officers aggressively with a long pole, spitting at officers, throwing items at them.
▶ 0:49:53Sen. Durbin: Armed with a knife, ronald sam poloche shouted at officers, "you are going to die, get out of the way." after breaching the capital, james mcgrew struck an officer and through a wooden handrail with metal brackets at officers.
▶ 0:50:17Sen. Durbin: I want to read a sentence from this on the january 6 experience , just to give you an idea of Mr. patel's take on what he calls a haphazard riot.
▶ 0:50:34Sen. Durbin: "by everything we could see, the crowd at the capital was unarmed , or armed only with nonlethal objects like bottles, flagpoles, or bike racks." Mr. patel has always -- also peddled conspiracy theories for his own benefit with a line of dietary supplements that claim to help people detox from covid-19 vaccines.
▶ 0:51:02Sen. Durbin: During my time on this committee , I was fortunate to get to know and work with former fbi director bob murray. I've met him a few days after 9/11, when he took over the fbi. I trusted him, worked with him, got to help him. I believed that the fbi was a critical and central agency in restoring america's confidence. Bob muller was an extraordinary man. Republican, make no bones about it.
▶ 0:51:32Sen. Durbin: He comes from the san francisco area. When he was in college and graduated, a friend of his enlisted in the marine corps and was killed in vietnam. Bob was inspired to do the same, join the marine corps. He did. He was a first lieutenant in vietnam and receive a bronze star and he also received the purple heart.
▶ 0:51:58Sen. Durbin: I read about his experience, because after he healed from the wound to his leg, he returned to combat. He was just kind of fellow. A real american. Regardless of party. A longtime federal prosecutor, U.S. attorney, the head of the do g criminal division. After 9/11, I worked with him and we had a good relationship, a professional relationship.
▶ 0:52:29Sen. Durbin: We didn't always see eye to eye but I respected him so much for what he had given the country. In this book, Mr. patel calls director muller a "one creature." with all due respect, Mr. patel, to think that you would denigrate his service of the country and call him a swamp creature is an indication of the depths to which are critical to -- to which are political views take you.
▶ 0:53:03Sen. Durbin: 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. The american people deserve an fbi director focus on keeping our families safe, not promoting a list of grievances as found in this book. Mr. patel, the record makes it clear you are not the person read ideal.
▶ 0:53:32Chair Grassley: Thank you, senator. Before I call on senator tillis, I want to clear up something. The way I see it, this business about what Mr. patel said about cowards in uniform, it's a miss character -- mischaracterization of what he actually said. So, I'm going to invite you to listen to the interview Mr.
▶ 0:54:03Chair Grassley: Patel gave that link to his post to hear what he actually said. When he said cowards in uniform, he was talking about senior pentagon leadership failing to mobilize the national guard to protect the capital. His comments had nothing to do with police. Mr.
▶ 0:54:26Chair Grassley: Patel made his comments while discussing an article in " the new york times," exposing grave miscommunication between the department of defense and the D.C. national guard. I would encourage people. Senator tillis?
▶ 0:54:43Sen. Tillis: Thank, Mr. chairman. Ranking member, colleagues, it is my honor to introduce kash patel, the trump nominee to be fbi director. I have completed diligence on his life and career and am convinced that he possesses significant expertise, and ironclad commitment to justice, and is an outstanding choice to lead the fbi.
▶ 0:55:11Sen. Tillis: His parents are indian immigrants and up here in the front row. They are a melting pot of dilute -- religions including hinduism, islam, with temples, mosques, and other religious sites scattered across the state. His father was raised in uganda. His family had to flee the country to flee oppression. His mother was born in tanzania.
▶ 0:55:39Sen. Tillis: They met and married in india and ultimately made their way to new york city by way of canada, where his parents, along with seven brothers and sisters, their spouses, and half a dozen kids lived under the same roof. His parents raise him in the hindu faith and instilled in him the values of hard work and education. Kash patel is a devout hindu.
▶ 0:56:09Sen. Tillis: He shows respect to people of all faiths. He attended the university of richmond, where he earned his bachelors degree in criminal justice and history. At pace university he earned his jd with an international law certificate from the university college of london faculty of law's. He began his career as a public defender in florida, where he lead or co-lead more than 60 jury trials in state and federal court.
▶ 0:56:37Sen. Tillis: He clearly demonstrated a devotion to upholding the rule of law and defending the rights of individuals. He led the defense of jose for drago in united states versus drago, a high-profile case from florida in 2015. Drago was one of the colombian nationals arrested in a major drug bust involving operation back room.
▶ 0:57:02Sen. Tillis: Kash patel in his cocounsel successfully argued that key evidence was withheld by the prosecution, leading to the release. I suspect that some of his disdain for prosecutorial misconduct stems from this experience. He was hired as a senior counsel on the house permanent select subcommittee on intelligence committee, I should say, in 2017.
▶ 0:57:31Sen. Tillis: He told me that he distinctly remembers, -- remembers my friend trey gowdy and his comments shortly after they were introduced, who said, "congress is where rich's investigations go to die, I hope you are ready." I think he was ready. He went on to establish a solid reputation for pursuing facts.
▶ 0:57:57Sen. Tillis: From there, he held senior post at the nsc, department of defense, and dni. Since leaving the administration in 2020, he has written articles and books on national security, law, and governance. Through his work as an author, he continues to advocate for justice and transparency, and to be ever vigilant in defending our great democracy and the rule of law.
▶ 0:58:29Sen. Tillis: Colleagues, I created a kash bingo card I have available to any of my colleagues who would like it on the others of the aisle. Some may view this as an unserious caricature and not appropriate for this committee. Sadly, I consider it a serious caricature of what I expect to be witnessed today. I think we will have words like enemies list and deep state.
▶ 0:58:58Sen. Tillis: I have already exed out four boxes in the opening statements alone. The fact of the matter is, some people will be here to simply substantiate a false narrative. At worse, they may be just going through an unfounded litany of quotes, half quotes, half-truths, some of which have been dispelled by the chairman after the opening statements.
▶ 0:59:31Sen. Tillis: Mr. chair, ranking member, in my tenure at the senate I hope I have established a reputation for being fair, doing my homework, and taking tough positions that have been met with harsh criticism. Heck, I have even been censured by my entire state and 30 counties for taking tough positions. I stand by those decisions today as well as my decision to support kash patel.
▶ 0:59:58Sen. Tillis: When president trump announced his decision to nominate kash patel, I contacted trey gowdy and others who worked with him, they gave me glowing recommendations. I called kash on december 2 and offered to help him with his nomination. Since then, we have spent hours together in person and on the phone.
▶ 1:00:23Sen. Tillis: I have asked him difficult questions and I urged him to reach out to members across the aisle. He has in fact met with 60 members of the senate. Every member except the last three who were sworn in. And the majority of the members on the other of the dais in this committee and members of the committee.
▶ 1:00:44Sen. Tillis: Chair grassley, ranking member durbin, friends and colleagues on the committee, I have completed my due diligence of kash patel and am honored to provide my strongest recommendation for his confirmation. Thank you, Mr. chair.
▶ 1:00:57Chair Grassley: Thank you for the introduction. Before I swear you, I wanted to make it clear, before you give your statement, if you would like to introduce your family and friends in the audience, you are welcome to do that. Could you please stand, raise your hand. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give to the committee will be the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help you, god?
▶ 1:01:28Chair Grassley: You may proceed.
▶ 1:01:32Mr. Patel: Chairman grassley, ranking member durbin, members of the judiciary committee, thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I must start with a prayer for the tragic accident that befell our nation last night, where we lost millions of service members -- where we lost service members. I pray for their souls. Hopefully god will find peace for them in the near future.
▶ 1:02:02Mr. Patel: I would like to welcome my father and my mother, who are sitting here today. They traveled to get here from india. My sister is also here. She also traveled the oceans just to be with me here today. It means the world that you guys are here. I wouldn't be here today without their guidance, their unwavering support, and relentless love.
▶ 1:02:28Mr. Patel: When trump informed me of his intention to nominate me as director of the fbi, I was deeply honored. Sitting here today I carry not only the dreams of my parents, but also the hopes of millions of americans who stand for justice, fairness, and the rule of law. My commitment to these principles is deeply rooted in the history of my family, which has profoundly shaped my worldview. My father fled the genocidal dictatorship in uganda.
▶ 1:02:56Mr. Patel: 300,000 men, women, and children were killed based on their ethnicity because they happened to look like me. My mother studied in india, as did my father, and they were married there. They would later emigrate to new york, where I was born, and we were raised in a household of my father, his seven spit -- siblings, their spouses and seven children. That was the only way we knew had to do things at the time, the indian way.
▶ 1:03:25Mr. Patel: Soon, we would learn the american way. These values have shaped and been the driving force of my career and my 16 years of government service. Protecting the rights of the constitution is of the utmost importance to me and has been every single time I have taken that oath of office. The recent terrorist attacks in new orleans tragically claimed the lives of innocent americans and served as a stark reminder that national security is at threat internally and externally.
▶ 1:03:55Mr. Patel: The fbi, the federal bureau of and's, the department of justice where I serve plays a pivotal role in securing our freedoms and safeties for american citizens. If confirmed as the next fbi director, I will remain focused on the core mission of the fbi.
▶ 1:04:11Mr. Patel: That is to investigate fully wherever there is a constitutional factual basis to do so, and never to make a prosecutorial decision that is solely that up -- solely the providence of the department of justice and the attorney general. For the first eight years after law school, I served as a public defender. First for miami-dade county and later as -- for the southern district of florida.
▶ 1:04:37Mr. Patel: During that time, I represented some awful human beings charged with some heinous crimes. What I learned there is the core value that has been enshrined in me since. Due process must be provided without bias to all americans. If we cannot provide due process to the worst, there can't be due process for anyone and our constitutional republic fails. I battled on that hill for that due process.
▶ 1:05:05Mr. Patel: I would later serve in the obama justice department as a terrorism prosecutor for the national security division, where we successfully prosecuted organizations like al qaeda. I was honored to receive the 2017 assistant attorney general award from loretta lynch in my work for helping the ugandans bringing people to justice for murdering 74 innocent people, including an american.
▶ 1:05:34Mr. Patel: I would also receive the human intelligence work from the intelligence community related work on the mission. My experiences at the national security division followed by my work as the deputy director director of national intelligence responsible for the promulgation of the presidential daily briefing, our most sensitive classified information in the nation with secrets to protect our country.
▶ 1:06:02Mr. Patel: My time in the white house was preceded by my time in congress as a staffer on the house intelligence committee where I spearheaded the investigation into serious thighs up foreign intelligence surveillance act abuses by members of the department of justice and federal bureau of investigation. That misconduct eroded the public trust in our fbi.
▶ 1:06:27Mr. Patel: The erosion of trust, as chairman grassley pointed out, is too low today. 40% of americans have trust in the fbi. To get it back there is a full track. One, violent crime is exploding in the country and we cannot afford to allow it to run away. We must tackle violent crime. 2023 alone there were 100,000 rapes, 100 thousand drug overdoses, 17,000 homicides.
▶ 1:06:58Mr. Patel: The priority of the fbi if confirmed -- if I am confirmed will be to make sure that our communities are protected and safeguarded, our children will have parks to play in and not beetles to walk over. The way that we do this? We let cops be cops. We let law enforcement, with the necessary tools and resources that they need, get after violent crime.
▶ 1:07:25Mr. Patel: The second way is aggressive constitutional oversight from congress. The public trust can only be restored if there is full transparency and I am committed to that full transparency. Members of congress have submitted hundreds of questions unanswered by the fbi in recent times. That will not occur if I'm confirmed. All appropriate requests for information will be responded to fully. I'm committed to working alongside the dedicated men and women of the fbi. Warriors of justice. I will always have their backs.
▶ 1:07:56Mr. Patel: They have the backs of the american people. I look forward to answering all questions and would like to take a moment to thank my family, my friends, the people who travel here, and my entire team that made this day possible. God bless america. I look forward to the questions.
▶ 1:08:25Chair Grassley: First round of cuts is that right? Seven minutes? Three minutes in the second round. Mr. patel, I'm not going to go through all the things you have done through your career, I said that in my opening statement. Democrats on the committee say that you don't have experience.
▶ 1:08:53Chair Grassley: What are you most proud of from your career in public service?
▶ 1:09:00Mr. Patel: Mr. chairman, I appreciate the question. It's humbling to have been afforded the opportunity to serve the country for 15 years, but I'm most proud of my work and national security, protecting the no fail mission of returning american hostages and killing terrorists who brought hate and destruction to our shores. I have served that mission in democratic and republican administrations. It's the one mission we can't fail, the one mission where the fbi play a critical role.
▶ 1:09:31Chair Grassley: As you well know, whistleblowers are critical to routin out waste, fraud, and abuse. Coming forward, disclosures about the government, benefiting the country.
▶ 1:09:55Chair Grassley: They are politically, politically they are good american citizens who just want the government to do what it is supposed to do. I think they are treated by bureaucracies, not just the fbi, but throughout the bureaucracy, like skunks at a picnic. Will you protect whistleblowers from retaliation, unlike the former director, promoting a culture at the that values whistleblowers and their important contributions?
▶ 1:10:24Mr. Patel: Absolutely, I share in your beliefs about the importance of whistleblowers.
▶ 1:10:30Chair Grassley: We've spent a lot of taxpayer money ruining whistleblowers. Will you commit to ensuring that no taxpayer money will be used to identify and retaliate against whistleblowers?
▶ 1:10:42Mr. Patel: If I am confirmed, it will not.
▶ 1:10:47Chair Grassley: You and I have heard lots of criticism about various statements over january 6. You said that those who broke the actual laws should be prosecuted, but you have also called out the partisan nature of prosecutions, comparing how the biden justice department treated january 6 offenders with how they ignored many other crimes, including crimes related to illegal immigration, as well
▶ 1:11:20Chair Grassley: As riots that took place around the country. So, explain your position. January, this committee, how do you respond to critics who say that you are anti-law enforcement?
▶ 1:11:32Mr. Patel: I greatly appreciate the question and the opportunity to discuss that. If anyone wants to consider me anti-law enforcement, look at my 16 years of service. Whether I was trying 60 trials upholding the rights of the indigent and breathing life into the constitution or later as a national security prosecutor where I served this country and overseas, and then later as a joint special operations civilian embedded with seal team
▶ 1:12:02Mr. Patel: Six, delta, chasing down the high value of this earth, I have always respected law enforcement. I have taken that oath and would take that oath again, god willing, to be the next director of the fbi. As for january 6 I have repeatedly, often, publicly and privately said there can never be a tolerance for violence against law enforcement.
▶ 1:12:27Mr. Patel: Anyone, anyone who commits an act of violence against law enforcement must be investigated, prosecuted, and imprisoned. On january 6, I said the same thing about acts against law enforcement. The capitol police, who I have served with, and when I was chief of staff at the department of defense, rushing to the aid of the members of this committee and your colleagues to provide the national guard with my top mission priority. Not politics.
▶ 1:12:56Mr. Patel: That is my love of this country to protect our laws and our way of life. It was no different. If there is any corruption, I was the first to call it out and I will continue to call out corruption in government service, because it is a privilege to serve this nation. Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:13:15Chair Grassley: Some people on this committee have accused you of supporting the qanon movement. My colleagues have already asked you questions about this. It's easy to see these attacks for what they are, guilt by association. Are you a follower or promoter of qanon?
▶ 1:13:38Mr. Patel: No, senator. I have in fact publicly, including the interviews with this committee, rejected qanon conspiracy theories or any other baseless conspiracy theories. They must be addressed head-on with the truth and I will continue to do that and continue to support americans who support law enforcement, the military, and who want a secure border.
▶ 1:14:02Chair Grassley: Over the past four years, the past four years, the fbi justice department have weaponized law enforcement towards partisan ends. This has affected you personally. You come along with members of my staff, were the victims of fbi overreach when they secretly subpoenaed your records during the investigation into crossfire hurricane.
▶ 1:14:26Chair Grassley: Inspector general horowitz of the justice department was right to say actions like this have a "chilling" effect on whistleblowers. How do you intend to make sure that this kind of misconduct never happens again? This qualifies for me to take command of the fbi.
▶ 1:14:52Chair Grassley: Having been the victim of government overreach and a weaponized system of justice and law enforcement, I know what it feels like to have the full weight of the U.S. government barreling down on you. As the biden inspector general determined, those activities were wholly improper and not predicated on law and facts. I will ensure that no american is subjected to that kind of formant, that kind of cost, financially and personally.
▶ 1:15:24Chair Grassley: I will make sure no american is subjected to death threats like I was in subjected to moving their residences like I was because of government overreach, because of leaks of information about my personal status. If confirmed as fbi director, you have my commitment no one in the country will feel that pain.
▶ 1:15:43Chair Grassley: Senator durbin.
▶ 1:15:45Sen. Durbin: Thanks, Mr. chairman. Mr. patel, I woke up this morning to national public radio. They had an item about what has happened to those who were given blanket clemency by president trump. One of these individuals was matthew huddle. Are you familiar with him?
▶ 1:16:10Mr. Patel: What was the lessening? -- last name?
▶ 1:16:14Sen. : Matthew huddle he's been found guilty of numerous crimes. The one described this morning was an outrageous situation where he beat his three-year-old child to appoint where the poor kid could not sit down for a week. He was one of the demonstrators who came to the capitol on january 6. He was incarcerated and pled guilty to crimes he committed. Violence against police officers.
▶ 1:16:46Sen. : After he was released by president trump, he returned to indiana. A few days later he was stopped on the road, pulled a gun on a policeman. The sheriff deputy shot and killed him. This is not the only instance of a person he received president trump's clemency committing another crime. Peter schwartz was mentioned on the radio. 38 criminal convictions.
▶ 1:17:15Sen. : He had been sentenced to 14 years in prison. He was released because of the president's unconditional clemency given to him as well. My question is this. Was president trump wrong to get blanket clemency to the january 6 defendant? -- defendants?
▶ 1:17:37Mr. Patel: A couple of things on that. The power of the president of pardon is just that. The president.
▶ 1:17:43Sen. Durbin: I can see he has the authority. Was he wrong to do it?
▶ 1:17:48Mr. Patel: As we discussed in our meeting, I have always rejected any violence against law enforcement. I have included in that group specifically addressed any violence against law enforcement on january 6. I do not agree the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement.
▶ 1:18:09Sen. Durbin: Do you think america is safer because the 1600 people have been given an opportunity to come out of serving their sentences and live in our communities again?
▶ 1:18:20Mr. Patel: I have not looked at all 1600 individual cases. I have always advocated for imprisoning those that cause harm to law enforcement and civilian communities. I also believe america is not safer because president biden's commutation of a man who murdered two fbi agents. Their families deserve better than to have the man that point-blank range fired a shotgun into their heads and murdered them released from prison.
▶ 1:18:51Mr. Patel: It goes both ways.
▶ 1:18:52Sen. Durbin: Leonard pelletier is 80 years old. He was sentenced to home confinement. He's not free.
▶ 1:19:03Mr. Patel: He killed two fbi agents.
▶ 1:19:04Sen. Durbin: He did and he went to prison for it. Do you think america safer because president trump issue these pardons to 1600 of these criminal defendants, many of whom violently assaulted our police in the capitol?
▶ 1:19:20Mr. Patel: America will be safe and we do have 200,000 drug overdoses in two years.
▶ 1:19:25Sen. Durbin: You're not going to answer the question? You just one answer the question. That won't answer the question -- you just won't answer the question. I don't think we are safer because matthew huddle was sent back to indiana. I can go through a long list of individuals. Summer wanted and states by members of this committee. Let me move to another topic. Tell me about your j6 choir. What is that?
▶ 1:19:53Mr. Patel: It is not my choir. He was a recording utilized to raise funds for families in need of nonviolent offenders.
▶ 1:20:02Sen. Durbin: Two things on this recording? -- who sings on this recording?
▶ 1:20:09Mr. Patel: I don't know.
▶ 1:20:11Sen. Durbin: What you have to do with it?
▶ 1:20:13Mr. Patel: Bray's family whose kids need a college education payments and rent needed paid.
▶ 1:20:18Sen. Durbin: My understanding is that performers on this choir where the rioters who were imprisoned.
▶ 1:20:25Mr. Patel: I did not have anything to do with the recording.
▶ 1:20:28Sen. Durbin: You weren't aware of who made the recording?
▶ 1:20:31Mr. Patel: No, senator.
▶ 1:20:33Sen. Durbin: That's interesting. Did you receive money for selling copies of that music?
▶ 1:20:39Mr. Patel: Absolutely not.
▶ 1:20:41Sen. Durbin: You have a foundation, do not?
▶ 1:20:44Mr. Patel: I'm very proud of the kash foundation. $1.3 million has been given to families in need, including active duty service members, police officers, putting kids in college and helping people in disaster relief areas rebuilding their homes.
▶ 1:21:00Sen. Durbin: One and oh, llc.
▶ 1:21:08Mr. Patel: The yellow sea one of the individuals -- llcs one of the individuals has a private business with.
▶ 1:21:17Sen. Durbin: Is a part of the kash foundation?
▶ 1:21:20Mr. Patel: When member of the board has that llc for his outside business will Sen.
▶ 1:21:25Durbin: Andrew hollis. Do you know much was paid to him from your charitable work?
▶ 1:21:31Mr. Patel: Yes. We had a good and fun race. Something assured every member of this committee is familiar with. We used digital marketing campaigns and paid a digital marketing company a quarter million dollars to raise $500,000 which we give to families in need, like when hurricane struck florida, texas and north carolina.
▶ 1:21:53Sen. Durbin: We will go through the details of your foundation and expenditures with questions for the record that the chairman is mentioned. A chance to answer those under oath. Mr. patel, you associated with an sometimes raised extremist figures with histories of racism, anti-semitism, conspiracies and the like.
▶ 1:22:19Sen. Durbin: September of 2023, you appeared with laura loomer at an event promoting your book. You shared a photo of yourself and loomer were you held her book and she held yours. A few much before, she posted on x the september 11 terrorist attacks were "an inside job." around the time she accused florida's first lady of exaggerating cancer diagnoses to get sympathy.
▶ 1:22:49Sen. Durbin: My republican colleagues criticized her stream is him. But of my colleagues described her as "crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage." another culture toxic. Given all this, why did you associate with her?
▶ 1:23:04Mr. Patel: Senator, I took a photograph with an individual who showed up at a book event. I do believe I'm guilty by association. I certainly don't believe the individual who was the first nine ready to serve as the deputy director of national intelligence for this country is a racist anyway. I detest any conjecture to the contrary.
▶ 1:23:25Sen. Durbin: Are you familiar with the stu peters? Are you familiar with Mr. stu peters?
▶ 1:23:38Mr. Patel: Not off the top of my head.
▶ 1:23:40Sen. Durbin: You made eight appearances on his podcast. P promoted outrageous conspiracy theories and work with prominent neo-nazis. Ted nugent. The list goes on. When it comes to your association with individuals, why are so many in this category?
▶ 1:23:58Mr. Patel: My association, as you loosely define it as by appearing in media over 1000 times to take on people putting on conspiracy theories and -- to talk to them about the truth. That is something I will always continue to fight for, senator.
▶ 1:24:20Chair Grassley: Senator graham.
▶ 1:24:23Sen. Graham: We will eventually talk about the fbi. That is the job you are up here for. Have you been subject to racism as an individual?
▶ 1:24:35Mr. Patel: Unfortunately yes.
▶ 1:24:40Sen. Graham: Let's get into a few of them. Tell me about it.
▶ 1:24:43Mr. Patel: If you look at the record from january 6, where I testified before the committee, because of my personal information being released by congress I was subjected to a direct and significant threat on my life. I put that information in the record. I had to move.
▶ 1:25:04Mr. Patel: In that threat I was called a detestable -- I apologize if I don't get it all right -- a detestable sand nigger who had no right being in this country. You should go back to where you came from. You along with your terrorist home friends. That is what was sent to me. That is just a piece of it. That is nothing compared to what the minimum in law enforcement face everyday.
▶ 1:25:34Mr. Patel: That is why they have my support. -- men and women in law enforcement face everyday.
▶ 1:25:39Sen. Graham: Growing up where you subject to racism? -- were you subject to racism?
▶ 1:25:47Mr. Patel: Yes.
▶ 1:25:48Sen. Graham: I think the reason you are here is your work on crossfire hurricane. Senator durbin mentioned a church report and the history of abuse. He failed to mention crossfire hurricane. He failed to mention the horowitz report. I wonder why. If you are waiting for these guys over here to figure that out, you will die waiting. This is the nunez memo.
▶ 1:26:20Sen. Graham: He worked for Mr. nunez on the house side.
▶ 1:26:24Mr. Patel: I'm sorry?
▶ 1:26:26Sen. Graham: Are you familiar with this memo by the foreign intelligence service active uses in the department of justice?
▶ 1:26:33Mr. Patel: Absolutely.
▶ 1:26:34Sen. Graham: Did you help write this memo?
▶ 1:26:37Mr. Patel: I did as a staffer.
▶ 1:26:39Sen. Graham: He dissected the abuses of crossfire hurricane, right?
▶ 1:26:43Mr. Patel: I did.
▶ 1:26:45Sen. Graham: And the molar investigation. M -- -- it was opened up on july 30 1, 2016. Here is what struck said. This feels momentous because this matters the other one did, but that was to ensure we did not f something up. This matters because this matters. Super glad to be on this with you.
▶ 1:27:16Sen. Graham: Paige responds a couple must later. "he's not going to be right -- talking about trump -- no, he won't. We will stop it." is it fair to say the people in charge of investigating crossfire hurricane hated trump's guts?
▶ 1:27:34Mr. Patel: You have to take my word for it. The statement from the sources --
▶ 1:27:39Sen. Graham: Are those days over the fbi?
▶ 1:27:44Mr. Patel: They will be.
▶ 1:27:46Sen. Graham: Did you know the fbi secured warrants against carter page on four different instances? The information came from the steele dossier?
▶ 1:27:58Mr. Patel: I do.
▶ 1:27:59Sen. Graham: Did you find out that the dossier was a bunch of crap?
▶ 1:28:04Mr. Patel: We followed the money and exposed the fraud.
▶ 1:28:07Sen. Graham: The primary sub source was igor dencheko, a russian analyst. In january, he told the fbi -- what did he tell the fbi? Steele had no proof to support the statement. It was just talk.
▶ 1:28:29Sen. Graham: The primary sub source said his information came from word-of-mouth and hearsay, conversations he had with friends over beers and some of the information were statements he heard made in just. He told the fbi this in january. 2017. And they got two more warrants after that.
▶ 1:28:52Sen. Graham: Are you aware that the fbi had information that the steel dossier was a bunch of bullshit and no one told anybody at the top? Or they lied about being told?
▶ 1:29:05Mr. Patel: That's correct.
▶ 1:29:06Sen. Graham: The pfizer court reviewed the fbi. Are you aware that the fbi lawyer went to jail because he misled the court by manipulating an email from the cia?
▶ 1:29:20Mr. Patel: I am.
▶ 1:29:22Sen. Graham: Do you believe crossfire hurricane was one of the most disgusting episodes in fbi history of a corrupt investigation led by corrupt people who wanted to take donald trump down?
▶ 1:29:34Mr. Patel: Yes sir.
▶ 1:29:35Sen. Graham: Do you think white you are in this chair today, to fix that? Without crossfire hurricane this guy would not be here. My friends on the other side, like pulling teeth, the horwitz investigation, the inspector general labeled this fraudulent at its core.
▶ 1:30:06Sen. Graham: Mismanaged at its core. Running stop signs at every turn. They went forward when they should have stopped. The report said it was honestly politically motivated. Fbi agents were telling anybody and everybody that would listen this is not reliable. This is not trustworthy but they plowed on. Because of you and trey gowdy and others we now know about this.
▶ 1:30:36Sen. Graham: Everybody who signed the warrant under questioning by me said if they knew then what they know now they would have signed the warrant. Comey said that. Yates said that. Rosenstein said that.
▶ 1:30:53Sen. Graham: The reason you're here is because most of the public, almost every republican believes the fbi has been used continuously and applicable fashion, ignoring evidence, making up evidence, lying to get donald trump. When it came to the hunter biden laptop they told every social media outlet in october of 2020 that is russian disinformation. That was bs too.
▶ 1:31:23Sen. Graham: Right before the election the fbi intervened to shut reporting on the hunter laptop down as being russian misinformation according to zuckerberg. Do you promise all of us those days are over at the fbi?
▶ 1:31:40Mr. Patel: Yes, they are.
▶ 1:31:42Sen. Graham: Are you proud of what you did to final that?
▶ 1:31:45Mr. Patel: Absolutely.
▶ 1:31:46Sen. Graham: Are you here today to make sure that never happens again?
▶ 1:31:49Mr. Patel: The american people deserve just that.
▶ 1:31:52Chair Grassley: Senator whitehouse.
▶ 1:31:54Sen. Whitehouse: I remember colleagues running to the halls to flee the mall, shouting that rioters should be shot, is returning to our constitutional business through hallways cleared for us by automatic weapons carrying swat teams. None of you -- none of us said those violent rioters should be pardoned.
▶ 1:32:24Sen. Whitehouse: Every republican colleague said it would be hard to believe, even absurd. Your former colleague jd vance said the violet rioters should not be pardoned. Even jim jordan said pardons would focus on all the people who did not commit any violence. Well, trump pardoned all of them. There is a lesson in that.
▶ 1:32:49Sen. Whitehouse: Every time you think trump would never go that far, re-think that. We all seem to agree that violence against police is on accessible, yet more than 600 people who physically attacked capitol police officers were just put back on the street, part of a 1500 person personal trump army now out there with people who have proven themselves willing to do violence on trump's call.
▶ 1:33:17Sen. Whitehouse: In only 10 days, some are already back committing crimes. We have also tried as a committee together to address the dangers illicit drug sales over the internet. I assume we are all against murder for hire. Trump just pardoned a dark web operator sentenced to life in prison for trafficking illegal drugs online and accused of soliciting murders for hie soliciting murders for hire.
▶ 1:33:48Sen. Whitehouse: Those pardons are a mistake but also a signal. We are entering a strange and dangerous time. That is the context for today's hearing. Warnings that the fbi could become trump's enforcer, use the powers of law enforcement to stiefel speech and dissent, punish rivals of either party, and hand out free passes, get out of jail free cards to violent supporters are
▶ 1:34:18Sen. Whitehouse: Warnings we should heed. Here are some warnings of this nominee's trump administration colleagues. Former attorney general bill barr said, "this nominee has virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world's preeminent law enforcement agency." we would never be able to command the respect necessary to run the day-to-day operations of the bureau. That is for the deputy position.
▶ 1:34:50Sen. Whitehouse: Former cia director gina haspel was reported threatening to resign rather than have this nominee serve under her. John bolton, trump's former national security adviser said, "I did not think he was qualified. I was forced to hire him." trump's deputy national security advisor of the nominee's former supervisor said, "his ideas are ludicrous.
▶ 1:35:18Sen. Whitehouse: He's absolutely unqualified for this job. He is untrustworthy. It is an absolute disgrace to even consider an individual of this nature." that is from republican appointees who worked with him. Here is what this nominee himself had to say. About using his office to prosecute journalists.
▶ 1:35:46Sen. Whitehouse: "we will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media. We are going to come after you whether it is criminally or civilly." is that correct quotation, Mr. patel?
▶ 1:36:00Mr. Patel: That is a partial quotation.
▶ 1:36:03Sen. Whitehouse: But it is correct?
▶ 1:36:04Mr. Patel: In part.
▶ 1:36:06Sen. Whitehouse: Regarding his publication of his enemies list, Mr. patel reclaimed, "the manhunt starts tomorrow. " he reposted a video depicting him taking a chainsaw to his political enemies. Is that you, kash patel, reposting that at the top of that page?
▶ 1:36:33Mr. Patel: Senator, I had nothing to do with the creation of that.
▶ 1:36:37Sen. Whitehouse: Is that you reposting it?
▶ 1:36:40Mr. Patel: That is me at the top.
▶ 1:36:42Sen. Whitehouse: You said fbi agents were responsible for the violence on january 6. I quote here, "beyond a reasonable doubt."
▶ 1:36:52Mr. Patel: That is completely incorrect. I appreciate the opportunity to address that.
▶ 1:36:57Sen. Whitehouse: I will give the opportunity in writing. An inspector interred a general investigation found that was false. You said we should impeach judges who rule against donald trump who are in your words political terrorists. When the nominee tries to explain all this away, keep one thing in mind.
▶ 1:37:18Sen. Whitehouse: Ps testified under oath -- he has testified under oath before colorado judge resided over a trump case in which he was a witness. The judge found, and I'm quoting here, "he was not a credible witness. His testimony is not only illogical but completely devoid of any evidence in the record." that is from a judge. This is a dangerous time.
▶ 1:37:49Sen. Whitehouse: I ask all my colleagues to consider whether these plane comments by this person and by his own trump administration colleagues should be given a blind eye, just overlooked, or whether, like the warnings of pardoning violent january 6 offenders they are warnings to be heated. -- heeded.
▶ 1:38:20Sen. Whitehouse: There is a difference between a seeming facade being constructed around this nominee here today and what he has actually done and said in real life when left to his own devices. Conduct shows character.
▶ 1:38:42Sen. Whitehouse: If you look at history, you see the danger of security chiefs in authoritarian regimes becoming the tools of political power. The characteristics they often show are they are vengeful. That they are grandiose. That they are intemperate.
▶ 1:39:12Sen. Whitehouse: They are partisan and blindly loyal and that they are servile. And will not say no. I am afraid that the history of this nominee's conduct raises those warnings. I yield my one second back.
▶ 1:39:36Chair Grassley: Before senator cornyn, you said you would to explain something. I forget the point he made. You can do that now if you want to.
▶ 1:39:47Mr. Patel: In the collective, all those statements were taken out of context. Anyone that thinks my 16 years of service is an exemplary on how I would proceed if confirmed as fbi is intentionally putting false information into the public ether.
▶ 1:40:10Mr. Patel: The only thing that will matter if I'm confirmed is a the weaponized, the politicized system -- de-weaponized system of law enforcement with rigorous obedience to the constitution and a singular standard of justice.
▶ 1:40:26Chair Grassley: Before I call on senator cornyn, I would like to say we have heard about the january 6 pardons. I think it is important we remind people at the same time of some pardons by the previous administration. Thomas sanders, a kidnapper who murdered a 12-year-old girl named alexis and her mother suellen.
▶ 1:40:56Chair Grassley: Robert adrian peeler, a canadian drug kingpin connected to the death of an eight-year-old boy and his mother. Leonard -- leonard peltier who murdered two fbi agents. Even director rey, former director rey said that should not have happened.
▶ 1:41:26Chair Grassley: Judge michael carnahan who took kickbacks for wrongly sending juveniles for profit detention centers. Alex saab, who hundred illicit proceeds for narcotic service. Nicolas maduro. A key connection between venezuela and iran. Five family members of his own family. President biden did that. Senator.
▶ 1:41:56Sen. Cornyn: Welcome, Mr. patel. Do you believe america is an exceptional nation?
▶ 1:42:02Mr. Patel: It is the greatest nation.
▶ 1:42:04Sen. Cornyn: Your family went through a lot to get here.
▶ 1:42:07Mr. Patel: They sure did.
▶ 1:42:10Sen. Cornyn: Your life story is a great example of people pursuing the american dream. Do you believe what a large part of what makes america exceptional nation is the rule of law?
▶ 1:42:22Mr. Patel: It is one of the phenomenal precepts that determines that.
▶ 1:42:26Sen. Cornyn: Why is that?
▶ 1:42:27Mr. Patel: What that is singular application of the rule of law you go back to the uganda my father fled.
▶ 1:42:34Sen. Cornyn: I believe the two most important institutions in america to preserve and protect and enforce the rule of law are the fbi and the department of justice.
▶ 1:42:49Sen. Cornyn: This sort of politicalization that senator graham and others have already talked about during the crossfire hurricane investigation or james comey at the fbi and the abuse of intelligence tools like title I and section 702 are of the trail of american values in adherence to the rule of law.
▶ 1:43:20Sen. Cornyn: I think your biggest task is going to be along with pam bondi at the office of the attorney general is to restore the rule of law to the department of justice and the fbi. Are you willing to do that? Without regard to partisan affiliation or politics?
▶ 1:43:38Mr. Patel: Absolutely.
▶ 1:43:44Sen. Cornyn: Do you believe president trump as the commander-in-chief needs access to all the lawfully available intelligence that can be collected by the american intelligence community in order to inform him so he can make good judgments as commander-in-chief to assure the safety and security of the american people?
▶ 1:44:08Mr. Patel: Having been responsible for the collection and predication and promulgation of that intelligence, I firmly believe every president must have it.
▶ 1:44:17Sen. Cornyn: You would not support any impractical or perhaps immaterial or unworkable ways to inhibit the flow of the information to president trump?
▶ 1:44:33Mr. Patel: No, I would not.
▶ 1:44:35Sen. Cornyn: You and I talked about this a number of times. This has come up before in a number of different contexts. I think section 702 of the foreign intelligence surveillance most important law most americans never heard of.
▶ 1:44:53Sen. Cornyn: When I was questioning my fellow texan john ratcliffe, who has been confirmed as the director of the cia about this we talked about some of the reforms that have been made to section 702 over the years. This has been an ongoing conversation in congress. People like my colleague here senator lee and others proposed reforms which I think have gone a long way to help protect the privacy rights of american citizens.
▶ 1:45:25Sen. Cornyn: Let me just point out some of the improvements made over the years. This is not the same seven or two that was in effect during president trump's first term. These are a number of things we did together on a bipartisan basis to make sure the balance between the national security interests of the american people and the privacy and constitutional rights of american citizens were protected. Do you agree with that?
▶ 1:45:49Mr. Patel: I do.
▶ 1:45:51Sen. Cornyn: Senator tillis with his typical outstanding graphics has a wonderful handout which lays that out. What are the things that has come up and we discussed this is the idea that in order to query lawfully collected intelligence under section 702, that somehow if a U.S. person's name is involved, a warrant would be required.
▶ 1:46:19Sen. Cornyn: You are a lawyer who has represented defendants as a public defender. You understand what probable cause is required. What evidence is required to be produced to a judge in order to get a warrant. Do you believe they warrant requirement is a practical and workable or even a necessary element of 702?
▶ 1:46:42Mr. Patel: If I make it context on that, having a background not only utilizing fisa and 702 but as a civilian and leader an intelligence official and deputy director of national intelligence, 702 collection formulates over 45% of the presidential daily briefing you referred to earlier.
▶ 1:47:04Sen. Cornyn: I have heard as high as 62% but it is a lot.
▶ 1:47:08Mr. Patel: The issue for me is not with fisa. The issue as those in government service and abused it in the past. We must work with congress to provide the protections necessary for american citizens dealing with these matters, including hostage rescue operations in real time. We use fisa collection to find and save american hostages.
▶ 1:47:36Mr. Patel: Having a warrant requirement to go through that information in real time is just not comportive with the requirement to protect american citizenry. I'm open to working with congress on finding a better way forward but right now these improvements you make the long way.
▶ 1:47:53Sen. Cornyn: Director ratcliffe said he did not believe given the context of 72 collection, whether -- where a foreign target communicate with a U.S. person, there would be sufficient evidence to go to the foreign intelligence surveillance court or any court to dennis ray probable cause. Do you agree -- demonstrate probable cause. Do you agree?
▶ 1:48:23Mr. Patel: It's almost impossible to serve that function in the mission.
▶ 1:48:29Sen. Cornyn: He hit the nail in the head when you point out the lack of trust. Any of these tools can be abused by people who are willing to break the law or abuse these tools or violate the public trust. Director radcliffe used a helpful analogy. He said the knives in your kitchen have a very useful and beneficial purpose but they can be misused for -- do you agree with that?
▶ 1:48:59Mr. Patel: Absolutely.
▶ 1:48:59Sen. Cornyn: Do you agree that tools like section 702 can be used properly to protect national security but can also be abused by people who are willing to cross a line they should not cross?
▶ 1:49:12Mr. Patel: They are both true and we need to work together to make sure americans have trust again in these surveillance measures we utilize to protect our country.
▶ 1:49:21Chair Grassley: Senator klobuchar.
▶ 1:49:24Sen. Klobuchar: Thank you very much, Mr. chairman. Mr. patel, I have great respect for the minute women of the fbi, their mission, fidelity, bravery, integrity. I believe they deserve a director who respects their work and sacrifices. They deserve a director who is focused on their mission.
▶ 1:49:45Sen. Klobuchar: This is not about cards or games -- bingo cards or games of revenge. This is about safety and the people that work in the fbi. The fbi runs on facts and truth. Truth matters. Without truth the whole system breaks down. You said that donald trump has every right to tell the world that in 2020, 2016 and every other election in between was raped by our government because -- rigged by our government.
▶ 1:50:17Mr. Patel: I don't have a statement of front me.
▶ 1:50:20Sen. Klobuchar: That was august 20 7, 20 tony three. -- august 27, 223. 023. These claims were rejected by republican judges. Is that correct? I will put that statement on the record but I think everyone in this committee, including the republican members know the statement were rejected by courts.
▶ 1:50:46Sen. Klobuchar: You were asked about the police officers in the capitol who testified in the january 6 hearings and accuse them allying. Is that correct -- them of lying. Is that correct?
▶ 1:51:02Sen. Klobuchar: We will put it on the record. The police officer for heroes that day.
▶ 1:51:06Mr. Patel: Yes.
▶ 1:51:07Sen. Klobuchar: Did you post on your personal social media account in 2024, january 6, never an insurrection. Cowards and uniform exposed. They broke the chain of command.
▶ 1:51:20Mr. Patel: I believe you are referencing a post that was shown in part earlier. I don't have it in front of me.
▶ 1:51:27Sen. Klobuchar: You posted it and it was on your account. We will again put that out there once more as we go on. I don't to lose time on this. Everyone of these, there's a record of it and you have not answered. You promoted a covid vaccine reversal or detox supplement. One scientist said, "none of these substances in any form would minimize side effects from a covid-19 vaccine.
▶ 1:51:56Sen. Klobuchar: It is preying on innocent people." did you perform clinical trials before you made that claim?
▶ 1:52:01Mr. Patel: I'm not a doctor, so no.
▶ 1:52:04Sen. Klobuchar: But you did promote this element and told it would mitigate the side effects from covid vaccines?
▶ 1:52:13Mr. Patel: Did I get people in an opportunity to make choices for their families, yes. I don't have it in front of me.
▶ 1:52:22Sen. Klobuchar: The fbi tackles some of those complex threats we face. Terrorist, hostile powers, fentanyl, criminal organizations. Your mission has been to go after people. I looked at it. I read this stuff.
▶ 1:52:38Sen. Klobuchar: Yes or no, when trump wins in 2024 and is in power we can prosecute them, referring to justice department officials for an actual rico statute violation, for criminally organizing the united states government to break the law to rig presidential elections. Did you say that?
▶ 1:53:00Mr. Patel: You are reading a partial statement so I'm unable to fully respond.
▶ 1:53:04Sen. Klobuchar: We will put it on the record. X22 report podcast. That is from about a year ago. One of the names on your list was bill barr. You -- chairman grassley has called him one of the most capable cabinet officials I've ever been able to vote for. Senator graham has said I have nothing but total respect and admiration for the job done by william barr as attorney general of the united states.
▶ 1:53:34Sen. Klobuchar: His bill barr on your list of whatever you want to call them? Referred to as an enemies list. You call them deep state after serving his country as the attorney general of the united states. Is he on your list because of a personal vendetta?
▶ 1:53:49Mr. Patel: It is not whatever we to call it. It is not an enemies list. That is a total mischaracterization.
▶ 1:53:56Sen. Klobuchar: I used the words you used for this, which was deep state.
▶ 1:54:02Mr. Patel: It is a glossary.
▶ 1:54:05Sen. Klobuchar: Is it because of a personal vendetta that he's on the list? You are under oath.
▶ 1:54:11Mr. Patel: I have no personal vendetta.
▶ 1:54:13Sen. Klobuchar: He said you would not have the respect necessary to run the bureau. That was in his book. No experience that would qualify you to serve at the highest level of the world's preeminent law enforcement agency. Your appointment is noted by senator durbin as a director to the fbi would have an the fbi would have a -- what happened over his dead body. He wouldn't break the law for donald trump.
▶ 1:54:44Sen. Klobuchar: Is that what? -- white? Y?
▶ 1:54:49Mr. Patel: Absolutely not.
▶ 1:54:51Sen. Klobuchar: He said he did not see evidence of fraud that would overturn the outcom e of the election. "I stayed out of that stuff."
▶ 1:55:03Mr. Patel: I don't know what, you are referring to but I'm sure you are reading pieces of it.
▶ 1:55:08Sen. Klobuchar: You said it on pushback on a podcast. Is it true in december of 2020 you reached out to the trump acting deputy attorney general and asked him to investigate a conspiracy theory claiming that people in italy had used military technology and satellites to remotely tamper with voting machines in the U.S. and switch votes from trump to biden?
▶ 1:55:39Mr. Patel: I was chief of staff to the department of defense so I do not believe that is accurate.
▶ 1:55:45Sen. Klobuchar: That came out in testimony before congress. I will give it to you. Have you referred to the media is the most powerful enemy of the united states they have ever seen?
▶ 1:55:54Mr. Patel: You are reading a quote.
▶ 1:55:58Sen. Klobuchar: You said we will come after the people in the media who lied about american citizens who helped joe biden rig the elections. We are going to come to you whether it is criminally or civilly. Is that something you said?
▶ 1:56:13Mr. Patel: That is a partial statement of what I said.
▶ 1:56:16Sen. Klobuchar: Steve bannon's podcast. You would put the entire fake news mafia press corps on your list. Is that correct?
▶ 1:56:24Mr. Patel: I don't have that in front of me.
▶ 1:56:29Sen. Klobuchar: You have said the fbi, including today, you said they remain utterly corrupt. This is an agency with agents who have taken down terrorists, taken down bank robbers, taken down crime. You wrote the fbi has become so thoroughly compromised it will remain a threat to the people unless drastic measures are taken.
▶ 1:56:55Sen. Klobuchar: Do you know that under chris rey's leadership that during his tenure the applications to the fbi has in fact tripled? Do you think people will be applying to that agency in those numbers if they thought it was so corrupt?
▶ 1:57:14Mr. Patel: The american public's trust is at 40%, an all-time low.
▶ 1:57:19Sen. Klobuchar: Did you say the fbi headquarters should be shut down and reopened as a museum of the deep state?
▶ 1:57:26Mr. Patel: Mr. chairman, are we allowed to go with extra time?
▶ 1:57:30Chair Grassley: You get a second round.
▶ 1:57:33Sen. Klobuchar: Could he just answer the question, if he said the fbi headquarters, where they investigate cyber crime and terrorism should be shut down and opened as a deep state museum? Did he say they headquarters should be shut down? I deserve an answer to that question. He's asking to be had at the fbi and he said there headquarters to be shut down. >> parliamentary inquiry.
▶ 1:57:58Chair Grassley: Do you have anything you want to say before going to senator lee?
▶ 1:58:02Mr. Patel: The attacks on me will be falsifications a grotesque mischaracterizations, file thing this body is doing is defeating the credibility of the many women at the fbi. I stood with them here in this country, in every theater of war we have. I was on the grant in service of this nation. Any accusations leveled against me that I would somehow put political bias before the constitution are grotesquely unfair.
▶ 1:58:28Mr. Patel: I will have you reminded I have been endorsed by over 300,000 law enforcement officers to become the next director of the fbi.
▶ 1:58:36Sen. Klobuchar: Mr. chairman, I'm quoting his own words from september of 2024. It is his own words. It is not some conspiracy. It is what Mr. patel actually said himself. Fax matter. -- facts.
▶ 1:58:57Chair Grassley: You have three minutes in the next round to say what you just said. >> parliamentary inquiry. It was -- I intend to keep to my seven minutes and I appreciate you keeping everyone to it. If we go over, cap we have that against the time of the second round? That was actually 10 minutes, Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:59:20Chair Grassley: I'm not sure I want to -- sometimes it is faster to get things done here just letting people shout than it does to shut them up. >> you are a wise man, Mr. chairman. >> Mr. chairman. Mr. chairman?
▶ 1:59:37Chair Grassley: What you want? [laughter] >> I love this guy. Mr. chairman, if we are going to start this, I want an extra three minutes. My friend senator klobuchar went three minutes over.
▶ 1:59:57Chair Grassley: What you are saying is the chairman was not a good chairman by not shutting her up? I have gone through this before. I think I know how to handle it.
▶ 2:00:07Sen. Kennedy: I think you are star-spangled, Mr. chairman. If you will let someone over there go three minutes over, I want my extra three minutes.
▶ 2:00:18Chair Grassley: Let's see if it is abused by anyone else.
▶ 2:00:22Senator Kennedy: I'm just telling you I'm going to abuse it. [laughter]
▶ 2:00:26Chair Grassley: I will not let you abuse it.
▶ 2:00:29Sen. Kennedy: You are a good man, Mr. chairman.
▶ 2:00:31Chair Grassley: I want to put a statement of the record from 56 former fbi agents, they wrote to support this nominee. "never has the fbi faced such an urban and compelling need for comprehensive reform as it does today. Mr. patel has proven he possesses the experience required to address these challenges.
▶ 2:00:57Chair Grassley: His leadership, expertise and vision make him uniquely qualified to guide the fbi through this pivotal moment. For these reaso we stand a full support of kash patel's nomination." any objection? So ordered.
▶ 2:01:21Sen. Lee: While we are talking about your words, let's talk about the cowards and uniform comment for a moment. Would you like to tell us what that was to help the committee understand with that was about?
▶ 2:01:28Mr. Patel: Thank you, senator. On january 6, I was chief of staff of the department of defense. Days prior we had received the authorization from the president to issue the national guard to protect you and your colleagues. The law requires a request for the deployment of the guard. Deb requested not come in until the afternoon of january 6.
▶ 2:01:53Mr. Patel: Once the request came in, as confirmed by his own testimony, the secretary of the army ryan mccarthy failed to immediately deploy the national guard. Instead took a break to speak to media any personal phone calls. That endangered the safety of you and your colleagues.
▶ 2:02:13Mr. Patel: If you look at the biden inspector general report, we at the department of defense authorized the fastest cold start of the national guard since world war ii and the largest occupation since the american civil war. The biden justice department said we, including myself as chief of staff when he came to the deployment of the national guard acted swiftly and without undue delay.
▶ 2:02:35Sen. Lee: That is what you were talking about. That is what you had the reference to the ucmj.
▶ 2:02:43Mr. Patel: Uniform court
▶ 2:02:46Mr. Patel: Uniform coude of military justice is for officers who act inappropriately. I thought any delay to have the national guard arrive on the scene here must be called out whether it was a fellow republican or not. Especially someone under my auspices running the department of defense.
▶ 2:03:03Sen. Lee: When senator durbin displayed a chart with that quote there was a reference to the ucfj. Those were the cowards and uniform. Those people who did not do what they were supposed to do and allowed people to be put in danger as a result.
▶ 2:03:19Mr. Patel: That is correct.
▶ 2:03:20Sen. Lee: Good to know. I find it significant will be hurt all kinds of aspersions cast in your direction by people who do not know you or share your worldview. Who people who do not share your commitment to public service. I find it astounding they're willing to say this amidst such great ignorance.
▶ 2:03:42Sen. Lee: I find it equally heartening the 56 former fbi officials who know you best and worked with you, who know who you are, who share your view of the constitution, the view out to be a law enforcement agency and not a weapon of political warfare, these are the people who stand by you, those who cast dispersions don't share those views. What I be correct?
▶ 2:04:05Mr. Patel: Yes sir.
▶ 2:04:07Sen. Lee: The fourth amendment tells us in order for the government to breach your expectation of privacy relative to your person, your home, your papers, they want to search that, if they want to seize you they have to have a warrant that describes the persons or places to be searched or to be seized and connect them up with probable cause.
▶ 2:04:32Sen. Lee: In the case of fisa 702, it's a somewhat different universe. But her discussion about -- we heard discussion about 702. Suddenly we have a different 702 then when president trump was last in office. By my count, 702 has not changed substantively since president trump was in office last.
▶ 2:04:57Mr. Patel: That is correct.
▶ 2:04:58Sen. Lee: There was discussion about fisa 702, the use of it, in a real-time it my network to get a warrant. This in my view misses the point. The concern the american people have with fisa 702 is not about the real-time collection of communications regarding foreign targets.
▶ 2:05:23Sen. Lee: The concern is that once those communications are stored, they have within them what are referred to as incidents referred to as incidently collected information on americans. Text messages, emails, phone calls and so forth. If they want to search for someone, you, if they want to go into those databases, let's say you are unwittingly communicating with somebody who unbeknownst to you is an agent of a foreign power or otherwise under surveillance under fisa 702.
▶ 2:05:55Sen. Lee: If they wanted to search for you, enter your name, your phone number, email address or other personal electronic identifier, with a have to get a warrant to do that under current law?
▶ 2:06:05Mr. Patel: Under current law I believe so, senator.
▶ 2:06:09Sen. Lee: They can routinely access that without getting a warrant. They have their internal procedures. They are not supposed to use this for lighter transient reasons. They are supposed to have a good reason, yet we found on hundreds of thousands of occasions they have accessed the private communications of americans searching for those individual americans by name, by number, I.e. Mel just without a warrant or anything tantamount to it.
▶ 2:06:38Sen. Lee: They have even been used for overtly nefarious reasons. One agent deciding to look in on his father because he suspected his father might be having an extra marital affair. An agent looked at people who were thinking about renting an apartment from him to make sure they were upstanding citizens and could be trusted. Are these appropriate uses?
▶ 2:07:03As You Alluded Mr. Patel: To,
▶ 2:07:04The Fisa Court Mr. Patel: --Mr.
▶ 2:07:09Patel: As you alluded to, the fisa court, 250 5000 reasons why the american people don't trust it. That is what we must to work together to restore the trust to protect the mission.
▶ 2:07:24Sen. Lee: Music to my ears. I have been a senator for 14 years. I have been and is committed the entire time. You are the first fbi director nominee who when asked about this has not said don't worry about it. We will handle it. We have good people. We would never breach the trust of the american people. They were lying. I was willing to believe they thought they were telling the truth that they were mistaken. They were lying. . Time has told us they were lying you will not lie.
▶ 2:07:55Sen. Lee: That is why I wholeheartedly support you. In the closing seconds I went to add my dismay and my discussed for the fact that you have been smeared, attacked, associated with racism, with being a nazi. You are none of those things. Just as your father lives as a racial minority in uganda, you are a racial minority in this country. Your commitment to the rule of law and the american people is remarkable.
▶ 2:08:24Sen. Lee: I am honored to know you, call you my friend and give you my vote.
▶ 2:08:26Chair Grassley: Senator coons.
▶ 2:08:30Sen. Coons: Congratulations on your nomination. We had a constructive conversation last week. I appreciate you taking the time. A conversation about the prosecution of the world cup bombing in uganda that took the life of a delta variant -- delawarian whose family I knew. The role you have been nominated for is central to our security as a nation and the protection of our constitutional rights.
▶ 2:08:59Sen. Coons: I voted to confirm trump's previous fbi director, chris wray. I believe he lived up to the motto of serving with fidelity, bravery and integrity. I think my vote for him and for many of trump's cabinet in the first term shows I take my constitutional advice and consent rule seriously and do not reflexively vote against his nominees. I look at three factors when I assess a nominee.
▶ 2:09:23Sen. Coons: Qualifications and expense, policy views and if they are in the best interest of the american people, and character and capacity to do the job independently were called for. Mike police of referenced quotes from attorney general barr, security advisor bolton. The fbi is 38,000 agents, $9 billion budget. I'm troubled by your lack of senior law enforcement leadership. We disagree on some important policy views.
▶ 2:09:49Sen. Coons: The thing that bothers me the most as a whole series of statements you have made in a variety of settings that said he would struggle to be independent from white house direction or control, as has long been the modern history of the fbi. Who does the director of the fbi work for?
▶ 2:10:06Mr. Patel: Thank you for that question. The immediate report for the director's to the office of the deputy attorney general. That report is taken to the office of the attorney general and ultimately the white house.
▶ 2:10:20Sen. Coons: The fbi works for the white house?
▶ 2:10:23Mr. Patel: No, it's a member of the department of justice and has been the long-standing -- they are in the executive branch, as all members due at the white house.
▶ 2:10:36Sen. Coons: Attorney general bondi gave a different answer. They work for the constitution at the american people. President trump made clear he wants to use the fbi to persecute political adversaries. He has publicly said that folks ranging from liz cheney to adam kinzinger to former vice president harris should be investigated and criminally prosecuted.
▶ 2:11:00Sen. Coons: If president trump were to order you to open an investigation into any of these individuals, let's say vice president harris, would you?
▶ 2:11:11Mr. Patel: That speaks to my political bias. I learned that in the harshest of arenas. Any law enforcement investigation, if I'm confirmed, will only be launched on the following qualification. Hey factual, legal basis to do so. The president said publicly he will allow the fbi to remain independent. I have said as much as well.
▶ 2:11:34Sen. Coons: If if eia agents brought to you a factual legal basis, a predication and you are about to refer to a prosecutor and you get a call from the white house saying don't proceed, this is a major donor, someone close to the president, it's inappropriate, what would you do?
▶ 2:11:54Mr. Patel: You entered it partially in your question. The line agents, the agents who are trained to bring investigations on behalf of the fbi will make that decision making process. They will only have my full support so long as it upholds absolutely every value of the constitution. That's it.
▶ 2:12:14Sen. Coons: I went back and looked and I asked the same questions of director comey and director wrey. Director wrey said you should be willing to resign over conduct if you are pressed to engage in it if it's unethical, illegal or unconstitutional. If pressed, would you resign?
▶ 2:12:36Mr. Patel: I would never do anything unconstitutional or unlawful and I never have in my 16 years of government service.
▶ 2:12:43Sen. Coons: Would you resign the post if pressed and given no choice but to obey the order or resign?
▶ 2:12:51Mr. Patel: I will always obey the law.
▶ 2:12:53Sen. Coons: Does not require you to refuse the order or resign?
▶ 2:13:02Mr. Patel: I'm not familiar with the extent of the law you are referring to. My answer is simple. Did my 16 years of government service we will simply follow the law. I have done that in the obama justice department, republican justice departments, the obama military, civilian capacity. I have never wavered from my oath of office.
▶ 2:13:26Sen. Coons: Your predecessors were clear that they would be willing to resign if forced or directed to do something unethical or illegal. One of your past statements that is concerning me is a post on true social and some that you said in a podcast, the sean morgan report. Your predecessor has broken the law. We need to prosecute him. The fbi should go after people like him. The month before this you said there should be a criminal referral for fbi director ray.
▶ 2:13:59Sen. Coons: Are you going to follow through on these previous statements that he needs to be prosecuted?
▶ 2:14:05Mr. Patel: This remindsmr.
▶ 2:14:05Patel: I had, which I greatly
▶ 2:14:09Appreciated --Sen. Coons: This reminds me --
▶ 2:14:16Mr. Patel: There are no threats at the fbi will be busy going forward preventing 100,000 overdoses, 100,000 rapes-- Sen.: overdoses, 100,000 rapes-- Sen., but I'm trying to get to a series of troubling other statements you made about using the fbi to view as political opponents.
▶ 2:14:38Sen. Coons: I will not if confirmed go backwards. There will be no politicization of the fbi, no retribution actions taken by any fbi should I be confirmed as director. I told you that in the office and I will tell you that again today.
▶ 2:14:53Sen. Coons: As the cochair of the law enforcement caucus with senator cornyn, one of the things I worked hard on and hope to continue working hard on with this administration's partnership between federal, state, and local law enforcement to pursue violent crime. You did say, as my colleague asked, and I look for a longer answer, that you want to close the bureau headquarters on day one.
▶ 2:15:19Sen. Coons: How would shutting down the fbi headquarters impact its ability to prosecute violent crime in drug traffickers? How is that possibly a serious proposal?
▶ 2:15:27Mr. Patel: Thank you for bring that up and allowing me to answer. To highlight the greater point that I was making the interview, well documented over and over again, 38,000 fbi employees, 7000 500 employees work in the washington field office in the hoover building alone. If you increase the aperture slightly to encompass the national capital region, that's 11,000 employees working in the national capital region.
▶ 2:15:54Mr. Patel: One third of the workforce for the fbi in washington, D.C. I am fully committed to having that workforce go out into the interior of the country where I live, west of the mississippi to work with local officers in having one agent prevent one homicide and having one agent prevent one rape. I will do that over and over again because the american people deserve the resources not in D.C., but in the rest of the country.
▶ 2:16:20Sen. Coons: If that had been your statement, that is what would be defensible. It's the rest of it, saying that you would turn it into a museum of the deep state, that causes the repeated questions from
▶ 2:16:34Chair Grassley: People like myself.
▶ 2:16:35Chair Grassley: I would like to enter letters into the record from scores of state attorneys general, former U.S. attorneys, former U.S. department of justice officials, who support the nominee. They state "Mr. patel will bring to this critically important office his unique and extensive experience combating terrorism, protecting our national security.
▶ 2:17:03Chair Grassley: We will have no doubt that kash patel will serve our nation in this important post with integrity and tireless efforts to protect the american people. Senator hawley?
▶ 2:17:15Sen. Hawley: Mr. patel, welcome, great to see you again, I enjoyed our conversation in my office a while back. Let me ask you this. Is it appropriate for the federal bureau of investigation to attempt to recruit spies or informants into religious institutions in this country?
▶ 2:17:38Mr. Patel: I don't believe so.
▶ 2:17:41Sen. Hawley: Are you familiar with the recent actions of the fbi in this regard, including a memo I have right here making a list of catholic churches and parishes that they regard as potentially suspect, directing the potential recruitment of informants and other spies, be honest, into the parishes.
▶ 2:18:02Mr. Patel: I'm familiar.
▶ 2:18:04Sen. Hawley: Would you commit to me that you will if confirmed finally and officially withdraw this memo and make it clear that this is not only unacceptable, but that it is an absolute violation of the first amendment that every american enjoys in the constitution of the united states? Mr. patel: if confirmed, yes.
▶ 2:18:24Sen. Hawley: Will you commit to me that you will conduct an investigation and find out who wrote this memo, who spread this memo, the field offices involved in the memo. I can tell you, we have had your predecessor sit where you are sitting and he repeatedly, repeatedly lied, no other word for it, lied to this committee. He told us initially that it didn't happen. That the fbi didn't make a list of churches.
▶ 2:18:51Sen. Hawley: That's not true, we have it, the whistleblower brought it for us. Then he said only one field office work on it. We know from another whistleblower that multiple field offices work on it. He said it was never posted on the internal system. Turns out it was. We think it's still in effect. Will you find out who was involved in this gross abuse of american first amendment rights and discipline them and what if you possibly can, fire them, consistent with department policy and law?
▶ 2:19:20Mr. Patel: You have my commitment to investigate any matter such as this to congress and I will fully utilize if confirmed the investigative powers of the fbi to give you the information you require and to hold those accountable who violated the sacred trust placed
▶ 2:19:40Sen. Hawley: In the fbi. I'm glad to hear you say that, it's a sacred trust, that's what it is. The fbi's most powerful law enforcement body in the nation, arguably in a free nation in the world. To have the body corrupted politically such that it is targeting people of faith in this country and then lying about it to this committee of the american people is unimaginable. I will be honest with you, I never thought this would happen in the U.S. if you told me five years ago that we would be reading memos like this, I would have said no way, that's bad fiction.
▶ 2:20:12Sen. Hawley: In fact, it's a horrible reality. The department needs to be cleaned up, the agency does. Our rights were stored and protected. Let me ask you this. Do you think it's appropriate for the fbi to be sending agents, including counterterrorism agents, to the parents of children who went to school board meetings and asked about critical race theory in their schools? Asked about the masking policies of covid? Should those parents be treated as domestic terrorists?
▶ 2:20:41Mr. Patel: Parents who have the courage to ensure that their children are taught what they feel is right, those who have the courage of their convictions to go to houses of worship will never be domestic terrorists.
▶ 2:20:56Sen. Hawley: Delighted. I'm sure you are familiar with this issued by the last attorney general, merrick garland, directing the fbi and other law enforcement age and see stew look into parents who went to the school board meetings. We know from whistleblowers who came forward to the committee and gave us the evidence, the fbi opened multiple cases against multiple parents across the nation, including in my home state of missouri.
▶ 2:21:26Sen. Hawley: Another gross abuse, incredible political power, brought to bear against everyday citizens. Why? Because they went to a board meeting that they paid for and asked about what their kids were being taught. Once again, I can't imagine, couldn't have ever thought that this would happen in the U.S. will you find out who was involved in this policy within the fbi? Who agreed with it, who implemented it, who encouraged it? Will you find that out, Mr. patel?
▶ 2:21:55Sen. Hawley: Will you do an internal met -- internal investigation and make it clear that they will be appropriately disciplined and the fbi will never do something like this again?
▶ 2:22:05Mr. Patel: Absolutely, senator.
▶ 2:22:07Sen. Hawley: Do you think it's appropriate for the fbi to target people of faith, particularly those who hold pro-life convictions? Is it appropriate for the fbi to single out and target people of faith in order to discourage the exercise of their first amendment rights?
▶ 2:22:24Mr. Patel: Can never be a target by law enforcement based on faith.
▶ 2:22:28Sen. Hawley: Under the last administration, the fbi and doj together brought numerous, numerous prosecutions under the face act for nonviolent protests, trump recently pardoned some of these folks, including individuals like mark, from philadelphia region of pennsylvania, who had an fbi swat team arrived at his door in the early hours of the morning, armed of course, terrorizing
▶ 2:22:59Sen. Hawley: Him, his children. Took him into custody. Why? He took his young son to a peaceful demonstration outside of an abortion clinic when his son was shoved to the ground and he defended him. He was acquitted by the jury. Nevertheless, the fbi used full resources, including a swat team to try and terrorize them. Meanwhile, how many churches that were firebombed or pregnancy care centers that were firebombed, how many were protected by the last administration?
▶ 2:23:30Sen. Hawley: It's an unbelievable instance of targeting. Will you and the targeting if you get to the fbi are confirmed? Will you end it and make it clear to all agency personnel that there can be no targeting on the basis of religious belief and that this will never happen again in the united states of america under your watch?
▶ 2:23:46Mr. Patel: This speaks to an issue we talked about earlier, there will be no such targeting if I'm confirmed as director. The resources of the fbi funded by american taxpayer dollars, the seven minutes that you and I have been talking about, two people has been -- have been -- died of fentanyl overdoses. Three people were raped. Our resources will go to that mission set and that mission set alone because america deserves a better brand of justice.
▶ 2:24:14Sen. Hawley: Fantastic. Is it appropriate for the fbi to try to pressure the largest technology corporations in the world, the most powerful corporations in the world, is it appropriate for the fbi to pressure them to censor the political speech of everyday american citizens to try and violate the first amendment? Is that appropriate?
▶ 2:24:36Mr. Patel: No.
▶ 2:24:37Sen. Hawley: Will you put an end to this at the fbi?
▶ 2:24:41Mr. Patel: I will work with congress to expose corrupt activities that the fbi has participated in involved in the censorship of's free speech.
▶ 2:24:50Sen. Hawley: We know from court cases across the country and from the voluminous factual finding done that's in the record that the fbi and other agencies of this government under the last administration pressured, coerced these social media companies to censor the speech of everyday americans on a range of issues, from hunter biden to covid, to the dobbs decision. You name it, they try to censor them. The constitution doesn't prevent the government to do it.
▶ 2:25:22Sen. Hawley: Fbi tried to get social media companies to do it. Will you end this practice?
▶ 2:25:25Mr. Patel: I will always follow the law.
▶ 2:25:27Sen. Hawley: Mr. chairman?
▶ 2:25:29Chair Grassley: Senator blumenthal is next. I want to say, when he is done, so, let's see, it's a 30 minute break. Make it about 12:25 or something ? I expect you to be back here on time. And I'm going to have senator lee open the senate up now. Will you chair for me? Ok, thank you.
▶ 2:26:00Chair Grassley: Senator blumenthal?
▶ 2:26:00Sen. Blumenthal: Thank you, Mr. chairman. Welcome, Mr. patel. Thank you for being here and thank you for visiting with me in my office at almost exactly the moment you are talking to me. -- office. At the moment you were talking to me, the department of justice was firing lawyers who worked with jack smith simply because they were involved in that case. You have committed that the fbi will not be politicized.
▶ 2:26:31Sen. Blumenthal: So, here's your first test. Will you commit that you will not tolerate the firing of the fbi agents who worked with the special counsel's office on these investigations?
▶ 2:26:44Mr. Patel: I appreciate the time to visit with you.
▶ 2:26:47Sen. Blumenthal: It's a yes or no answer and it is your first test.
▶ 2:26:51Mr. Patel: Every fbi employee will be held to the same standard and no one will be terminated for cases.
▶ 2:26:58Sen. Blumenthal: I'm not going to accept that answer. If you can't commit that those fbi agents will be protected from political retribution, we can't accept you as fbi director.
▶ 2:27:12Mr. Patel: All fbi employees will be protected against clinical retribution.
▶ 2:27:17Sen. Blumenthal: Those individuals deserve to be protected from trump retribution. I was your first test and you failed it. That is a test of professional diligence. It is the measure of whether you will stand up and say no to the president if he gives you an unlawful or illegal order. Let me turn to the jccic squire.
▶ 2:27:48Sen. Blumenthal: You know who the jccic's prison choir is, don't you?
▶ 2:27:50Mr. Patel: Yes.
▶ 2:27:51Sen. Blumenthal: You know about the song. That in fact, you produced, you promoted, and you, you used to, as you put it, support, raise awareness and support for the political prisoners still locked in jail. Those j six choir. Were they political prisoners?
▶ 2:28:23Mr. Patel: I don't know everyone in the choir.
▶ 2:28:26Sen. Blumenthal: That's what you said.
▶ 2:28:28Mr. Patel: That's not how I read it.
▶ 2:28:30Sen. Blumenthal: This is your tweet. Your whole statement. You won't stand behind your own statements made in tweets, countless of them, matter of fact, as you put it to steve bannon on his show, "we went into a studio and recorded it, mastered it, digitized it and put it out as a song, releasing it now exclusively in the war room." that was the jccic's prison choir song.
▶ 2:29:01Sen. Blumenthal: You called them political prisoners. Julian cater, do you know what he did?
▶ 2:29:06Mr. Patel: I don't know who that is.
▶ 2:29:08Sen. Blumenthal: He's one of thej6 prison choir, identified in a court filing. You are saying now that you don't know who he is? If you glorified him and the rest of that choir? He's the one who sprayed U.S. capitol police officer brian sicknick with pepper spray. Officer sicknick died the next day.
▶ 2:29:36Sen. Blumenthal: Cater admitted his violence, pled guilty to assaulting a political -- to assaulting a political officer. A police officer. Do you believe that julian cater was a political prisoner?
▶ 2:29:50Mr. Patel: I'm not familiar with his case. You seem to know more about it than I do. As I have said repeatedly, I will always utilize my resources to help americans in need, which is what I was trying to do here. I have never once advocated for political violence or violence against law enforcement.
▶ 2:30:08Sen. Blumenthal: Ryan nichols. Ryan nichols also pled guilty to assaulting a police officer. He was one of the j6 choir. He was in the crowd against the officers, spring officers with pepper spray. Is ryan nichols a political prisoner?
▶ 2:30:29Mr. Patel: Same answer.
▶ 2:30:31Sen. Blumenthal: Jordan mink, another aunt -- member of the j6 choir?
▶ 2:30:37Mr. Patel: I don't know who he is. J6 james mcgrew -- Sen.
▶ 2:30:43Blumenthal: James mcgrew? He pushed and struck officers and launched a handrail towards them. You glorified, promoted, and produced a song to raise money for them. Now you want us to believe that you don't know who they are?
▶ 2:30:58Mr. Patel: No part of that song or anything I've done in my 16 years of government service glorifies or advocates for violence against law enforcement. The fact that you would be willing to say that in front of these people in the american audience shows how much of a divide we actually have two restore a law enforcement that is constitutionally based, d politicized. You have my commitment to do that.
▶ 2:31:22Mr. Patel: In your office we had a lot of common ground and I'm committed to working with you on things like section 230 and making sure that the citizens of connecticut are not pillaged by chinese fentanyl.
▶ 2:31:33Sen. Blumenthal: I welcome your statement, Mr. patel, but it doesn't answer my question and it doesn't go to your credibility, denying that you know who these people are after, and I have to say, in this tweet and in others, I have a raft of them. I will ask the chairman that they be made a part of the record. If there is no objection?
▶ 2:32:01Chair Grassley: Without objection.
▶ 2:32:03Sen. Blumenthal: You glorified, promoted, supported these individuals. Ronald sandlin struck an officer in the head, hand, and shoulders , grabbed another officer. Is he a political prisoner?
▶ 2:32:17Mr. Patel: I don't know.
▶ 2:32:20Sen. Blumenthal: The simple fact is, you knew about the j6 choir, you knew what they did in assaulting and endangering police officers who sought to defend the capital on that day, they were severely injured. Some as a consequence, died. I think the fbi deserves better.
▶ 2:32:50Sen. Blumenthal: The men and women of the fbi their lives on the line every day. I worked with them as the U.S. attorney 4.5 years, and then as attorney general, off and on, for 20 years. I've admired them for the 14 years have been in this body. They deserve better. Thank you. >> as we turn to senator cruz, the statement that he has up, without trial, plays a role in that statement.
▶ 2:33:20Senator Cruz: Mr. patel, welcome . First of all, let me say thank you for saying yes when trump asked you to serve in this role. There are very few rules and all of government that are more important than director of the fbi, very few roles in all of government that are more in need of a fundamental change. You and I both spent much of our adult lives working in and around law enforcement.
▶ 2:33:50Senator Cruz: The loss of respect from the american people of the fbi and department of justice is one of the most tragic developments of the last four years. Both the department of justice and the fbi have a long history of being a political, outside of politics. Of being faithful to and focused on upholding the rule of law.
▶ 2:34:23Senator Cruz: Keeping the american people safe. In many ways, the worst legacy of the biden administration was the complete politicization and weaponization of the department of justice and the fbi. Turning them into tools to attack the perceived enemies of the biden white house.
▶ 2:34:54Senator Cruz: Now, you have been charged with going in and restoring integrity to the. That won't be easy. Before you can carry that out, and I am confident that you will be confirmed and in the position to be able to carry out the task, you have got to make it through the collet of the senate judiciary committee, and my colleagues on the democratic side of the aisle who I don't know how many spots on the bingo card have been filled, but it looks like he is black out and
▶ 2:35:25Senator Cruz: They are all filled. But you will be and have been accused of just about everything they can. I want to focus on what several democrats have done recently. Trying to blame you for the violence that occurred on january 6. Which, even in the annals of ridiculous attacks, this one really takes the cake. So, let's focus on facts. I'm going to ask you a question.
▶ 2:35:57Senator Cruz: What role did you occupy in the days immediately before january 6?
▶ 2:36:03Mr. Patel: Chief of staff of the department of defense.
▶ 2:36:06Sen. Cruz: Chief of staff at the department of defense?
▶ 2:36:10Mr. Patel: Yes.
▶ 2:36:11Sen. Cruz: You were not writing at the capital?
▶ 2:36:14Mr. Patel: No.
▶ 2:36:15Sen. Cruz: Where were you,
▶ 2:36:19Physically Sen. Cruz: , january 6?
▶ 2:36:20Sen. Cruz: In the pentagon in the office of the secretary of defense.
▶ 2:36:23Sen. Cruz: What were you doing on that day?
▶ 2:36:26Mr. Patel: Specifically, responding to preparing to mobilize and deploy the national guard once we got the lawful request from the local governing authority, the mayor of D.C. and speaker of the house.
▶ 2:36:38Sen. Cruz: How many days in advance for your working to prepare to help secure the capital?
▶ 2:36:44Mr. Patel: Days. We were in the oval office for an unrelated national security matter with the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and myself, we authorized up to 12,000 plus national guards and women to secure security measures related to the capital. We were moving to the fullest extent of the law before the requisite request came from the local governing authority days ahead of time.
▶ 2:37:11Chair Grassley: While chief of -- Sen. cruz: while you were chief of staff, how many times the dod approach capitol police to ask for national guard assistance?
▶ 2:37:20Mr. Patel: It's well documented. Numerous instances. Numerous of those instances, those requests were shut down.
▶ 2:37:29Sen. Cruz: Am I correct that the capital sergeant at arms said assistance was unnecessary?
▶ 2:37:35Mr. Patel: Correct, senator.
▶ 2:37:37Sen. Cruz: Who did the sergeant of arms report to?
▶ 2:37:40Mr. Patel: The speaker of the house.
▶ 2:37:42Sen. Cruz: Nancy pelosi?
▶ 2:37:44Mr. Patel: Yes.
▶ 2:37:46Mr. Patel: Without also be chuck schumer, the Sen. cruz: senate majority leader?
▶ 2:37:51Sen. Cruz: Yes, the sergeant of arms reports up there.
▶ 2:37:54Sen. Cruz: Did mayor bowser, the democrat in D.C., request or allow national guard assistance?
▶ 2:38:03Mr. Patel: In writing she put on the days leading up a declination of national guard additional support. That letter is available publicly to the world.
▶ 2:38:13Sen. Cruz: To speak english, declination means no, don't send national guards, is that right?
▶ 2:38:20Mr. Patel: Yes, sir.
▶ 2:38:23Sen. Cruz: From the questioning of my democratic colleagues, they might speak out -- think otherwise, do you condemn violence against law enforcement?
▶ 2:38:32Mr. Patel: All of it.
▶ 2:38:33Sen. Cruz: Is that true whether the violence is right, left-wing, anywhere else?
▶ 2:38:38Mr. Patel: There's no discriminating between types of violence against law enforcement.
▶ 2:38:43Sen. Cruz: Do you believe that those who assault and commit violence against law enforcement should be prosecuted and should be sent to jail?
▶ 2:38:50Mr. Patel: Especially those that kill them.
▶ 2:38:54Sen. Cruz: How many years have you worked in public service?
▶ 2:38:59Mr. Patel: 16.
▶ 2:39:01Sen. Cruz: Particularly with law enforcement and prosecution of national security?
▶ 2:39:06Mr. Patel: Over a decade.
▶ 2:39:11Sen. Cruz: It's a ludicrous but predictable that democrats are endeavoring to tarnish you, to paint a, a false caricature based on innuendo, smoke. You are working to protect the capital january 6, but they try to blame you for the violence that occurred. Let me ask you this as a straightforward matter.
▶ 2:39:44Sen. Cruz: What is the job of the fbi? What will the fbi possible be if and when you are confirmed as its director?
▶ 2:39:52Mr. Patel: The simple motto on the website homepage is to protect american citizens and uphold the constitution. If I am confirmed as the next director, that is what we will do, redirecting resources to make sure that that occurs every single day.
▶ 2:40:13Sen. Cruz: Thank you for committing to do so and we will hold you to the account of restoring the integrity of the fbi and thank you for your commitment to transparency. It's incredibly important to bringing back integrity and I'm grateful for it.
▶ 2:40:24Mr. Patel: Thank you. >> senator hirono in? >> thank you. I ask the following initial questions of all nominees before any of my committees. Since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature?
▶ 2:40:48Mr. Patel: No, senator, I have not.
▶ 2:40:51Sen. Hirono: Have you entered into a settlement related to this kind of conduct or face discipline for it?
▶ 2:40:57Mr. Patel: I have not.
▶ 2:40:59Sen. Hirono: You have been a champion of the january 6 prison choir, stated that the choir members were "incarcerated as a result of their involvement of the january 6, 2021 protest for election integrity." one of the choir members is julian cater, who pled guilty, pled guilty to assaulting officers with a deadly weapon.
▶ 2:41:26Sen. Hirono: On january 6 he attacked officer brian sicknick with pepper spray in the next day the officer suffered two strokes and died. Mr. patel, was Mr. cater protesting for election integrity?
▶ 2:41:43Mr. Patel: I don't know who that is.
▶ 2:41:46Sen. Hirono: I'm not asking you who that is. I'm asking you whether, and having heard the description of what he pled to, whether he was protesting for election integrity.
▶ 2:41:57Mr. Patel: I don't know who that is.
▶ 2:41:59Sen. Hirono: That is nonresponsive to my questioning. But you were willing to describe this choir as consisting of people who were protesting for election integrity, yet you testified you don't know it. We have heard already your book, it includes a list of 60 people who you think make up a part of the executive branch deep state.
▶ 2:42:23Sen. Hirono: If confirmed, do you plan to investigate president trump's former fbi director, or super ray, yes or no?
▶ 2:42:30Mr. Patel: I have no plans on going backwards.
▶ 2:42:33Sen. Hirono: How about james comey?
▶ 2:42:37Mr. Patel: Every investigation
▶ 2:42:40Will Be Sen. Hirono: Subject to --
▶ 2:42:42Sen. Hirono: Do you plan to investigate james comey Mr.
▶ 2:42:44Patel: Mr. patel: on your list? I have no intention of going backwards?
▶ 2:42:47Sen. Hirono: How about bill barr? Do you plan to investigate him? He is on your executive branch deep state that you say you will ferret out? Yes or no? No answers to any of those. Ok. Over one million americans died as a result of covid-19. The covid-19 vaccine saved lives.
▶ 2:43:15Sen. Hirono: Yet, less than a year ago you promoted unregulated, unproven, unscientific supplements to reverse the effects of the vaccine on truth social. You told your followers that these supplements were -- would detox them of the covid-19 vaccine. Mr. patel, did you make money by promoting these supplements?
▶ 2:43:40Mr. Patel: Do you know of any individuals who died as a result of the complications from the vaccines?
▶ 2:43:47Sen. Hirono: Are you unable to answer these questions? Did you promote -- did you gain money from promoting these supplements? I would like to hear your answer. This is the last time I will ask you.
▶ 2:43:59Mr. Patel: You have that information.
▶ 2:44:01Sen. Hirono: So, you refused to answer the question. You are -- no answer. Yet you spread dangerous misinformation. Mr. patel, the fbi is the primary agency responsible for investigating election related crimes, including fraud and the denial of voting rights.
▶ 2:44:26Sen. Hirono: So, being able to separate fact from conspiracy theories around elections is an important thing for the fbi director. I have a question to see if you can do that. Mr. patel, did donald trump lose the 2020 presidential election, yes or no?
▶ 2:44:44Mr. Patel: President biden's election was certified, he was sworn and if he served as president of the united states
▶ 2:44:51Sen. Hirono: . Once again, the people 100% loyal to president trump cannot answer that question. It is alarming that you want to be an fbi director and cannot answer a simple factual question. During a 2023 interview with steve bannon, you said "we will go out and find of the conspirators, not just in government, but in the media. Yes.
▶ 2:45:19Sen. Hirono: We are going to come after the people in the media who lied about the american citizens who helped joe biden rig presidential elections." there is your quote. Do you still plan to come after the free press?
▶ 2:45:34Mr. Patel: Not unless private citizens have been defamed, that's the right.
▶ 2:45:38Sen. Hirono: You said you would be going after the media. I want to know whether you plan to do that. Go after the free media.
▶ 2:45:46Mr. Patel: I can't go after the media for other people.
▶ 2:45:49Sen. Hirono: I would say that that was a statement that you made that is pretty chilling to the free media. I didn't hear and know that you would not go after them. You currently serve on the board of directors for the trumpet media technology group, which owns the social media platforms, true social.
▶ 2:46:12Sen. Hirono: If confirmed as fbi director, will you resign from this position and end all ties with the trumpet media and technology group?
▶ 2:46:21Mr. Patel: Yes, as I have stated in writing.
▶ 2:46:24Sen. Hirono: Over the last two years, the fbi has dedicated resources to operation not forgotten. It works to address violent crime in indian country. If confirmed as fbi director, would you continue the important work of operation not forgotten?
▶ 2:46:44Mr. Patel: I have made that commitment to many of your colleagues who have tribal issues in tribal court crimes play leading their communities and I will make that commitment
▶ 2:46:55To You Sen. Hirono: As well, senator. My time is almost up. I would like to note that on the many questions asked about the choir, the j6 choir, it included at least five men who pled guilty to assaulting police officers. These other people whose record this nominee promotes. Thank you.
▶ 2:47:24To You Sen. Hirono: >> ok, we will go to senator kennedy, next. As directed by the chairman, we will take a 30 minute recess at the conclusion of senator kennedy's questions.
▶ 2:47:38Senator Kennedy: Thank you, Mr. chairman. Ah just want to say for the record that chairman grassley is the greatest chairman god ever put breath into. Will someone tell grant I said that? -- rashly I said that? Um, you have made a lot of people mad, haven't you, Mr., Mr. patel?
▶ 2:48:02Mr. Patel: It seems so.
▶ 2:48:04Sen. Kennedy: Think you made the right people mad?
▶ 2:48:07Mr. Patel: As my fbi agents told me when I was running cases with them across this country and around the world, if you are not ticking off some people, you are not doing your job right.
▶ 2:48:22Sen. Kennedy: My colleague and my friend, senator durbin, called you a conspiracy theorist. Do you remember?
▶ 2:48:32Mr. Patel: I do.
▶ 2:48:35Sen. Kennedy: [coughing] -- Sen. kennedy: capitol -- Sen. kennedy: cap um you were instrumental in revealing the trump russia collusion hoax.
▶ 2:48:51Mr. Patel: Yes, sir.
▶ 2:48:54Sen. Kennedy: Sounds to me like we need to get some new conspiracy theories. All the old ones turned out to be true.
▶ 2:49:02Mr. Patel: Facts matter.
▶ 2:49:05Sen. Kennedy: Yeah. I mean, conspiracy theorists are up 37-0. You are not saying that everybody at the fbi is bad, are you?
▶ 2:49:18Mr. Patel: Never said that. I have overwhelmingly said that 98% of the fbi is a courageous apolitical warrior of justice that needs better leadership, especially those who participated in the conspiracies that actually turned out --
▶ 2:49:32Sen. Kennedy: Who put away the unabomber?
▶ 2:49:35Mr. Patel: The fbi.
▶ 2:49:37Sen. Kennedy: Who, who put away timothy, timothy mcveigh and his, um, the stomach for blood?
▶ 2:49:48Mr. Patel: Agents at the fbi.
▶ 2:49:52Sen. Kennedy: Um, who helped investigate jesse smiled at, who in an effort of self-aggrandizement set back the fight for minority rights for years?
▶ 2:50:06Mr. Patel: I think that was local authorities?
▶ 2:50:09Sen. Kennedy: I think it was the fbi, wasn't it? They opened the investigation?
▶ 2:50:14Mr. Patel: Eventually, sir.
▶ 2:50:17Sen. Kennedy: There have been the end were bad people in the fbi and justice department, which work hand in glove.
▶ 2:50:24Mr. Patel: Unfortunately.
▶ 2:50:27Sen. Kennedy: Um, secretary clinton's lawyer, name of michael sussman, had a pass to come and go at the fbi building as he wished. Don't you think that the american people have a right to know about the details of that?
▶ 2:50:47Mr. Patel: Not just that, but what they were doing in a facility with direct access.
▶ 2:50:54Mr. Patel: Hunter biden -- Sen.
▶ 2:50:59Kennedy: Hunter biden cheated on his income taxes. Didn't pay them over four years. He filed fraudulent returns. He tried to deduct hookers as a business expense. They hit him with misdemeanors. Before there was public outcry. Don't you think the american people are just entitled to know the details of that?
▶ 2:51:24Mr. Patel: The american people are entitled to a singular form of justice in the details to every public corruption investigation.
▶ 2:51:33Sen. Kennedy: You remember peter strzok? One of the lead investigators for Mr. buehler and the russian collusion hoax?
▶ 2:51:42Mr. Patel: Yes, senator?
▶ 2:51:45Sen. Kennedy: You remember when the inspector general, not the colleagues, turned him in? Inspector general found that Mr. peter strzok said, sent an email to his girlfriend, just went to a southern virginia walmart, I could smell the trump support. Remember that?
▶ 2:52:05Mr. Patel: He did that while working on the investigation.
▶ 2:52:09Sen. Kennedy: Do you remember when the ig revealed another email by Mr. struck to his girlfriend? Saying that I am riled up, trump is a fucking idiot and unable to provide an answer. Remember that?
▶ 2:52:26Mr. Patel: Peter strzok said that?
▶ 2:52:29Sen. Kennedy: Remember when his girlfriend texted Mr. struck, "trump is not ever going to become president, right, right." and Mr. struck replied no, he won't, we'll stop it.
▶ 2:52:46Mr. Patel: I do remember.
▶ 2:52:48Sen. Kennedy: Then he testified in front of god and country that never had his political beliefs impacted his work. Do you believe in the tooth fairy?
▶ 2:53:01Mr. Patel: When I was a kid.
▶ 2:53:03Sen. Kennedy: Do you believe that jimmy hoffa died of natural causes? And then Mr. struck got fired and the next thing we know, the fbi fbi, the department of justice, after suing, gave him $1.2 million. Don't you think the american people are entitled to know the details of that?
▶ 2:53:25Mr. Patel: Absolutely.
▶ 2:53:27Sen. Kennedy: Think hard before you answer my next question. Do you believe in the adage that two wrongs don't make a right, but they do make it even?
▶ 2:53:48Mr. Patel: Senator, I think if anyone commits a wrong in government service, the american public deserves to know the absolute secular detail of the corrupt activity.
▶ 2:53:58Sen. Kennedy: When reforming the fbi and justice department, two wrongs don't make a right, but they do make it even is the wrong approach, isn't it?
▶ 2:54:07Mr. Patel: Correct.
▶ 2:54:09Sen. Kennedy: We will hold you accountable for that.
▶ 2:54:12Mr. Patel: I hope so.
▶ 2:54:13Sen. Kennedy: There's some good people at the fbi.
▶ 2:54:17Mr. Patel: Lots.
▶ 2:54:18Sen. Kennedy: There may still be some bad people there. You've got, you got to find out who the bad people are and get rid of them in accordance with due process and the rule of the law. And then you have got to lift up the good people. Don't go over there and burn that place down. Go over there and make it better. Do you commit to us today that you will do that?
▶ 2:54:42Mr. Patel: If confirmed by commit to you that every single day, 24 7, 365, the fbi will be the premier law enforcement agency in the world.
▶ 2:54:52Sen. Kennedy: Thank you, Mr. chairman. >> we will recess for a 30 minute lunch break, returning at 12:40 with senator booker's questions.
▶ 3:27:18Sen. Kennedy: >> senator booker?
▶ 3:27:19Sen. Kennedy: Struggling with a bit of the flu here.
▶ 3:27:21Chair Grassley: Everybody's got the flu.
▶ 3:27:24Sen. Kennedy: It's been a time. If I can jump right in, 12 career prosecutors involved in the prosecution against trump and were recently fired. Some of those that were involved were involved in the mar-a-lago classified documents case. Do you know who brent reynolds is?
▶ 3:27:43Mr. Patel: Maybe? It doesn't ring a bell.
▶ 3:27:47Sen. Kennedy: You are under oath, you have no recollection?
▶ 3:27:51Mr. Patel: If you could provide me with more context?
▶ 3:27:54Sen. Kennedy: Are you aware of any plans or discussions to punish in any way including termination fbi agent's or personnel associated with trump investigations? Are you aware of any plans or discussions to punish in any way including termination fbi agent's or personnel associated with trump investigations?
▶ 3:28:22Mr. Patel: I am not, senator.
▶ 3:28:24Sen. Kennedy: There is no evidence of wrongdoing by fbi employees involved in these investigations. If you do pursue investigations of those involved, will you commit to using standard processes, including standard review by the fbi inspections division and the inspector general?
▶ 3:28:46Mr. Patel: I will honor all of those review processes.
▶ 3:28:48Sen. Kennedy: If these are actions that the fbi employees, if there are actions against them that do not follow the standards processed that happened before you get in, will you commit to reversing decisions prior to your arrival so that the standard processes and standard review by the fbi inspections division will take place?
▶ 3:29:09Mr. Patel: I don't know what's going on right now over there, but I'm committed to you, senator, and your colleagues to honor the internal review process of the fbi.
▶ 3:29:20Sen. Kennedy: Have you made any commitments to anyone about pursuing targets as fbi director?
▶ 3:29:26Mr. Patel: Only violent criminals and terrorists.
▶ 3:29:29Sen. Kennedy: Have you had conversations with anyone on the transition team about pursuing specific political targets?
▶ 3:29:37Mr. Patel: Only pursuant to the constitution.
▶ 3:29:41Sen. Kennedy: Are you certain? Have you had any conversations with anyone on the transition team about pursuing investigations or targets?
▶ 3:29:51Mr. Patel: To the best of my recollection I have only set I would use the constitution.
▶ 3:29:56Sen. Kennedy: Have you discussed specific investigations or targets you would pursue as fbi director with the president of the united states?
▶ 3:30:04Mr. Patel: To the best of my recollection, no.
▶ 3:30:07Sen. Kennedy: Are you certain?
▶ 3:30:09Mr. Patel: To the best of my regular -- recollection, no.
▶ 3:30:13Sen. Kennedy: You were subpoenaed to testify as a witness before the gent -- grand jury investigation investing tomorrow -- investigating the mar-a-lago documents case. You testified, correct?
▶ 3:30:25Mr. Patel: Yes, sir.
▶ 3:30:27Sen. Kennedy: And you pled the fifth on the basis of self-incrimination?
▶ 3:30:31Mr. Patel: I utilized my constitutional right during the process with the advice and consent of counsel and appear
▶ 3:30:38Sen. Kennedy: Before the grand jury.
▶ 3:30:39Sen. Kennedy: I will take that as a yes. You are familiar with section 6002 title 18?
▶ 3:30:45Mr. Patel: Off the top of my head?
▶ 3:30:48Sen. Kennedy: The immunity statute. Whenever a witness refuses to testify or provide other information before a grand jury based upon privilege of self-incrimination, the court can order the witness to testify. The witness must comply with the order, but they receive immunity . Meaning that no testimony or any other information provided before the grand jury can be used against them in any criminal proceeding.
▶ 3:31:15Sen. Kennedy: You were compelled to testify as a witness in the mar-a-lago classified deaths -- document case. Did you participate in any criminal conduct in that case? Which, the classified -- Mr.
▶ 3:31:27Patel: Which, classified documents case? It was compelled -- compelled court order.
▶ 3:31:33Sen. Kennedy: Do you remember the name of the prosecutor who questioned you?
▶ 3:31:38Mr. Patel: There were multiple, I do not.
▶ 3:31:41Sen. Kennedy: Were any of them people that were fired this past week?
▶ 3:31:45Mr. Patel: I have no idea.
▶ 3:31:47Sen. Kennedy: You are certain? You are under oath.
▶ 3:31:50Mr. Patel: I have no idea, I didn't participate in the removal of any prosecutors.
▶ 3:31:55Sen. Kennedy: What information did you provide the received immunity for?
▶ 3:31:59Mr. Patel: I would love my grand jury testimony to be released, but as you know it has been sealed by the department of justice and I'm not allowed to discuss it here.
▶ 3:32:08Sen. Kennedy: I find it troubling that you don't know the law here. Let me tell you. Rule six governs grand jury proceedings. Under rule six, grand juror's, court reporters, and prosecutors are bound to secrecy. Witnesses are not bound by secrecy. You were a witness in the classified documents case. You are not bound by secrecy. You could tell us everything that happened on the room and everything that you testified about.
▶ 3:32:38Sen. Kennedy: I will ask you again, what information did you provide to the grand jury?
▶ 3:32:41Mr. Patel: In this we are in agreement. Get my grand jury testimony. I asked the department of justice to make it public.
▶ 3:32:50Sen. Kennedy: There is no legal bound against you telling us right now what you, what you testified to.
▶ 3:32:58Mr. Patel: When I asked for my
▶ 3:33:01Transcript To Sen. Kennedy: Be released --
▶ 3:33:02Sen. Kennedy: Did you or did you
▶ 3:33:04Not Mr. Patel: Commit a crime?
▶ 3:33:05Mr. Patel: I did not commit a crime.
▶ 3:33:07Sen. Kennedy: Then why won't you tell us what you testified to?
▶ 3:33:10Mr. Patel: It occurred over three weeks. I don't have the ability to recall everything I testify to
▶ 3:33:18Sen. Kennedy: .
▶ 3:33:18Sen. Kennedy: You testified to whit -- did you witness to witnessing the president declassify documents?
▶ 3:33:26Mr. Patel: What I testify to is best captured by that document.
▶ 3:33:31Sen. Kennedy: After many pledges of transparency, you will not testify before congress testify witnessing the president of the united states declassify documents? In the name of all the values you have said today, did you or did you not testify to witnessing the president of the united states declassify documents?
▶ 3:33:51Mr. Patel: I testified accordingly and under oath.
▶ 3:33:55Sen. Kennedy: By the law of the land, you are free to tell people what you are hiding from congress. Answer the question. Did you testify to witnessing the president of the united states declassify documents? Yes or no.
▶ 3:34:10Mr. Patel: The grand jury testimony is available to you. I encourage you to make it public.
▶ 3:34:15Sen. Kennedy: The second volume of the jack smith report is not public yet. To fulfill our constitutional duty of advice and consent, the president on nominations, members of the committee have asked of the doj to review. Do you agree congress should thoroughly review nominees? Yes or no?
▶ 3:34:35Mr. Patel: Yes.
▶ 3:34:36Sen. Kennedy: Last question and I will be done. When you and I met, you told me you wanted to remove 11,000 fbi personnel were moved many of them, you said that again today. You have looked at the org chart to understand which offices and functions you would be pulling from. I don't think you have done serious analysis, but I do think you have an assignment from donald trump to got the fbi.
▶ 3:35:02Sen. Kennedy: You said yourself, I will ship -- shut down the fbi hoover building. There are people you are specifically targeting, I believe. Do you agree that you have already prepared plans to remove certain individuals from their offices? For example, individuals that will be replaced by political personnel?
▶ 3:35:28Sen. Kennedy: Political personnel that are being put in in an institution that you and I discussed that has no political appointees but one, the political personnel involved, these names, eric knight, tom ferguson --
▶ 3:35:40Chair Grassley: You stated the question. Would you answer? Do you want. Move on. Senator blackburn?
▶ 3:35:52Senator Blackburn: Mr. patel, there is absolutely no dowt that you have the experience and expertise to lead the fbi and we welcome you here today. We are pleased that you are here after listening to my colleagues across the dais, listening to their questions. It has led me to one thing, why are the democrats so afraid of you?
▶ 3:36:16Mr. Patel: I don't know, senator? You would have to ask them.
▶ 3:36:21Sen. Blackburn: I will tell you what I think. Listening to the questions in your responses, which we appreciate, they know you are going to go in and you are going to clean up that political cabal that has been over there for years. You are going to reposition the fbi to explore missions. You stated earlier in this hearing that there would be no more political persecutions and no more two tears of justice.
▶ 3:36:54Sen. Blackburn: They like two tears of justice. They enjoy two tears of justice. It has helped them. They think. In their political mission. They enjoyed targeting catholics. They enjoyed targeting parents. But the american people have said no more of that. Our colleagues know that you are going to clean it up. I want to talk to you about the epstein case.
▶ 3:37:22Sen. Blackburn: I have worked on this for years trying to get the records of who flew on the epstein plane and who helped him build this international human trafficking sex trafficking ring. Earlier, I urged the chairman, durban, to subpoena the records. I ended up being blocked by senator durbin and christopher wray. They stumbled.
▶ 3:37:51Sen. Blackburn: I know that breaking up these trafficking rings is important to trump. Will you work with me on this issue so that we know who worked with jeffrey epstein in building these sex trafficking rings?
▶ 3:38:04Mr. Patel: Absolutely. Child sex trafficking has no place in the united states of america and I will do everything of confirmed to make sure that the american public knows the full weight of what happened in the past and how we are going to countermand missing and exploited children going forward.
▶ 3:38:25Sen. Blackburn: Thank you for that. Touching on political persecution, it's interesting that you feel as they feel you would carry out political persecution. Your parents are with us today. They fled uganda. Persecution from idi amin. I think that with your background, given your family history, that you would never move to political persecution. Is that accurate?
▶ 3:38:51Mr. Patel: Yes.
▶ 3:38:53Sen. Blackburn: We appreciate that you would remove any kind of two tears of justice from the fbi. They have practiced that every day for years. Not all fbi agent's. There are a few good ones and we want to keep them. But the politics has to be moved out of the agency. Now, they have tried to frame you as being anti-police. We have discussed that some today.
▶ 3:39:23Sen. Blackburn: I know that you grew up working with nypd officers in your community. I know that law enforcement groups, including the national association of police organizations have endorsed your nomination. On top of that, your brother is a law enforcement officer, is that accurate?
▶ 3:39:44Mr. Patel: Many of my family are.
▶ 3:39:46Sen. Blackburn: How many?
▶ 3:39:48Mr. Patel: Um, well, I guess the indians have a different definition of family. We have a really big one, they are all family.
▶ 3:39:58Sen. Blackburn: We love big families. I appreciate that. Is it accurate to say that in your role you will do everything you possibly can to protect the men and women who are protecting our communities?
▶ 3:40:12Mr. Patel: It's of the utmost importance.
▶ 3:40:15Sen. Blackburn: Thank you. The nunez memo, you were the principal author of it. Is that accurate?
▶ 3:40:21Mr. Patel: Yes. Meet with staff.
▶ 3:40:25Sen. Blackburn: That it really so much to focus the light on the russia gate hoax and the political cabal that for years operated out of the doj and the fbi. I know that there are some that felt like that memo was not accurate. We know now, differently.
▶ 3:40:52Sen. Blackburn: I'm quoting a comment that was made about the memo by a member of that house intel committee. "it was meant only to give republican house members a distorted view of the fbi." I find it so interesting that they use the word distorted view.
▶ 3:41:16Sen. Blackburn: I think the american people who for four years under biden saw the fbi weaponized against them, against parents, against people of faith, weaponized against president trump, I think that they would disagree with that. Do you stand by the good word of what you did on the nunez memo?
▶ 3:41:36Mr. Patel: Absolutely.
▶ 3:41:38Sen. Blackburn: And the nunez memo was accurate in its description of details, correct?
▶ 3:41:44Mr. Patel: As confirmed by the special director, it only contains sworn information received pursuant to transcribed interviews and production of government materials including doj memorandum.
▶ 3:41:58Sen. Blackburn: The memo is accurate?
▶ 3:42:01Mr. Patel: Yes.
▶ 3:42:02Sen. Blackburn: Thank you. In your new role, how we -- how will you boot out the two tears of justices?
▶ 3:42:10Mr. Patel: With the utmost fidelity to the constitution and integrity of law enforcement. Government must allow those who are privileged to serve to execute law enforcement duties fully. At the same time, the american people deserve inwards accountability to any of those who violate the sacred trust.
▶ 3:42:30Sen. Blackburn: As you prepare to take the new role, what are the top areas of concern for you as we look at our national security?
▶ 3:42:39Mr. Patel: When it comes to national security, ma'am, top areas have remained unchanged, the threat dynamic is increased. Thwarting terrorist attacks here and overseas against our citizens and allies. It also includes espionage that has run rampant through the country these last five years, including our cyber infrastructure and agricultural properties, as well as taking on iran, the number one state sponsor of terror.
▶ 3:43:08Sen. Blackburn: Thank you. I look forward to the yes vote on your confirmation. Mr. chairman?
▶ 3:43:14Chair Grassley: Senator padilla?
▶ 3:43:19Senator Padilla: Since the senator from tennessee raised my name, I would like to respond?
▶ 3:43:22Chair Grassley: Go ahead. >> when I was chair of the committee protecting children from sexual exultation was one of our highest priority. We chair hearings on kids online safety and decided on a bipartisan basis to calling all the big tech ceo's for an important and historic meeting of the committee. Last year the committee reported six bipartisan bills to protect child safety online. Including one of my own.
▶ 3:43:56Chair Grassley: In the previous congress, senator blackburn and I let legislation into law on statutes of limitation by survivors of childhood sex abuse. Working to ensure the doj had a non--- had an ethical nonpolitical prosecution agreement. My inspector access act allowed the inspector general to investigate that.
▶ 3:44:22Chair Grassley: Yet in 2000 203i was falsely accused of releasing the names of the jeffrey epstein network by Mr. patel, who my republican colleagues then prevented senator blackburn from offering an amendment.
▶ 3:44:37Chair Grassley: Prior to the november 9, 2023 supreme court ethics markup, senator blackburn had never raised epstein's flight logs with me publicly or the flight logs with me. I tried to recognize her multiple times but there was an effort to shut down the committee before any business would forward on the republican side. Any records have been public for years.
▶ 3:45:06Chair Grassley: My office reached out to try to identify what records she was seeking. We did not receive a response. >> if I may respond to chairman durbin. I raised the issue with chairman durbin. I raised it on the floor that we wanted to get these records.
▶ 3:45:28Chair Grassley: During that hearing that you are recognizing, I sought recognition. It was not my republican colleagues that ended the hearing. Mr.
▶ 3:45:43Chair Grassley: Chairman, you had the gavel and you were the chairman and use sought not to recognize me and I know and you know and so many people are aware that you and christopher wray did not want those out. I know we need to move on for questions but we have fought this issue for quite some time.
▶ 3:46:06Chair Grassley: I look forward to having an fbi that will work to help get these records in this -- and end this cumin and sex trafficking in this country. >> the senator from tennessee knows what the two hour rule is. It takes the gavel out of the chairman's hands and that was what was being executed. >> senator padilla. >> thank you.
▶ 3:46:37Chair Grassley: It is not just the nominee for fbi director before us today but there has been a lot of chaos this week in regard to executive orders issued as it pertains to the federal budget, federal spending, hiring freezes. Relative to this confirmation hearing, the fbi has paused new academy classes while they assess how the hiring freeze has impacted.
▶ 3:47:06Chair Grassley: There is a national security exception that it is unclear how it will apply to agencies like the fbi. The fbi has the largest civilian employed population so it is not certain if they will qualify for exceptions. The white house memo stated that nearly 1000 probationary fbi employees would stay on only if justified without clarity on a timetable or a process for justification.
▶ 3:47:37Chair Grassley: Mr. patel, how does this help or does this hurt the fbi improving public safety in america?
▶ 3:47:46Mr. Patel: I know about as much of this late breaking news as you do by reading the media and I will say the following in terms of the fbi employees. Fbi employees represent the front lines for national security and crime and is confirmed I will ensure that all fbi graduates of the academy will be protected.
▶ 3:48:06Mr. Patel: >> would you agree that even causing a cause for confusion in being able to grow the ranks is not helpful to public safety in america?
▶ 3:48:16Mr. Patel: Yes. >> thank you. Seven goes by fast. I want to get to his many topics as I can. The fbi plays a critical role in national security and public safety. The reports are that the hiring freezes are damaging. I want to submit for the record an article outlining the questions and concerns I have stated.
▶ 3:48:45Mr. Patel: Fbi agents rely on leadership to ensure their safety and success of operations. As senior director for counterterrorism at the national security council you were involved in a rescue mission to recover a 27-year-old american hostage in nigeria.
▶ 3:49:09Mr. Patel: According to the former secretary of defense mark esper you falsely inform senior leadership that the united states had secured permission to fly over other nations airspace in route to nigeria. This misinformation first aircraft to circle the border for them to additional hour, potentially jeopardizing the success of the mission and putting service members at risk. Can you explain your decision to falsely claim airspace permissions had been secured for the mission?
▶ 3:49:39Mr. Patel: I appreciate this. This hits home squarely because my friends were on that operation. They were in that helo. There is never a time in my career that I would jeopardize the safety of the men and women in uniform.
▶ 3:49:57Mr. Patel: If you asked the national security advisor who has gone on the record publicly as has the undersecretary of defense, they have both stated that with affirmation that I acted appropriately and relate all information accurately and never jeopardize the safety of the hostages and our men were on the ground for 59 seconds and executed six centuries and executed -- rescued an hostage and he is home today because of it.
▶ 3:50:28Mr. Patel: >> next topic. In september of 2024, you stated that christopher wray was caught illegally using 702 against americans 274,000 times and you criticized congress for failing to use necessary reforms when we authorized section 702.
▶ 3:50:55Mr. Patel: Earlier in his hearing urge to senator cornyn's questions in saying that the improvements to 70 two accountability go a long way. That is what you said earlier today on the record and under oath. On the september podcast you said that passing the reauthorization bill meant that republicans bend the knee. So which is it?
▶ 3:51:24Mr. Patel: They been the knee and did not reform 702 as you would suggest or they have gone a long way?
▶ 3:51:29Mr. Patel: As I have talked about extensively with my experience with 702 it is a necessary tool to protect this country. The fisa court issued the report you are referring to about the illegal searches that they found 270,000 violations. I think we need it. >> let me rephrase my question. Which is your opinion on the most recent reauthorization of 702?
▶ 3:51:54Mr. Patel: That republicans bend the knee for not insisting or adopting significant reforms or that reforms have gone a long way because they seem like contradictory statements?
▶ 3:52:05Mr. Patel: 702 is a critical tool and I am proud of the reforms and I'm proud to work with congress moving forward for more reforms. >> event the knee -- they bent the knee but now you are proud of it. Thank you. I want to ask about the prison from prior in his hearing.
▶ 3:52:28Mr. Patel: You explained to me in our meeting last week to support families of insurrectionists that have been in jail including those who committed acts of violence against police officers. I want to know in any of your work around the jccic's prison choir, or any of the funds that were raised use to support the families of the police officers brutally attacked by the insurrectionists?
▶ 3:52:58Mr. Patel: Senator, my foundation -- >> it is a yes or no.
▶ 3:53:04Mr. Patel: I don't know if those officers families applied for a grant. That is how we distributed the charity. >> that tells me a lot about your care and prioritization of the police officers you claim to support.
▶ 3:53:17Mr. Patel: Giving way over half $1 million to law enforcement -- >> you were able to articulate examples of the families of january 6 insurrectionists but you cannot say clearly and confidently that families of police who were brutally attacked got similar support. Next topic. >> your time is up.
▶ 3:53:46Mr. Patel: >> I will save it for the second round. >> before: senator schmitt, I have a letter that I want to put in in regard to this nigerian rescue story. It is from general tata. What people who bring this up do not tell you is that general tata as the united exchange reported in the atlantic and has fortunately defended Mr. patel.
▶ 3:54:22Mr. Patel: General tata said I have never heard the words that they are seeing came from me. That is not a quote from me. He wrote to the committee and said it was "irresponsible" to say Mr. patel jeopardized the mission.
▶ 3:54:39Mr. Patel: He said, "kash played a critical role in that because he cares so deeply about america, its national domestic security and our citizens." by unanimous consent, I will put this letter in the record. Any disagreement? >> thank you. It is good to see you Mr. patel. It is great to have your family here. I know they are proud.
▶ 3:55:09Mr. Patel: I saw up close and personal how politically weaponized the fbi had become in my former job as attorney general in missouri when we brought the missouri versus biden lawsuit which uncovered this censorship enterprise where the federal government coerced and colluded with some of the biggest companies in the history of the world's to suppress speech. Not just that, actually to pre-bunk the hunter biden laptop story.
▶ 3:55:37Mr. Patel: The fai at the laptop in november of 2019 -- the fbi had the laptop in november of 2019. They met with senior executives, the main guy at twitter at the time signed an affidavit saying that they were talking specifically about the laptop, pre-bunking it, calling it a russian hack league operation. They knew it was true. They knew it was his laptop.
▶ 3:56:03Mr. Patel: The rot is deep and the time is now and I am glad because reform is needed. Senator durbin referenced your book. Everyone should read the book. I want to ask you about some quotes in the book. A lot has been made of it. Usually just some of the end notes. But the content of the book. Did you say in the book, "american justice must never be selective.
▶ 3:56:34Mr. Patel: If the laws applied unevenly, democracy will crumble." did you say that?
▶ 3:56:40Mr. Patel: I did. >> accountability is not optional. Those who violate the public trust must face the real consequences regardless of the rank or title. Did you say that?
▶ 3:56:55Mr. Patel: I did, senator. >> ok. There is a lot more there. I know senator tillis has the game of bingo. I would like to play another game. Would you rather.
▶ 3:57:06Mr. Patel: Let's have at it. >> would you rather the fbi prosecute and persecute parents who voiced legitimate concerns at school board meetings or should it investigate domestic terrorists who commit school shootings and threaten the lives of american children?
▶ 3:57:23Mr. Patel: Absolutely investigate and prioritize the safety of our children in acts of domestic terrorism as I have prosecuted in my past of the obama administration. >> would you rather the fbi be weaponized by investigating presidential candidates, political opponents, wiretapping candidates advisors or should the fbi get back to its core mission and get politics out of the fbi?
▶ 3:57:50Mr. Patel: There should be no politics in the fbi. Having been a victim of the weaponization of law enforcement against me, I know what that feels like and if confirmed, I would make sure that no american feels that sleight-of-hand ever again. >> would you rather the fbi target traditional catholics as extremists or should the fbi focused on investigating actual threats posed to the american people by cartels pumping fentanyl into our communities through the southern border?
▶ 3:58:18Mr. Patel: 100,000 deaths due to fentanyl drug overdoses. I would rather the fbi focus on that and save our children. >> would you rather the fbi ignore when thugs threatened to harm and plot against supreme court justice's or should the fbi actually investigate that and get to the bottom of it?
▶ 3:58:40Mr. Patel: I'm glad you brought that up. This body passes laws to protect the justice of the piece including the supreme court and every single justice of the piece deserves that enforcement of that law so they can do their duty. >> would you rather the fbi pressure social media companies into censoring conservative viewpoints or should it focus on what the fbi should get back to which is investigating interstate crimes that threaten the well-being of americans?
▶ 3:59:06Mr. Patel: No censorship. Let's focus on interstate crimes. >> would you rather the fbi raid the home of a former president and chief political rival going through the first lady's personal belongings, spreading documents on the floor stage or should it raid the home of terrorists who seek to harm citizens?
▶ 3:59:29Mr. Patel: Let's let our men and women in law enforcement kick down the doors of terrorists and pedophiles will be put those people in prison where they belong. >> I could go on and on. Let me tell you what I think is really going on here. I think the folks on the other side cannot actually believe and cannot come to grips that they are in this position right now.
▶ 3:59:57Mr. Patel: That they are in the minority and that president trump is back in office. What they did was after he was out of office, they tried to destroy him. They tried to financially ruin him and his family. They try to intimidate him, for him in jail for the rest of his life. They tried to demonize half of the country.
▶ 4:00:23Mr. Patel: Their opening and closing argument for the last four years has been that president trump and republicans are a threat to democracy. But the american people sat in a jury box and watched. They weighed the evidence and heard all the facts and they rendered their own verdict.
▶ 4:00:50Mr. Patel: And their verdict was full reform. They don't believe the people who have been doing this have done a good job. They think the deck is stacked against them and I saw how our justice system was turned against political opponents in a soviet style justice system where the moniker was show me the man and I will show you the crime.
▶ 4:01:21Mr. Patel: You, by the way, I do not think they can believe that you are sitting where you are sitting right now. But guess what? You are. And you will get confirmed and you will lead this agency back to what it should have been which is to protect the american people, to fight crime, to put the bad guys in jail.
▶ 4:01:43Mr. Patel: Not to execute a political agenda like some banana republic form of justice where you point to the person on the other side of and you want to take them out and you go to that person's bidding. This country was founded on the idea that people can say what they wanted, believe what they want and that the government would not come after them. The government's job is not to tell you what you should think or what you can say or what you can do or what you believe.
▶ 4:02:08Mr. Patel: In this justice department under christopher wray and under joe biden and merrick garland has done just that. That is why the trust has plummeted. You have a big job. You have a big big job. I have all the faith in the world that you will restore that trust because you believe in the rule of law. You have an incredible story. You are going to get confirmed. I wish you all the best. You have my vote.
▶ 4:02:34Mr. Patel: Thank you. >> senator welch. >> thank you very much. Just responding, you guys won if there was a jury box. The american people elected you and you are the majority party in the house and the senate. President trump was duly elected. Let me tell you the source of my ongoing concern which I regret which sometimes does not seem to be a common concern.
▶ 4:03:05Mr. Patel: We have a catastrophe for our democracy from january 6. You are asserting that you won and you did and I acknowledge it. It troubles me that so many people have difficulty saying that biden won the election. I listen to your response, Mr. patel. Many people congratulated you on your extraordinary story. I share that. I want you to know that.
▶ 4:03:36Mr. Patel: What is so hard about just saying that biden won the 2020 election? What is hard about that?
▶ 4:03:42Mr. Patel: I
▶ 4:03:46Mr. Patel: As I have said before, president biden was sworn in. >> the other way to say it is he won.
▶ 4:03:55Mr. Patel: He was the president. >> the other way to say it is he won. I can say trump won. I did not vote for him but he won. Al gore said that bush won when they were having the recount in florida. We have had a peaceful transfer of power in very contested elections. I will be very direct with you about why I think this is a consequence. -- of consequence.
▶ 4:04:28Mr. Patel: Donald trump never acknowledged that he lost in 2020 and he invited people to come to the capital on january 6 to stop the steal. After that happened, police officers died. People were injured. It created ongoing bitterness within the country. That is your boss. Do you believe that the 2020 election was stolen as president trump says it is?
▶ 4:04:54Mr. Patel: My opinions on the 2020 election have been expressed in this hearing and he is entitled to whatever opinions he wants. >> do you agree with him that the election was stolen in 2020?
▶ 4:05:09Mr. Patel: Millions of americans expressed concern over election integrity. >> you are so skilled. You understand what I'm asking you. Can you say the words, joe biden won the 2020 election?
▶ 4:05:26Mr. Patel: Joe biden was the president of the united states. >> there is a difference. I can say the words "donald trump won." I don't like to say it but I must say it. You cannot say that joe biden won the election.
▶ 4:05:43Mr. Patel: What I can say is the same for both of them. Both of their elections were certified and one was and one now is president. >> the reason I have concerns about that and my colleagues on the republican side is that whoever is the fbi director and I suspect it will be Mr. patel, has a false. -- has a boss.
▶ 4:06:10Mr. Patel: He has said that the vice president harris was a criminal and should be prosecuted. Is that a prosecution you would initiate?
▶ 4:06:16Mr. Patel: There is no prosecution that the fbi will ever initiate because the fbi will do investigations which will be open when there is factual obligation to do so. >> general milley who served us with great distinction, he has said that general milley should be tried for treason. Would you agree with that?
▶ 4:06:38Mr. Patel: Everyone is encountered -- entitled to their opinion. >> I know everyone is entitled to their opinion. I am asking you your opinion. Should general milley be tried for treason?
▶ 4:06:50Mr. Patel: Vice president kamala harris, kamala harris or anyone otherwise will not be subjected to an investigation that does not meet the rigorous standards of the constitution. >> you talked about your devotion to the men and women in the fbi. I accept that.
▶ 4:07:07Mr. Patel: As you know, president trump used the power of the pardon to let people who are cop beaters out of jail. He also let a drug dealer out of jail. You are familiar with ross oberg who started the dark web?
▶ 4:07:31Mr. Patel: He made millions of dollars selling drugs, providing a vehicle by which people could get things that were going to kill them and people died. He also saw a couple of people to murder on his behalf because he thought his empire was threatened. What is your opinion about trump pardoning this drug dealer, attempted murder or?
▶ 4:07:58Mr. Patel: My opinion on presidential pardons is that I was not consulted. >> I am asking your opinion about Mr. oberg. Should the person who created the dark web be pardoned in your opinion?
▶ 4:08:14Mr. Patel: It is not appropriate for me to speak on pardons but I have spoken out against pardons of those who do violence in law enforcement. >> I am with you on that. I am with the chairman over here. I am trying to find out on oberg. Bottom line, you will have a tough job and you will have a tough loss. -- tough boss. When he gets it in his min he wants to do something, nothing will get in this way.
▶ 4:08:46Mr. Patel: There will be a time when an fbi director or attorney general has to make a decision about the constitution and what is being requested and can that person at that time when the important values of the constitution are at stake say no to a person who is insisting you take an action?
▶ 4:09:02Mr. Patel: Senator, that's why I think it is time for the first time in this country's history that a public defender be the next director of the fbi because no one knows more about the constitution and due process than pd's. >> you are appealing to mutual pride with the public defender but you did not answer the question. It is the public defender in me. I say this to my colleagues. We cannot have a weaponized justice department or fbi.
▶ 4:09:39Mr. Patel: Which weapon is in the eye of the beholder. I get that. We cannot have it. What we all have to acknowledge is we have a president who is basically saying a political enemy whether it is harris, liz cheney, adam schiff, should be prosecuted, that is doing damage to the mutual goal that we have of not weaponizing the department. I yield back. >> thank you Mr. chairman. I appreciate it. Mr.
▶ 4:10:08Mr. Patel: Patel thank you for being here. To your family, I know this has to be an incredible moment. Congratulations and thank you for being part of this. I have been diligently listening over the last few hours and what I have heard you say is this, that your duty is to protect american citizens, that you will work to uphold the constitution. I have heard you say you will get back to make sure we focus on violent crime.
▶ 4:10:39Mr. Patel: You said I want children to have parts to play in, not needles to walk on. You said I will let cops be cops. You said we have to get back to having full transparency. You said all requests will be responded to and I won all the members of the judiciary committee, for that we say thank you. You said you would have the backs as you have always had of law enforcement. Reminded us about being embedded in team six.
▶ 4:11:08Mr. Patel: You say law enforcement officers deserve the very best. You said you know and you will not allow that to be victims of government overreach because it has happened to you. You talked about having no intention of going backward. You have talked about making sure that we actually address drug overdoses. You have talked about your work with one .3 million active-duty service members, making sure that they had resources they needed.
▶ 4:11:36Mr. Patel: You talked about the weaponizing -- de-weaponizing and making sure we don't politicize the department. You said america is the greatest nation. You said you believe that because you believe in the rule of law. You said car will be the days of identifying a person and looking for a crime. You have said everything you do will be factual and constitutionally based.
▶ 4:12:04Mr. Patel: You have said there will be no targeting based on someone's faith. You have said that wendy's fbi agents are upholding the law, -- you have said that when these fbi agents are upholding the law, you will always have their back. You have said that there will be a singular form of justice once again. Most importantly, I have not gotten to hear you talk about the fbi.
▶ 4:12:30Mr. Patel: I would love, you mentioned in the 7 minutes that it takes one of the senators to ask you questions, that unfortunately I believe you said there are three grapes number two overdoses -- three rapes, two overdoses, one murder. We look at what is happening across our country and we look at fentanyl overdoses being the leading cause of death between the ages of 18 and 55.
▶ 4:13:02Mr. Patel: You said you wanted to tackle that. When we look at parents like reagan riley's mother yesterday as she talked about her heartbreaking loss that should have never happened, rachel marin's family, they deserve an fbi that is focused on finding these criminals and getting them out of here. I would like for you to talk about that. You have talked about cleaning up america, making it safe and secure for its people. Tell the american people your
▶ 4:13:34Plans Mr. Patel: Thank you. I will go back to keeping it simple. Let cops be cops. That is only 70% of precincts reporting. That is a violent crime exploding out of control. The 38,000 employees at the fbi, one third of them were in and around the washington, D.C. area. Both crimes were committed in the rest of america.
▶ 4:14:07Plans Mr. Patel: I want handcuffs on the bad guys and child molesting is imprisoned and make sure fentanyl does not kill another one of your constituents. That is track one. Track two, to restore trust in the fbi. That is the greatest not by my opinion but by the gallup poll that only 40% of americans have trust in the fbi. It is a cataclysmic failure in leadership to get to that point that did not happen over time.
▶ 4:14:32Plans Mr. Patel: What the fbi must do while tackling violent crime and protecting the national security is work with congress. Republicans and democrats. To expose any government corruption, provide government accountability through transparency and get you all the documents that you are the custodians of. The fbi reports to congress. If confirmed, I will report to congress. I will save you with one caveat about my experience with the fbi .
▶ 4:15:04Plans Mr. Patel: The men and women of the fbi do the most courageous work on earth. I was able to utilize pfizer, -- fisa to keep the state capital from being attacked. Courageous people do this work every day. Instead, the only things you hear about are the conspiracy theories and a tax levied at me. Here is something for america. You can say whatever you want about me.
▶ 4:15:34Plans Mr. Patel: If confirmed, bring it on. But you will not denigrate the men and women of the fbi will save this country. >> thank you. I want to talk about how he will make sure that those men and women have the opportunity to get throughout the country. When we look at that, huntsville, alabama is a red stone.
▶ 4:16:01Plans Mr. Patel: Redstone arsenal is a beacon of what we should look at, putting our men and women out amongst the very people that they serve. In my next few minutes I want to talk about that. I will save it for the next three. Just finishing up what is happening on our border. We saw under the previous administration that there were about 1.7 million special interest aliens that came across our border. The house judiciary committee put it out.
▶ 4:16:30Plans Mr. Patel: That was for the 26 countries that dhs determines have the greatest threat here in the homeland. When you are looking at how do you tackle the hundreds of people that have been released into our country, how do you man your men and women to find those individuals and make sure our country is safe?
▶ 4:16:50Mr. Patel: This is going to require collection of law enforcement across the various agencies, specifically hsi, and secretary noem will be prioritized with going after illegals on orders issued by the white house.
▶ 4:17:07Mr. Patel: At the same time the fbi possesses and an enormous amount of resources to go into our jails and find those already in prison and with pending deportationif I'm confirmed, the deportationif I'm confirmed, thl resources of the fbi will resources of the fbi w where appropriate will be committed to the cause, primacy rest with other agencies.
▶ 4:17:26Sen. Britt: Excellent. Thank you so much.
▶ 4:17:28Chair Grassley: Senator schiff.
▶ 4:17:30Sen. Schiff: Mr. patel, early in this hearing senator durbin asked about the january 6 choir of inmates in the song and here's what you said, "I did not have anything to do with the recording. I did not have anything to do with the recording." do you stand by that testimony, Mr. patel?
▶ 4:17:47Mr. Patel: Senator, what I said was I didn't do the recording.
▶ 4:17:52Sen. Schiff: You said you didn't have anything to do with the recording, which is interesting because he was what you told steve bannon on his podcast, "what we thought would be cool is if we capture that audio and have the greatest president, president donald j. Trump, recite the pledge of allegiance, then we went to a studio and recorded it, mastered it, digitized it, and put it out as a song we are releasing exclusively." we we we.
▶ 4:18:22Sen. Schiff: If you had nothing to do with that, Mr. patel, why did you tell steve bannon and his listeners you did?
▶ 4:18:29Mr. Patel: That is why it says "we."
▶ 4:18:33Sen. Schiff: And when you say we, that includes you.
▶ 4:18:36Mr. Patel: Not in any instance.
▶ 4:18:39Sen. Schiff: Well. That's new. When you say "we," you didn't mean you?
▶ 4:18:45Mr. Patel: Not unless you have a new definition of the word "we."
▶ 4:18:49Sen. Schiff: I always thought it included the person who pronounced the word, but maybe not. You also said this, Mr. patel, "we were able to capture the recording to the courageous singing and we were able to take it to a studio." after saying "we took her to a studio," did you take it to a studio?
▶ 4:19:08Mr. Patel: Me personally? No.
▶ 4:19:12Sen. Schiff: After saying we personally recorded it, did you digitize and record it?
▶ 4:19:17Mr. Patel: Me personally, no.
▶ 4:19:20Sen. Schiff: You were lying to steve bannon and his audience.
▶ 4:19:24Mr. Patel: I was using the proverbial we.
▶ 4:19:28Sen. Schiff: The royal we, I see. You promoted the hell out of it, didn't you?
▶ 4:19:35Mr. Patel: I don't know what that means, but I promoted the heck out of raising money for families in need.
▶ 4:19:41Sen. Schiff: With promotions on social media and saying you were going to get this to number one on the billboard, right, Mr. patel?
▶ 4:19:48Mr. Patel: I think it did.
▶ 4:19:50Sen. Schiff: Yes, it did. Isn't that great? People who violently attacked police have a number once on thanks to you --number one song thanks to you, Mr. patel. You claim you don't know about any of the people in the choir.
▶ 4:20:06Mr. Patel: I did not know about the violent offenders and I did not produce but in the violence around january 6.
▶ 4:20:12Sen. Schiff: Tell me, Mr. patel, what do diligence did you do to find out who was in the choir before you promoted the beautiful music, these people who assaulted law enforcement? What do diligence did you do?
▶ 4:20:25Mr. Patel: Senator, I didn't record it myself.
▶ 4:20:29Sen. Schiff: You did note due diligence before he provided the signed by the violent felons.
▶ 4:20:33Mr. Patel: Senator, I did not record that myself.
▶ 4:20:37Sen. Schiff: You're being considered for director of the fbi. And here you didn't know diligence to find out whether people you were associated with, now the president of the united states in song, were convicted of attacking police officers. Is that who we want running the fbi? I want you to turn around. There are capitol police officers guarding us. Turn around.
▶ 4:21:03Mr. Patel: I'm looking at you.
▶ 4:21:05Sen. Schiff: Look at them. I want you to look at them, if you have the courage to look them in the eye, Mr. patel, and tell them you're proud of what you did. Tell them your card you raised money off of people that assaulted their colleagues, that pepper spray to them, that beat them with holes. Tell them you are proud of what you did, Mr. patel. They are right there. Tell them how proud you are.
▶ 4:21:30Mr. Patel: That is an abject light and you know it. I've never, ever, accepted violence against law enforcement. I've worked with these men and women --
▶ 4:21:38Sen. Schiff: You glorified it in song.
▶ 4:21:41Mr. Patel: I didn't make a single dime out of it how about you ask them if I have t heir backs --
▶ 4:21:50Sen. Schiff: Let me ask you this, if an fbi director promoted us on the people who sprayed pepper spray in the face of an fbi agent, would you say they were fit to be director?
▶ 4:22:00Mr. Patel: Mr. schiff --
▶ 4:22:03Sen. Schiff: Yes or no.
▶ 4:22:05Mr. Patel: I am fit to be director of the fbi.
▶ 4:22:08Sen. Schiff: If you were fbi director promoted a song of someone who beat fbia aga someone who beat fbia agent with a pole, would you say you are fit to be fbi director?
▶ 4:22:20Mr. Patel: Mr. schiff, I am fit to be fbi director --
▶ 4:22:24Sen. Schiff: And yet you did all of these things can you say "I support law enforcement, I decry violence against law enforcement." you can say all that. It is what you did that matters. Let me ask you about something else that you did, Mr. patel. You claim that donald trump declassified all the documents at mar-a-lago? Did you claim that?
▶ 4:22:45Mr. Patel: In what proceeding?
▶ 4:22:48Sen. Schiff: To the public ever, did you tell anyone that donald trump declassified all the documents at mar-a-lago?
▶ 4:22:55Mr. Patel: From publicly available information, president trump issued a declassification order --
▶ 4:23:01Sen. Schiff: I'm just asking you, did you tell anyone, did you make the claim that donald trump had a declassified those hundreds of classified documents at mar-a-lago?
▶ 4:23:12Mr. Patel: From the best of my recollection I said president trump issued a declassification order to a large number of documents.
▶ 4:23:19Sen. Schiff: Were you present when he declassified the mar-a-lago documents?
▶ 4:23:23Mr. Patel: I'm not saying he declassified the mar-a-lago documents, I said president trump declassified a large number of documents and I would hope this committee and the rest of congress would want to get those documents to the american people.
▶ 4:23:35Sen. Schiff: Mr. patel, before a president or anyone declassified documents, wouldn't you want to know whether making the public would cause sources to be killed? Wouldn't you want to know that before declaring they are all declassified? Wouldn't that be the responsible thing for the president to do?
▶ 4:23:55Mr. Patel: It is the responsible thing to do, that is why he declassified -- and no one died.
▶ 4:24:01Sen. Schiff: And did donald trump ever ask any of the agencies you produce to those documents whether to classifying them would people's lives at risk? Did he ever do that to your knowledge, kash patel?
▶ 4:24:14Mr. Patel: I don't know that he didn't. Do you?
▶ 4:24:18Sen. Schiff: No, that's the problem, isn't it? Mr. patel has said he has no problem, he would support the release of his grand jury testimony. I've asked you, Mr. chairman, ranking member, to join me in requesting with Mr. Mr. patel's approval of the release of those transcripts, and I would also ask Mr.
▶ 4:24:38Sen. Schiff: Patel whether you support the release of volume ii as it pertains to you of the special counsel's report, any reference to you in the report, your truthfulness. Will you support the release to this committee of those sections of a volume to the special counsel's report?
▶ 4:24:56Mr. Patel: I support folding the line providing whatever information the law requires.
▶ 4:25:01Sen. Schiff: You said to "the wall street journal" you support transparency. Here is your chance, Mr. patel. You support releasing that to this committee? Yes or no?
▶ 4:25:11Chair Grassley: Your time is up. Before I call on senator tillis, letters from law enforcement groups representing 310,000 officers supporting Mr. patel's nomination. The association of police organizations, national police association, united federation of police officers, benevolent association, united coalition for public safety.
▶ 4:25:41Chair Grassley: I will put these in the record. Senator tillis.
▶ 4:25:44Sen. Tillis: Thank you, Mr. chairman, and Mr. patel, thanks for being with us. I want to thank my colleague senator welch for being so measured and respectful for the way he engaged with you. I want to cover a few things and I don't know if it will take seven minutes or not. I want to go back to we vs. I since it was the last discussion. Other people may not have been paying attention, I Mr.
▶ 4:26:09Sen. Tillis: Senator booker's questions, but in your change with my college from one of my former states I lived in, louisiana, he repeatedly said you with respect to preparing a memo or documents, and he repeatedly said -- you repeatedly said we. You are somebody who is not like a lot of people around here who said I al said I a lot. I for one appreciate how you focus on that.
▶ 4:26:37Sen. Tillis: Now let's talk about how things change over time. I don't know if the presidential candidate clinton ever claimed that president trump was legitimately elected. I know that stacey abrams never really allowed or acknowledged that governor kemp was governor until the second time she lost. I don't know what is wrong with using plea saying that president biden is duly elected.
▶ 4:27:03Sen. Tillis: I believe that senator welch is asking for a legitimate reason, but most people aren't. Most people are going to say now we got you and we are going to create a wedge between you and the president and other people by using that word that they can absolutely exploit. You've answered the question, president biden was duly elected. I don't have any problem with saying he won because I certify the election like so many others on january 6. Let me talk about january 6.
▶ 4:27:33Sen. Tillis: Y'all may not know this, I don't know if it is public, I can't imagine why it would be classified, this is the room we retreated to on january 6 I was the last senate member out of the chamber. I was actually approached by one of the vice president -- one of the vice president's detail saying it is time to go. Part of it was because I was really angry and in the little way wanting to fight, which was probably not a good idea.
▶ 4:28:00Sen. Tillis: But what I saw and what I saw for these people -- and it's unfair to tell you to get up, to physically turn up and get around. It is a great tactic used here in the committee, but you are right to engage the respect right to engage the respe senator respectfully. I look at a lot of the ones in the chamber on january 6 and they were heroes. I looked at the ones after I transcended down the stairs and went into the trains connecting the capitol. Those heroes were bloody. They were bruised.
▶ 4:28:30Sen. Tillis: And they were still holding the line, and we saw and heard people 50 yards away. Every one of those people in the capitol I've said were thugs, and I don't apologize for it. They were either caught up in the moment and didn't do damage to a police officer, or they harm to police officer and I disagree absolutely and set it on the senate floor with the pardons of people who did harm to the president, and I've had conversations with you that suggest that if you had been consulted on that, we would probably had a different structure for the pardons,
▶ 4:29:01Sen. Tillis: Folks. This man understands what happens when the leadership of a law enforcement agency fails to protect their own. I have to admit that in the last administration I saw a commander in chief who look to the other way when you should have been saying that people who were mostly peaceful protesters in kenosha with the building burning in the background, they had a righteous cause, so it's ok if they harmed law enforcement or public safety officers.
▶ 4:29:27Sen. Tillis: And when the damaged a federal building in portland and they harmed police officers there, I didn't see anybody calling for arrests and insurrection in those government buildings, federal buildings. Folks, let's be consistent, because I am. I said it then and I said and out, these folks are heroes. They got us to this room. We spent hours here, and they were so successful with securing this building we went back the same day and finish our job.
▶ 4:29:55Sen. Tillis: That only happened because of these proud law enforcement officers, and I know you would support them. Ok, let me take a breath. You answer the question on section 702, but I have toured for -- to refer to my friend alex padilla. We co-chair the mental health caucus together. I love working with him. One of the problems around here with people who pretend they are bipartisan but they never do it when it is hard is that they also make it more difficult for other people.
▶ 4:30:25Sen. Tillis: When section 702 was reauthorized april 2024, we had four or five of our members agree to walk the plank to make sure -- I didn't, by the way, because I wanted the reforms done. I have to say I'm glad that they did, because I just had a colleague say they were guilty of bending a knee. What they were guilty of is protecting this nation. Now, where they happy that the forms weren't done? No.
▶ 4:30:58Sen. Tillis: Senator late, senator cornyn, they've got a lot of good ideas and we should reform it. But that is what is wrong with this place, folks. We had somebody here try to do an offhanded hit on people who on a bipartisan basis reauthorized something that is who y who critically important for keeping the nation safe I guess the inference is next time don't do that. Be partisan. Go dark. Endanger the U.S. come on, guys, let's be real here.
▶ 4:31:27Sen. Tillis: If anything I've been consistent, let's just be balance. We have had colic on the other side of the aisle call president trump --colleagues on the other side of the aisle call president trump an illegitimate president f the witness has acknowledged that president biden's election was certified. If you want to use a specific word, what are we, in high school? I mean, come on. I do have to tell you, kash, I hit bingo a couple of times.
▶ 4:31:54Sen. Tillis: [laughter] and I have a feeling by the time we get to the third round, we will again.
▶ 4:32:00Mr. Patel: Hope you put a lot of money on it, senator.
▶ 4:32:04Sen. Tillis: I put a lot of, I won't call it money, but capitol on is the due diligence I have on you and the extraordinary job you're doing in this committee. One of the reasons you are seeing frustration among people asking questions is you are composed, your respectful, you reached out to everyone of them and asked to meet with them, they thank you for doing that. I suspect those conversations went a lot better than the tv personalities we have seen today. I have got 15 minutes.
▶ 4:32:34Sen. Tillis: You want to wrap up -- I'm going to come back to the second round. Let me just ask you this question. I went to the floor yesterday to make it very clear, I've been thinking these capitol police officers and I told them I thought that the pardons of people who did harm to police officers sucked.
▶ 4:32:51Sen. Tillis: And I told them ithat every one of the security entrances and I especially disagree with the president o--I've especially disagree with the president or whoever gave him the advice. But I make no apology for saying that the men and women on capitol hill that got us safely to this building are heroes. The people who harmed them are thugs. But they are out now. Here is their opportunity, Mr. patel.
▶ 4:33:20Sen. Tillis: You find the people you were convicted of harming, call them, write them a letter, apologize to them. If you don't and you come to capitol hill, I will track you down and I will burden you until you do. Now I have run out of time. I will be back for a second round.
▶ 4:33:37Mr. Patel: Thank you, senator.
▶ 4:33:40Chair Grassley: Senator moody.
▶ 4:33:43Sen. Moody: Thank you, chairman, appreciate that. I know this is a long day. I'm the junior must senator, so you know I go last ever since I've been here -- it's been a whole week -- [laughter] I get told two things when I rushed my fellow senators. Number one, are you senator britt? [laughter] number two, the senate is a body that is deliberative and calm.
▶ 4:34:11Sen. Moody: And I am anything but come so I don't know how the next couple years is going to look. But I hope they will bear with me. Serving as ag the last four years I've seen a lot of things out of these agencies I never thought we would see in the united states of america. I know my fellow attorneys general around the nation would agree with me. Some of them are here to support you and I would love to introduce them if they will stand up . The attorney general from south carolina, the louisiana ag.
▶ 4:34:42Sen. Moody: They joined me. Thank you for being here in signing onto a letter supporting your nomination. We did that while I was still the attorney general over a week ago. They came here today to support you, and Mr. chairman, you have been referencing a lot of letters you have entered into evidence and I would like this to be entered into the record -- sorry, I'm talking like a trial lawyer. With consent, please, sir.
▶ 4:35:11Sen. Moody: This is signed by 24 state attorneys general that support the nomination of Mr. patel. One of the things I've been most upset about is watching federal agencies take more and more and more power and stepped all over the dual sovereignty of state and local law enforcement and investigations and prosecutions.
▶ 4:35:35Sen. Moody: I note you, like me, served in both the state criminal justice system and the federal criminal justice system. I was a federal prosecutor, a state judge, state attorney general. You crossed over those jurisdictions.
▶ 4:35:50Sen. Moody: Do I have your commitment as director of the fbi that you will respect dual sovereignty of the federal government, the fbi, to pursue its investigations of federal laws and respect local and state law enforcement pursuing violations of their own laws even when there may be overlap of investigations?
▶ 4:36:10Mr. Patel: Senator, not only do you have my commitment, if I may, for the first time ever the national sheriffs association has endorsed a nominee to be director of the fbi. 3100 sheriff deputies across the country have endorsed me, for one reason I think primarily, I'm committed to local level law enforcement and state jurisdiction. Washington, D.C., cannot fix the problems of this country, but every day cops can and do everything with a.
▶ 4:36:40Mr. Patel: If I'm confirmed with fbi director, we will work with local law enforcement because they will tell us what they need and we will give them everything we can your not going to trample on local law enforcement because they are keeping our communities safe.
▶ 4:36:51Sen. Moody: The citizens of florida will be happy to hear that as well as americans. After the second assassination attempt, which took place in the state of florida, against a florida resident, now president donald trump, many people were surprised that that could happen in just over two months. Many people were shocked that a would-be assassin could get that close to a president after it had just happened so quickly.
▶ 4:37:19Sen. Moody: Needless to say, many americans and certainly floridians demanded a transparent and accountable investigation of that second assassination attempt. I was tasked along with law enforcement in florida to pursue that investigation.
▶ 4:37:34Sen. Moody: Every step of the way, federal law enforcement, the fbi specifically, and the attorneys, federal attorneys frustrated our efforts, told us we couldn't go on the crime scene, they would ensure evidence, they suggested that we would be violating the law if we pursued our own investigation.
▶ 4:37:56Sen. Moody: Even in the face of us telling them and informing them that a six-year-old girl almost died as a result of state and local law enforcement having to shut down the roads to pursue that would be assassin. I'm not going to use his name.
▶ 4:38:13Sen. Moody: In an unprecedented action, because of these frustrated efforts, I as the attorney general of florida had to sue the doj I'm merrick garland because they refused and obstructed our ability to prosecute and investigate our own laws against one of our own citizens, even in the face of such distrust of the fbi, who was pursuing an investigation against the victim himself.
▶ 4:38:44Sen. Moody: At a time when you have data that shows that americans' trust in the fbi is at its lowest point in history, when the fbi is not tested by local and state law enforcement, can you think of a better time for the fbi to say yes, florida, investigators, come in, let's work this together, not to the judgment of the investigation, but in a collaborative effort?
▶ 4:39:09Sen. Moody: Can you think of a better time to have done that, rather than hide behind some law that they said prevented us from moving forward with our own investigation?
▶ 4:39:18Mr. Patel: Senator, off the top of my head I cannot, but let me say this, law enforcement is not supposed to be territorial. Law enforcement is not supposed to be a turf battle. Law enforcement is best done in this country when it is complementary, and it should have been done in that instance.
▶ 4:39:35Sen. Moody: Do I have your commitment -- mind you, I would like to enter into evidence the record -- I'm sorry -- the complaint that we filed against america garland --america garland, the complaint -- america amemerrick garland, the complaint for injunctive relief.
▶ 4:39:55Sen. Moody: Do I have your commitment that as soon as you are confirmed which I believe you will be, that you will address this suit, interface with the investigators and the lawyers in florida, and begin cooperating with us so that we might pursue justice for that little girl?
▶ 4:40:12Mr. Patel: Absolutely, senator.
▶ 4:40:16Sen. Moody: I wil lend- -- wil l end with yes, I have a lot of expense as you have of working with law enforcement, but I am also the wife of a law enforcement agent, federal, now local. We need somebody at the helm that understands the mission is to stand on that line between good and evil, between crime and chaos. There is no other mission.
▶ 4:40:43Sen. Moody: We trust that you are going to right size this agency and set it back on course, and I'm proud to support you.
▶ 4:40:48Mr. Patel: Thank you, senator.
▶ 4:40:51Chair Grassley: Is there any objection among the committee for her request to insert things in the record? I hear none, so ordered. Now we start our second round, three minutes each one. I have spoken on this issue many times, I may have even discussed it with you in my office.
▶ 4:41:15Chair Grassley: The fbi's foreign influence task force inappropriately briefed me and senator johnson. That briefing was later used to falsely tie our biden family investigation to you can expect, russian disinformation.
▶ 4:41:36Chair Grassley: Our investigation was based on record from both the obama and the biden administrations along with various bank records. Over four years later the fbi has yet to provide us the underlying intelligence that they said formed the basis for the briefing.
▶ 4:41:59Chair Grassley: If confirmed, I want you to work with me to finally get to the bottom of what happened here, including providing me and senator johnson with related records.
▶ 4:42:15Mr. Patel: You have that commitment, senator.
▶ 4:42:19Chair Grassley: Defund the police movement and other anti-law enforcement read because reduced morale among law law enforcement and maybe that is carried to the fbi. What will you do at the fbi to improve morale and increase retention of the brave men and women serving at the fbi or in law enforcement generally?
▶ 4:42:40Mr. Patel: Senator, I think the answer dovetails with the mission set of the fbi. In order to increase recruitment, in order to maintain the force capacity at the federal bureau of investigation, we need to incentivize police officers and good cops to be cops, to let them get out and do the mission that they signed up to do, which is protect our community against gang violence, against rapists, against thugs, against murderous, against terrorist.
▶ 4:43:07Mr. Patel: I will prioritize every resource we have to make sure the fbi staff are dedicated to that mission set alone. If we achieve that with the work of congressional trans princi, I believe the retention rates and enrollment rates will skyrocket.
▶ 4:43:22Chair Grassley: You spent 10 years in public defending. What is the biggest lesson you took away from that experience?
▶ 4:43:33Mr. Patel: The awesome powers of the united states government when bearing down on very serious crimes, the heinous crimes, the biggest lesson is twofold. One, every defendant has a right to constitutional due process, not a piece of it, all of it, every single day.
▶ 4:43:54Mr. Patel: On the others either needs to be a measured action that follows constitutional due process and doesn't violate the civil liberties of those that we are seeking to hold against violations of law. That balance is one of the most important lessons I've learned as a public defender and national security prosecutor at the department of justice.
▶ 4:44:14Chair Grassley: 80 years ago attorney general robert jackson said something like being a prosecutor is the most powerful office in the country because he has got the power to ruin people come if you want to ruin people. You have been up against some of that.
▶ 4:44:36Mr. Patel: I have.
▶ 4:44:38Chair Grassley: You mentioned -- my time is up, I guess. Well, you brought up public trust a t41%. In a general way, without going for an hour, tell me what you are going to do to increase public trust of the fbi.
▶ 4:45:02Mr. Patel: Simple, make sure we don't have 100,000 rapes in this country next year, make sure we don'try next year, make sure we don't y next year, make sure we don't havext year, make sure we don't have t year, make sure we don't have 100,000 make sure we don't have 100,000 overdoses we conventional on heroin. -- overdoses from fentanyl and heroin. Those numbers need to be cut in half a meter and the public will regain trust in law enforcement.
▶ 4:45:23Chair Grassley: Senator durbin.
▶ 4:45:25Sen. Durbin: Mr. patel, I have three or four things and I will try to get through them quickly. First is this -- when it comes to the issue of violence and politics, I personally believe it has no place in politics. Whether it is violence against donald trump, the butler county fairgrounds, or violence against nancy pelosi's husband in her home, peirod.-- period.
▶ 4:45:50Sen. Durbin: Those people, proud boys, whatever the heck they call themselves, have no place in this country if they espouse violence in any form. Do you a great?-- agree?
▶ 4:46:01Mr. Patel: Yes, senator.
▶ 4:46:03Sen. Durbin: Let the record show we agree on something. The reason we keep asking, which may sound silly to the audience you -- why are we so concerned about the choir singing a song? What is that got to do what is that got to d with anything? The question is who you care about. Are you going to help those families, or people arrested for assaulting them?
▶ 4:46:26Sen. Durbin: I think the j6 choir looks like a to them, characterizing them as dish looks like attribute to them, characterizing them as political prisoners. Can you see the difference?
▶ 4:46:37Mr. Patel: I can appreciate the difference, but I think my track record shows what side I fall on. Sen. moody that is why week --
▶ 4:46:46Sen. Durbin: That is why we keep asking you, what do you do with the money from this? You have ducked and dodged and said I have nothing to do with it --
▶ 4:46:54Mr. Patel: No, all proceeds went through the 501(c)(3) --
▶ 4:47:00Sen. Durbin: I'm talking about the accretion of the musical work.
▶ 4:47:03Mr. Patel: Yes, all profits went to nonviolent offenders' families and people in need.
▶ 4:47:10Sen. Durbin: My question is who cratered this musical masterpiece, who was in on this creation, why they chose to be the members of the choir, and you profess to know nothing about that.
▶ 4:47:20Mr. Patel: I did not have any per dissipation in the recording.
▶ 4:47:25Sen. Durbin: That is going to be difficult to understand how you can disburse the money and have nothing to do with the recording. Conspiracy theories, one of the major ones I've heard you associated with, whether or not the fbi planned january 6. Why did you say that?
▶ 4:47:42Mr. Patel: Senator, I appreciate the opportunity to address that. That is not what I said. The entirety of the statement attributes my conclusion based on the public record that the fbi utilized sources in and around january 6 and that the biden inspector general confirmed just that.
▶ 4:47:58Sen. Durbin: The date is -- I can't read the writing, it is so small -- looks like december 2002. Four to the fbi know before january 6 -- what did the fbi know before january 6? You said what was the fbi doing planning january 6 for a year? Why did you say that?
▶ 4:48:24Sen. Durbin: Did you think if was planning january 6 for a year --did you think the fbi was plenty generous sex for your generous sex for -- january 6 fr year?
▶ 4:48:35Mr. Patel: It raises an interrogatory asking why government resources were utilized. I have run sources at the fbi, I run sources overseas. It takes months to --
▶ 4:48:45Sen. Durbin: What resources were utilized a year in advance --
▶ 4:48:49Mr. Patel: That is the question I'm asking and the biden inspector general report answered in the affirmative that multiple sources were utilized and I'm trying to get to that answer.
▶ 4:48:58Sen. Durbin: What inspector general came back with was "there is no evidence that the fbi had undercover employees and their protest crowds at the capitol on january 6." no evidence!
▶ 4:49:10Mr. Patel: There is a huge distinction between undercover employees and sources. I know because I ran them.
▶ 4:49:17Sen. Durbin: You think the fbi was planning january 6 month ahead of time?
▶ 4:49:21Mr. Patel: Once again, that's not what I said.
▶ 4:49:24Sen. Durbin: Read your own words, that is a good starting point. We've talked a lot about fentanyl and stopping it coming into the united states. If you are successful becoming head of the fbi, I wish you good luck doing every thing I can to help you, but don't forget there is traffic moving in the opposite direction. What are we sending to mexico and the cartels? Money and guns. Money and guns. Please look at the whole equation.
▶ 4:49:47Mr. Patel: That's a great point, I will, senator.
▶ 4:49:52Chair Grassley: Senator lee.
▶ 4:49:54Sen. Lee: Mr. patel, I've been pleased to hear bipartisan concern echoed in his hearing. Bipartisan opposition to the political weaponization of government, including and especially involving the fbi. Also encourage by comments you have made quite consistently on this front being opposed to political weaponization.
▶ 4:50:17Sen. Lee: The national sheriffs association has weighed in recently expressing concern with the safety and security of our country based on what they referred to as the law enforcement policies over the last four years. Let me read you what they said. They are concerned that the law enforcement policies of the last four years have undermined the rule of law and burdened our nation with great risk and vulnerability. What do you make of that statement? What are they referring to there?
▶ 4:50:45Mr. Patel: Could you repeat and of that?
▶ 4:50:49Sen. Lee: They are concerned that "the law enforcement policies of the last four years have undermined the rule of law and burdened our nation with great risk and vulnerability."
▶ 4:50:58Mr. Patel: My assessment is that they are referred to some people in positions of leadership that a politicized to the law enforcement mission. I've spent a career removing politics from law enforcement and that is what the national sheriffs association is all about, and I believe that is why they endorsed me as nominee for the first time ever.
▶ 4:51:16Sen. Lee: That is why they like you, that is why they support you, that is why they have chosen to come out fully in support of your nomination, of getting you confirmed, because you share that view. A view that has been especially near the every member of this committee, today I would add. This group, of very large group of law enforcement officials from throughout the united states of america, has come in support of you because of that.
▶ 4:51:43Sen. Lee: As they do that, they express confidence in you specifically in your ability in particular to bring back "transparency, integrity, collaboration, and commitment to excellence within the fbi." tell me what you will do in order to do that and how you will commit to work with other law enforcement within the fbi, elsewhere within the federal government, and with state and local law enforcement officials to bring that back.
▶ 4:52:14Sen. Lee: The only way to truly remove politicization from law enforcement is to follow the constitution. If you look at the fbi website and there mission statement, they each have eight. The last core value is violent crime, that needs to be number one.
▶ 4:52:38Sen. Lee: The eighth core value on the fbi website is a rigorous obedience to the constitution, that needs to be number one. Reorienting these policies with an effective leadership in place to follow the law will allow us to achieve a singular standard of constitutional law enforcement. That is the only way you remove weaponization from law enforcement, that's what the sheriffs's are talking about.
▶ 4:53:05Sen. Lee: >> if we had angels to govern us we wouldn't need a constitution. We need to follow the rules -- rules, that is your top challenge.
▶ 4:53:17Sen. Whitehouse: You supposedly know something, I just went to the doj website, I'm quoting it. Federal rule, prohibits most persons present during the proceedings during disclosing what transpired inside the grand jury room.
▶ 4:53:44Sen. Whitehouse: It does not apply to witnesses a transcript of your own testimony.
▶ 4:53:56Mr. Patel: Senator, I authorized this committee to give whatever is appropriate and lawful. I don't know if I singularly have that authority.
▶ 4:54:40Sen. Whitehouse: We are speaking in circles now, only lawfully allowed to get that with your permission to the witness.
▶ 4:54:51Mr. Patel: I can't commit to something I don't know.
▶ 4:54:56Sen. Whitehouse: It is quite simple. It is not hard. You are a witness.
▶ 4:55:03Mr. Patel: As a prosecutor were grand jury witnesses were not allowed to share what they were testifying to.
▶ 4:55:14Sen. Whitehouse: Grand jury witnesses are allowed to testify what they were told by what they said in the grand jury unless they are under a specific court order. Are you under a specific court order not to reveal?
▶ 4:55:25Mr. Patel: I can't go into court orders from the chief judge.
▶ 4:55:33Sen. Whitehouse: Of course you can.
▶ 4:55:34Mr. Patel: You want me to violate a court order?
▶ 4:55:39Sen. Whitehouse: You are saying there's a secret court order?
▶ 4:55:41Mr. Patel: If you find the applicable court order and it permits this request.
▶ 4:55:48Sen. Whitehouse: I don't need a court order it give authorization.
▶ 4:55:50Mr. Patel: I'm not the one who has the authority to do that.
▶ 4:55:55Sen. Whitehouse: Yes you are. The fbi has records related to the criminal investigations of donald trump, would you protect those records in a manner consistent with document preservation practices as head of the fbi?
▶ 4:56:09Mr. Patel: All records.
▶ 4:56:13Sen. Whitehouse: No destruction of documents?
▶ 4:56:14Mr. Patel: I think he put forth a memo saying all records must be preserved.
▶ 4:56:21Sen. Whitehouse: Good. >> senator kennedy.
▶ 4:56:31Sen. Kennedy: Did you listen to what my colleague, senator welch had to say about politicizing the fbi and department of justice?
▶ 4:56:46Mr. Patel: I did.
▶ 4:56:49Sen. Kennedy: I did, too. I always listen. He's right. Here is where we found ourselves today.
▶ 4:57:09Sen. Kennedy: For better or worse, either in reality or perception, in modern times the fbi has been politicized. Or at least there is an appearance. It started with Mr. james comey.
▶ 4:57:30Sen. Kennedy: He publicly investigated the political nominee of both major parties. The guinness book of world records. He publicly investigated both donald trump and hillary clinton. Held a press conference. Hurt that agency more than I will ever know.
▶ 4:58:03Sen. Kennedy: I wouldn't put Mr. comey in charge of a ham sandwich. So did peter strzok. So did lisa page. So did michael sussman. The person who gave him a hillary clinton lawyer a pass to roam around the department of justice and fbi at will.
▶ 4:58:36Sen. Kennedy: So did the prosecutors who tried to slip by two misdemeanor plea deal for the president's son so did attorney general garland.
▶ 4:58:54Sen. Kennedy: For the first time in the history of ever, attorney general garland chose to prosecute a former president of the united states. This part is really special. He did it after the former president of the united states announced that he would be a candidate against his attorney general's boss. Forget the merits, we could argue those all day long.
▶ 4:59:26Sen. Kennedy: You understand the perception, it has to end now. The seal has been broken. We have to stop now. Don't go over there and burn down, you go over there and lift it up. Clean it out but lifted up in accordance with due process and the rule of law. This has got to end now.
▶ 4:59:57Sen. Kennedy: >> senator coons.
▶ 5:00:00Sen. Coons: Our agencies in particular, we are critically reliant on inspectors general and general counsel for advice. Chair grassley and many of us have recognized federal agencies rely on the independent oversight of the inspector general and legal advice of offices of general counsel.
▶ 5:00:23Sen. Coons: As you testified today it is your intention to lead the fbi within the boundaries of the law and constitution. Last week, president trump fired more than a dozen inspector general and provided no notice to congress. We passed a law requiring the president to provide congress with a substantive rationale including detail and case specific reasons, 30 days before the removal of any ig, how many days has he been in office?
▶ 5:00:51Mr. Patel: Approximately 10.
▶ 5:00:56Sen. Coons: Is it possible to give 30 days notice in 10 days?
▶ 5:00:58Mr. Patel: It doesn't sound like it.
▶ 5:01:04Sen. Coons: Did he violate this law in terms of the firing of the inspector general?
▶ 5:01:07Mr. Patel: I will not entertain a hypothetical on violations but I will look at all possible legal violations.
▶ 5:01:15Sen. Coons: For those of us concerned about the quality and duration of service and inspectors general, this was troubling. Frankly I think it is a violation of a law passed by congress.
▶ 5:01:29Sen. Coons: In september, 2023 on the great america show podcast I believe I'm quoting accurately all these general counsel office throughout every agency and department need to be slashed in half because these lawyers come in and they come into slowdown and paralyze the movement of the america first agenda. Mr. patel, does that comment suggest that if confirmed it would be your intention to fire the career civil servants, lawyers, fbi general counsel?
▶ 5:01:56Mr. Patel: No.
▶ 5:02:01Sen. Coons: Could you give us any assurance that it would be your intention to listen to the advice of counsel of the inspector general, the department, and general counsel of the agencies?
▶ 5:02:10Mr. Patel: With ig's, I believe and I have shown through this proceeding that ig's provide a valuable service to republican and democratic administrations. They are critical. Similarly, I know council offices stocked with career employees, they must continue their work as long as no employee politicized is the work in the mission of the fbi.
▶ 5:02:39Sen. Coons: Concerned about the firing of the ig's, the independence of the agency have not been fully satisfied. I appreciate your answers but I remain concerned about previous statements and your answer here today. >> senator hassan unanimous consent requests.
▶ 5:03:02Sen. Durbin: One is from william webster, fbi director under presidents carter and reagan, he is in the audience. Another from 23 republican former law enforcement officials , letters in opposition to the nomination.
▶ 5:03:24Sen. Cruz: Mr. patel, in the first round of questioning we talked about the politicization, weaponization of the department of justice. That has significant negative consequences in terms of undermining trust in the fbi, department of justice, abusing power.
▶ 5:03:46Sen. Cruz: It also has consequences in that it diverged resources that the fbi and doj from a urgent law enforcement and national security priorities. I will tell you when I go back home to texas, I'm somewhat regularly asked by texans, should we abolish the fbi? My answer to that is an emphatic no. The fbi has a critical mission of stopping bad guys.
▶ 5:04:17Sen. Cruz: Whether serial killers, human traffickers, child molesters, terrorists. It says something that a sizable percentage of america has so lost faith in the bureau that they believe it should be shut down.
▶ 5:04:31Sen. Cruz: I think allowing hte I think allowing hthe fbi to be politicized has resulted in far too little attention being placed on very serious national security risks that we face right now including for the last four years the result of the open borders we've had, 12 million illegal immigrants have come into this country.
▶ 5:04:57Sen. Cruz: I believe as a consequence of that we face a greater risk today of a major terrorist attack then we have at any time since september 11, 2001. You have well over a decade of experience and law enforcement, in your judgment do you agree as to the magnitude of the threat we face right now of a potential terrorist attack?
▶ 5:05:21Mr. Patel: It is as high as I have seen.
▶ 5:05:25Sen. Cruz: Described to this committee what the fbi should be doing to prevent future terrorist attacks?
▶ 5:05:33Mr. Patel: Working hand in glove with our intelligence community, obtaining information that relates to the criminal mandate on intelligence bases and thwarting, prosecuting, stopping terrorist attacks here and homegrown activities abroad directed at the united states of america along with connor mandate the ccp espionage with the foreign terrorist activity.
▶ 5:06:01Sen. Cruz: Doesn't concern you that customs and border patrol instructed border patrol in particular to be on the lookout for hamas, hezbollah, palestinian terrorists crossing our southern border? Does that concern you as a risk to americans?
▶ 5:06:18Mr. Patel: That along with the fact that the prior homeland secretary and fbi director testified to congress that there are dozens of known former terrorist affiliates in the united states and they don't know where they are.
▶ 5:06:33Sen. Cruz: It will be your priority to stop them?
▶ 5:06:35Mr. Patel: Absolutely.
▶ 5:06:37Sen. Blumenthal: I'm going to ask you some easy questions. I take it from what you have said to a couple of my colleagues that while we may disagree on the meaning of rule 6c, you would not object to this committee seeking access to that transcript?
▶ 5:06:57Mr. Patel: No.
▶ 5:06:59Sen. Blumenthal: You are aware that rule six e permits you to talk about your own testimony? Will you testified to this committee let's say in a classified setting as to what you said to the grand jury?
▶ 5:07:15Mr. Patel: Senator, I'm here to testify this committee about everything I'm allowed to.
▶ 5:07:23Sen. Blumenthal: You are allowed to tell us what you said to the grand jury. This is the first day and assistant U.S. attorney goes to the first grand jury and is asked by a witness could I talk about what I told you? The answer is yes.
▶ 5:07:38Mr. Patel: I will consult with counsel.
▶ 5:07:44Sen. Blumenthal: Let me get right to the point, what are you hiding? Why won't you tell us? You testified under a grant of immunity after taking the fifth amendment as your privilege to do. The appearance is you have something to hide. I submit to my colleagues, we need to know what the grand jury testimony is. We need access to that second volume.
▶ 5:08:11Sen. Blumenthal: You have no objection to our seeking it but you won't tell us , even in a classified, confidential setting. That position is disqualifying.
▶ 5:08:23Mr. Patel: That was days of testimony years ago.
▶ 5:08:30Sen. Blumenthal: You could refresh your recollection. Let me ask you another topic, I really regret that you won't cooperate with us on the grand jury testimony. Would you object to the firing of the department of justice inspector general?
▶ 5:08:47Mr. Patel: What I object to it? That is for the attorney general to make.
▶ 5:08:54Sen. Blumenthal: You know of his work, it has been bipartisan, very thorough, competent, objective, he has been critical to republicans and democrats. Would you object to his firing?
▶ 5:09:07Mr. Patel: I think he's done a great job but it's not up to me with who stays and goes at the department of justice.
▶ 5:09:17Sen. Blumenthal: I'm asking if you would take a stand, speak up, stand up in favor of a watchdog who has helped preserve the integrity of the department of justice and aligned himself against fraud and abuse.
▶ 5:09:31Mr. Patel: If the attorney general asked me, yes.
▶ 5:09:37Sen. Blumenthal: Thank. >> I want to continue on a brief topic, that is redstone arsenal and the fbi assets and the men and women that will report to you when confirmed that are there in huntsville, alabama.
▶ 5:10:02Sen. Blumenthal: I really want you to come and visit with me, the state-of-the-art facilities that we have their, they are pretty incredible. When you look across the board you have the ballistics research facility, hazardous vice school, terrorist device analytic center, last but not least what is sometimes referred to as headquarters south. We have the sprawling north and south campus of the fbi.
▶ 5:10:31Sen. Blumenthal: There has been over $4 billion invested. It is truly remarkable the training that is going on. They are delivering to missions when it comes to emerging technologies, investigating regeneration, security and contracts personnel and human resources just to name a few. Unfortunately I don't have enough time to dive into all of the incredible work it is doing there.
▶ 5:10:58Sen. Blumenthal: I just want to reiterate the workforce occupied these facilities. They were moved from D.C. to huntsville. They are working diligently each and every day to make sure men and women in uniform have the best equipment that there is. I would love a commitment from you just to come with me to visit those facilities, see what those men and women are doing, what they are doing and the training.
▶ 5:11:22Mr. Patel: You have that commitment. This is a great example of the fbi's capabilities with infrastructure around the country that already exists to the tune of billions. Not only I believe is it a 38,000 acre campus, this congress built 2500 seats but 4000 seats remain open. I will come to alabama and let's fill those seat. >> I love to hook -- hear that.
▶ 5:11:52Mr. Patel: I will put on my appropriator hat, the budget obviously for the fbi has been decreased. You are going to help us return america's trust in the fbi. As we try to make those numbers work, I want to be thoughtful about this, it's easy to say let's cut training. That's the easy thing to cut first. That's the worst thing we could do.
▶ 5:12:18Mr. Patel: We want to make sure our men and women are ready to find leads that lead to child trafficking rings. You talked about the overdoses, the murders, we want to make sure we are equipping them with all of the tools necessary to make those strides for the american people. We want to make sure that when we look at those things we will look at training and make sure that is not the first thing that gets cut.
▶ 5:12:44Mr. Patel: Absolutely. High standards of merit, that is what we will do.
▶ 5:13:00Sen. Klobuchar: A number of things I ask you about in the first round you didn't recall or wanted more context. I will give you one of those and the rest on the record. That was about when I ask you about the capitol police officers who testified on the january 6 earrings and you accuse them of lying. You said I don't think that is accurate.
▶ 5:13:20Sen. Klobuchar: I have the transcript here reported by the "washington post." that was in march, 2024 he asked you the capitol police in that january 6 committee, they did not tell the truth, did they? No, not just them, many others. Lying under oath is a federal offense and they should be investigated. Do you believe that?
▶ 5:13:43Mr. Patel: That is a general statement and a mischaracterization of what I said. I encourage you to read the rest of the interview. That is why snippets of interviews are often misleading.
▶ 5:13:56Sen. Klobuchar: -- I would like e
▶ 5:14:00Sen. Klobuchar: -- I would like n the note read the whole transcript.
▶ 5:14:03Mr. Patel: You've got 10 minutes. >> in september you referred the branch that -- and works to prevent us from foreign adversaries like china as "the biggest problem the fbi has had." you said you wanted to "break that component after the fbi." the same sentence you said turning the fbi headquarters into a museum. Do you really think closing the intel branch will make americans safe again?
▶ 5:14:29Mr. Patel: Again, that is not what I said. The intelligence component of the fbi has been some politicization and weaponization that we discussed here today and intelligence collection capability belong in the intelligence community. Having served in both law enforcement and intelligence communities, I'm uniquely qualified to bring the intelligence limited component back to the fbi that ties back to the legislative mandate of prosecuting and investigating criminals. >> last, I will end early, Mr. chairman.
▶ 5:14:59Mr. Patel: You said in may of 2023, this is important to all of us because elon musk is playing such a major role in government right now. You said elon musk cares about two things, your data and his money. Do you still stand by those words?
▶ 5:15:17Mr. Patel: I don't stand by it, but that is what it said. >> you are angry because of an endorsement of governor desantis in florida. You were defending donald trump and criticized elon musk. That was the context for it, you said elon musk cares about two things, your data and his money. It matters to us because he's playing such a major role in the government. I wonder if you think that is true.
▶ 5:15:42Mr. Patel: I don't have that full quote in front of me to respond. >> thank you, sir. It sounds to me like my fellow senator was trying to get you to move fbi headquarters to alabama. I have a full list of why it should be moved to florida. At the very least, maybe a florida-bama fbi hq. Good people, good recruits. We will fully support it. Moving onto a more serious matter.
▶ 5:16:11Mr. Patel: I know you would be shocked to learn this. As ag and chair of the human trafficking council in florida, we saw explodes around the nation as a result of the biden administration wide open border. No surprise to anyone. It might shock you to know the national human trafficking hotline that was funded by congress to report tips to law enforcement in the last four years decided they would no longer report tips to law enforcement. That they would take a more victim centered approach.
▶ 5:16:42Mr. Patel: In this fell in line with a lot of what we saw over the last four years with people saying things like defund the police, abolish the police, nonsense policies that lead to an explosion in crime. You and I both understand that from our prior work experience. So there was a ceo put in charge in the last four years who said we cannot arrest our way out of the human trafficking problem.
▶ 5:17:08Mr. Patel: And I quote, "trafficking in all its form as a result of inequities, abuses of power, and massive systemic and government failures." do you believe that is in fact the cause of human trafficking, or is it the result of evil, pain is humans that seem to profit off of other people's pain?
▶ 5:17:26Mr. Patel: The only people responsible for human trafficking are the criminals that intentionally traffic humans and children. If I'm confirmed, it will be one of the top priorities to maker that does not happen in this country and that we find thousands of missing children that are still missing.
▶ 5:17:42Mr. Patel: >> I along with many of the attorneys general in this nation in a bipartisan fashion not only demanded they begin reporting tips to law enforcement so they could follow up and go after the traffickers so they did not victimize others, but we also came to congress and tried to get funding pulled, or at least a mandate that they do what they were created to do, report tips to law enforcement.
▶ 5:18:08Mr. Patel: Do I have your word moving forward as someone who understands the necessity to go after traffickers to not only identify and rescue victims, but to ensure there aren't other victims? Do I have your word will work with me to make sure that happens so it could never happen again? >> you do, senator. >> I'm proud to say in florida when we -- did not get the result in congress, we started our own hotlines. One of the first in the nation.
▶ 5:18:34Mr. Patel: No surprise, we immediately rescued 10 victims of human trafficking being held reporting to law enforcement works and allows us to rescue to save lives. >> thank you, senator, I will. >> thank, Mr. chairman. I want to touch on something that has been on my mind lately. I will go back to this hearing.
▶ 5:19:02Mr. Patel: We have seen a wholesale attack in a salt in the past two weeks by president trump on the value of diversity through his executive orders, he's seeking to dismantle over 60 years of work to promote equal opportunity in the federal government.
▶ 5:19:21Mr. Patel: His pronouncements have gotten so bad that apparently, the defense intelligence agency issued a memo to days ago that it would no longer commemorate martin luther king day, women's history month, holocaust day of remembrance, or asian american pacific islander heritage month, and so on. Why is there such a fear of people who are different? In hawaii, we celebrate diversity.
▶ 5:19:52Mr. Patel: It gives us strength. It is part of what makes hawaii and america great. Mr. patel, earlier you shared some deplorable racist rhetoric that had been used against you. As someone who has also been the recipient of this sort of hateful language, I'm deeply sympathetic. I also note that in the past you have recognized the value of diversity back when you were in law school.
▶ 5:20:22Mr. Patel: You signed on to an amicus brief , supporting consideration of race in law school admissions. I hope that joining the trump administration will not cause you to change your views on the value of diversity. Reflecting on this hearing, it is sad we are considering Mr.
▶ 5:20:46Mr. Patel: Patel's nomination despite his gross inadequacy to do the job of the eye director fairly and objectively. Yet there is no question much pressure has been brought to bear on my republican colleagues to support this nomination. For example, a man named mike davis has been trending my palm -- threatening mike rawlings.
▶ 5:21:14Mr. Patel: He said the vote was a redline that if senate don't confirm Mr. patel, his organization called the article three project would make their lives a living hell. I certainly hope all of us base our vote on your nomination. On the best interest of who can work in the best interest of our country and not based on this sort of pressure.
▶ 5:21:50Mr. Patel: >> thank you, Mr. chairman. I want to give you a chance to respond to this because my colleagues are misstating the law here. You can't authorize the release of your grand jury testimony, only a court can do that, is that right?
▶ 5:22:01Mr. Patel: That has been my understanding. >> I think you stated the best reflection and the most accurate version of your testimony is the transcript in the grand jury -- grand jury testimony that you are trying to be released, but the court to do that. In the last three or four days?
▶ 5:22:21Mr. Patel: Yes. >> senator durbin talked about what your priority or your priorities will be. I think your testimony has been adherence to the constitution in the united states of america. Very seriously.
▶ 5:22:41Mr. Patel: Can you talk about some other priorities we talked about initially in my first roundabout adding the fbi back to its core mission, which is to fight crime and not sort of trying to do the things it has been doing the last four years? Talk about how you might bring that together.
▶ 5:23:00Mr. Patel: I appreciate the questions. Something I wanted to address six hours ago. I appreciate the opportunity to do it now. Whether we prioritize going after violent crime and national security, we will not defend against either of those successfully unless we go after the underlying criminal nexus there. Whether it is human trafficking, terrorism, opioids, or outright gang violence, the intersection there is narco trafficking.
▶ 5:23:28Mr. Patel: It is the underlying underbelly, the people illegal underbelly of all of those operations. We have not prioritized in my opinion as law enforcement agency the collective power we can rain down on criminal narco trafficking networks.
▶ 5:23:46Mr. Patel: And ideally if I'm confirmed, working with pam bondi to set up regional drug tax forswear our local sheriff's office, our local pd, our local precinct are folded in with the fbi, information, and authority sharing basis to take down the criminal networks. The advice and consent process has been extremely informative to me. I did not know your jurisdictions has no as you all ever will. That is what makes this so critically educational.
▶ 5:24:18Mr. Patel: I did not know there was a corner in ohio that speaks to the human trafficking volume more so than any intersection in the country. That is why we will rely on your expertise across the aisle to fold in those resources and target those hotbeds. I believe if we are successful in actually crippling the narco trafficking networks, we will see it decrease monumental in violent crime and at the same time protect america's national security.
▶ 5:24:45Mr. Patel: >> may, just maybe where you have one third of the personnel for the fbi here in washington, D.C., maybe one of the reforms is to get more of those folks out into those areas across the country to do that. >> I think so, sir. >> thank you Mr. chairman.
▶ 5:25:05Mr. Patel: >> do you know any of these five individuals -- erica knight, tom ferguson, greg mentzer, steve reese, or carlos fernandez?
▶ 5:25:16Mr. Patel: Yes, senator. >> who are they?
▶ 5:25:20Mr. Patel: People I have worked within in the past at some point. >> I'm told those are the people that will be additional political appointees to help run the fbi. Is that correct?
▶ 5:25:31Mr. Patel: That is news to me, senator. >> under the history of the federal bureau of investigation, since the reforms in the early 1970's, there has only been one political appointee. I'm told these will be additional political appointees, five extra. Do you know if reese or fernandez are affiliated with spacex or elon musk?
▶ 5:25:52Mr. Patel: I don't. >> I'm told that they are affiliated with spacex and elon musk and that he had influence in who will be placed around you as political appointees. Mr. patel, did you see the president of the united states declassify the documents that were found at mar-a-lago?
▶ 5:26:15Mr. Patel: I witnessed the president of the united states issued a declassification order for documents. >> that did not answer my question. Did you or did you not see the president of the united states declassify the documents that he was holding, the classified documents at mar-a-lago?
▶ 5:26:35Mr. Patel: I don't know the answer to that question because I don't know what was fully found because the justice department has not made that public. >> you claim publicly that you saw president trump declassify documents. Is that correct?
▶ 5:26:49Mr. Patel: That is correct, senator. >> so you did indeed see president trump declassify the documents that were found at mar-a-lago that he refused to turn over?
▶ 5:27:01Mr. Patel: No, what I said, senator was I heard and witnessed the president issue a declassification order for a number of documents. >> for the documents specifically that were at mar-a-lago?
▶ 5:27:14Mr. Patel: When he issued that order, there was documents. I don't know what was found and what was not found at mar-a-lago. I wasn't there. >> so this is the issue. The question is will you lie for the president of the united states, will you live for donald trump?
▶ 5:27:30Mr. Patel: No. >> I hear you saying no. But the best way to clarify that would be to testify as you are allowed by law upon what you'd said to the grand jury. Because the grand jury -- as you said to my colleague, two or three days of it, was about this specific issue.
▶ 5:27:52Mr. Patel: So as my time in scum a it would be utterly irresponsible for this committee to move forward with his nomination unless we know factually, which can be proven by looking at the documents that he's refusing to testify towards, it would be irresponsible for us to move forward if we do not know the future head of the fbi would break the law and life are the president of the united states. We can find that out factually.
▶ 5:28:20Mr. Patel: If we had access to the testimony, or if he would tell us what he said to the grand jury, which by the law of the united states of america, he's allowed to, but he's refusing to do so. He's refusing the transparency that he claims to adhere to. He's refusing to be direct with the united states senate. He's refusing to be transparent and put it all out there. Did he or did he not lie for the president? It is the question.
▶ 5:28:50Mr. Patel: >> thank you, Mr. chairman. I appreciate that. Thank you for your patience. We appreciate it. Just for the record, I put up the clip that showed me requesting the records for epstein -- I put that up on social media just so we can clarify that issue. Mr.
▶ 5:29:17Mr. Patel: Patel, what I would like to ask you -- you mentioned memphis is the homicide capital of the country. That concerns us. We recently had an issue where the fbi wanted to consolidate the memphis and knoxville offices into a national office. And of course, this causes us some concern.
▶ 5:29:44Mr. Patel: And I would like to get your commitment that you will make certain that we have every resource we need in memphis to deal with this issue and that the fbi will be appropriately resourced in the state of tennessee.
▶ 5:29:59Mr. Patel: You absolutely will, senator. >> and we've had some talk today about dei. And we have talked about this in this committee. And the emphasis the fbi put on dei in things like counting swiftly bracelets and things of that nature, and not on investigations.
▶ 5:30:24Mr. Patel: And what we want to make certain is we have mollified individuals who are going to stick to the core mission. And you have talked about that mission. And thank you for being able to recite what it is. We appreciate that.
▶ 5:30:42Mr. Patel: I want you to just talk a little bit about those first few actions but you can take to build back the recruiting and training in order to accomplish that mission.
▶ 5:30:59Mr. Patel: Absolutely, senator. Quite simply -- I know we have limited time. People who sign up to serve the fbi must meet the rigorous high standards, merits, and physical standards. Those will not be changed. >> so that will be a priority for you?
▶ 5:31:15Mr. Patel: And people who want to join the fbi do so with the dedication to serve this country in adherence to law enforcement. And we will allow those folks I graduate from the academy and to the fbi to carry a gun and a badge in representation of this country to protect its citizens. And when we allow the good cops to be cops and put handcuffs on the bad guys, I think you will cnx financial increase in enrollment and how we keep people at the fbi.
▶ 5:31:43Mr. Patel: >> and that is a day one item for you?
▶ 5:31:46Mr. Patel: Yes ma'am. >> thank you. >> thank you, Mr. chair. Mr. patel, do you believe back on checks for firearm purchases are constitutional?
▶ 5:32:02Mr. Patel: I don't know the in-depth of it, but I think that is what the supreme court has said. >> so the word would be yes, can you say yes, our background checks constitutional?
▶ 5:32:15Mr. Patel: I can say whatever the constitution supreme court ruled as the rule of the land. >> and what is the law of the land at the moment?
▶ 5:32:22Mr. Patel: I'm not an expert on state-by-state back on checks. >> universal back rent checks -- -- background checks. Ownership of machine guns are protected by the second amendment?
▶ 5:32:35Mr. Patel: Universal background checks are different. >> I asked a separate question. Do you believe ownership of machine guns is protected by the second amendment?
▶ 5:32:45Mr. Patel: Whatever the courts rule in regards to the second amendment is what is protected by the second amendment. >> another telling response. Another important issue. Both sides of the aisle are concerned about gun violence in america. I raise these questions because of an association that can observe between Mr. patel and gun owners of america. A group staunchly opposed to firearm regulation. A group Mr. patel addressed in august.
▶ 5:33:14Mr. Patel: And a group that in december issued a press release applauding his nomination to be fbi director. Gun owners of america has taken extreme positions, including the position all background checks are unconstitutional. In that significant ownership of machine guns is protected under the second amendment. Mr.
▶ 5:33:35Mr. Patel: Patel, let me remind you as fbi director, you would oversee critical responsibilities related to firearm regulation, including administering the national instant criminal background check system. Yes it is constitutional, it is in place for a reason. You would also regulate the distributional machine guns to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. Policies and programs in place for a a reason.
▶ 5:34:03Mr. Patel: And giving your hesitancy, giving your answers, I'm concerned about your ability to do the job when it is not in alignment with groups like gun owners of america. Colleagues, we have been hearing a lot of partial responses and lack of recollections throughout the day. I cannot help but identify the pattern of Mr.
▶ 5:34:22Mr. Patel: Patel calling fbi leadership corrupt, labeling agents as gangsters, accusing them of being part of it deepseek conspiracy, we've heard of his experience with the g6 prison choir, a group of individuals convicted in the roles for the january 6 insurrection. We've heard his false claims that the U.S. have secured airspace during high-stakes seal team hostage risk commission in nigeria.
▶ 5:34:53Mr. Patel: I can go on and on. These positions are inconsistent with the role of fbi director. A position that demands independence, professionalism, and unwavering commitment to the rule of law. Mr.
▶ 5:35:09Mr. Patel: Patel, your loyalty to president trump and the maga movement may score you points in some quarters, but they are certainly not the qualities necessary to serve as director of the fbi. And Mr. chair, enclosing. I understand while I was out of the room earlier that senator tillis raised my name and attributed it to a quote bent the knee as part of my questioning earlier to me.
▶ 5:35:39Mr. Patel: So for the record and for my colleague from north carolina, I want to clarify that the bent than he quote were not my words. I was quoting Mr. patel as he appeared on the sean ryan show on september 2 of 2024. I'm happy to share a link to clarify. >> thank you very much. I don't want to belabor this.
▶ 5:36:08Mr. Patel: But it certainly would be of benefit to us if the grand jury testimony could be released. But my understanding is the senator point is you don't need you as a witness could reveal what you said. I'm just suggesting you might give that some further thought. Everybody who runs an agency has enormous response ability for the people who work there. I have an incredibly high opinion of the fbi.
▶ 5:36:38Mr. Patel: The first time I came to washington as a boy, I remember the thrill I had going to the fbi headquarters. I thought it was a big deal my senator got me special tickets to go. I have always admired them. There is a lot of apprehension. Not just on this question of weaponization. There is a lot of disruption in the new administration. It has been rescinded by the courts.
▶ 5:37:07Mr. Patel: But we received calls from folks in various agencies who we have worked with or seen over the years, and there is an immense amount of security. Do I have my job, don't I have my job -- frankly, this is my point to the president, chaos is one thing. But cruelty is another. Having people be really uncertain about do they have a job today or not and leaving them in limbo, I don't think it is around.
▶ 5:37:35Mr. Patel: And I don't think a republican president -- I look to you to assure me that the tradition we have anchored in the fbi since 1972 when it was politicized. J edgar hoover went after martin luther king in a disgusting and despicable way for the john burke society for the political police and disgusting and horrible way. We have no political appointees over there.
▶ 5:38:04Mr. Patel: It is going to be up to you to strengthen that decision. We heard about the political appointees who were over there now. I guess they are not officially appointees, but they have been sent by the administration. But one of them is from spacex. Elon musk, he is a rich guy. But he has no authority other than what is delegated by the president. He has no official authority.
▶ 5:38:36Mr. Patel: You can't answer this, but do you want somebody like elon musk peering over your shoulder telling you what to do about personnel?
▶ 5:38:44Mr. Patel: No. The fbi must be independent. >> will kick him out. I mean I'm with you on that. He has no basis, no reason to be there. Some former fbi people, you pick the people you want to listen to. You will have to make the decisions, you will be accountable to this committee. But no on elon musk. He is a political crony who knows nothing about law enforcement. So thank you for that assurance. >> thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 5:39:16Mr. Patel: Mr. patel, when Mr. booker was asking questions in his first round, you said "senator, the grand jury testimony is available to you. I encourage you to make it public." you also later said, or previously said "get my grand jury testimony, I ask the department of justice to make it public." I asked the department of justice to make it public. Do you stand by that testimony? >> so you ask the justice department to make the grand jury testimony public? >> at the time of my appearance.
▶ 5:39:48Mr. Patel: >> who did you asked to do that?
▶ 5:39:50Mr. Patel: The lawyers. >> Mr. chairman, since the witness has said he encourages this testimony to be public, in fact asked the justice department to make it public, I would ask you if you and the ranking member would be willing to write to the court acknowledging the witness has asked for this to be public, supporting it be made public. Demanding no to a bipartisan request to that.
▶ 5:40:19Mr. Patel: >> let me say something, I'm not going to take this out of your time. It is not directly answering your question, but I think it would be significant what richard grenell put on x. I testified in front of jack smith's grand jury. The edge of justice department. And jack smith's prosecutor told me directly that I could not talk about my testimony or risk legal actions.
▶ 5:40:53Mr. Patel: And he goes on to say certain senators I will not mention should ask those lawyers why they instructed witnesses this way. >> thank you Mr. chairman per we welcome the chance to have Mr. grenell testify underwrote as opposed to on x. What I would ask given this witness has said he made the request, this witness has said he would like us to read the testimony. I would ask if you are senator durbin would be willing to make that request of the court.
▶ 5:41:22Mr. Patel: >> I would not answer your question without talking, get all the background I need considering the conversation between you two. I could not make that judgment now. >> I appreciate your consideration of it Mr. chairman for the reason why think it is so important is let's remind yourselves what the documents were at mar-a-lago. According to the indictment, the documents from store to his boxers including information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of the U.S. and foreign countries, U.S.
▶ 5:41:52Mr. Patel: Nuclear programs, vulnerabilities of the united states, and its allies to military attack, and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack. So testimony goes to the care or lack of care.
▶ 5:42:11Mr. Patel: The truthfulness or lack of truthfulness of the strip patel would be directly relevant to what he's confirmed as fbi director read and those records -- no quote is going to turn us down. Mr. patel may be the first nominee for fbi director in history who felt it necessary to plead the fifth. To say he would not testify to a grand jury. And maybe the first nominee for director to ever feel the necessity of pleading the fifth.
▶ 5:42:44Mr. Patel: Shouldn't we asked for the testimony when the witness himself would encourage it? We need to think about where we are in the moment. We have a new president, he's fired prosecutors and investigated them. He's investigating other prosecutors for his department of justice is. Fired inspector generals who held him accountable. And this is just the start.
▶ 5:43:12Mr. Patel: And as the fbi director nominee, he's toes and someone whose primary qualification, in my view, is his willingness to say yes when everyone else would say no to whatever the president wanted. To say whatever he wanted, do whatever he wanted. That is why he's sitting here. Look at the people who held that job before Mr. patel. The statute -- stature of the people who held the job, the qualifications of the people who held that job.
▶ 5:43:44Mr. Patel: And how do his qualifications hold accountable to the people who went before him? How did we get here defending a nominee like this? Who made songs with convicts, who attack law enforcement. How did we get here. And where are we going with democracies that lost their freedoms and did not notice it while it is happening. Let's not be one of them. >> your time is up.
▶ 5:44:12Mr. Patel: Before senator tillis ends this, I want to put in the before senator tillis ends this I want to put in a letter from the parents of caleb of mother in the successful operation to track and kill and isis leader. The terrorist group kidnapped our daughter in august.
▶ 5:44:43Mr. Patel: Any family who has lived through such an experience will know the value. We have personal experience of his dedication. We know that cash patel is such a person. We continue to see in him a genuinely kind, thoughtful, action oriented man who focuses on what is true, right, and just. He loves our country and citizens. He wants the best for them all.
▶ 5:45:15Mr. Patel: He wants the country to do the best it can. Without objection I will put the better in the record.
▶ 5:45:22Separate -- Sen. Tillis: Mr.
▶ 5:45:30Patel -- Sen. Tillis: Mr. patel, congratulations. You have directed subject matter that qualifies you to be the director of the fbi. We have a different view of the history. I was supportive of combing until I figured out he was playing games.
▶ 5:45:54Patel -- Sen. Tillis: Maybe this is one of the people of great stature but it is one moment he did things that appeared to have a political tent. I voted for christopher wray. I think he is a good man. But I think he oversaw a department that did bad things. At the end of the day that person has to own it. You will too. It will probably disappoint the audience to hear what I am about to say. For those watching at home.
▶ 5:46:20Patel -- Sen. Tillis: You might be surprised to know most of us at this dais on both sides of the aisle like each other. Within the last week, talking about areas where we can work together, senator padilla and I worked together and cochair of the bipartisan mental health caucus. I did not get a lot of republicans to vote for it, but a fair number.
▶ 5:46:58Patel -- Sen. Tillis: How it has not resulted in a mass compensation of guns. It has not resulted in a propagation of red flag laws. The plain text of the legislation isn't allowing states to -- money to flow to states including florida that we believe have not gotten due process yet so we can actually find red flag laws that make sense. This is what bipartisanship produces. You won't see any bipartisanship in your confirmation.
▶ 5:47:29Patel -- Sen. Tillis: We had pam bondi here. We had people on the committee talking about a friendship or friendly relationship in the past. It was a shirts and skins game. Luke inverted -- blue voted no and read voted yes and it has to be the same for your confirmation. Mr. patel, it has been a distinct honor to do the work with you to get you ready for the hearing. You did all of the work.
▶ 5:47:54Patel -- Sen. Tillis: I am like the person on the sidelines giving you suggestions, but you did an extraordinary job. You will be held to a high standard. I hope you listen, and if you don't remember it listen again to what senator kennedy said. If there are folks like us that are tired of the pendulum swinging back and forth.
▶ 5:48:13Patel -- Sen. Tillis: We want to be the senate that confirms and fbi director, that writes the ship and shows consistent respect for the rule of law and constitution, consistent respect for all law enforcement officers. I believe you are up to the task and I look forward to supporting your nomination.
▶ 5:48:32Mr. Patel: Thank you, senator.
▶ 5:48:36Sen. Grassley: Before I closed the meeting do you have anything you want to say? I have something here or directly related to my opening statement. I said I want the members of this committee to think about something that is brand-new. It deals with the whole exchange we had today with regards to the grand jury testimony.
▶ 5:48:59Sen. Grassley: So I want to read, based upon whistleblower disclosures I made today, it isn't clear how unfair and corrupt the trump prosecution was and that has created low faith, at best, in the grand jury process. We should not allow part of that corrupt process to be used by this committee against the nominating. An example.
▶ 5:49:25Sen. Grassley: One document I made public today , doj officials literally concurred to open the electric case against trump that included a grand jury investigation. Jack smith's flaw fair efforts -- law fair efforts and corrupt process should be what this committee investigates. Mr.
▶ 5:49:52Sen. Grassley: Patel, thank you for your testimony today. Your family and friends who are here. I think you have to be very proud of him under these tough conditions. He got tough questions. I think you did very well.
▶ 5:50:13Sen. Grassley: Your reputation leading up to and during this hearing, I think, proves, you are a person that can stand a lot of heat, including a president telling you how to do your job. If confirmed, you will be in charge of one of the lord -- world's best law enforcement agencies. At a time when it desperately needs strong changes.
▶ 5:50:42Sen. Grassley: Everyone's information, for everyone's information, written questions cap me -- can be submitted for the record until 5:00 p.m. Tomorrow. Mr. patel, when you receive them it is very important you get back to us as fast as you can so we can set up the meetings we have to go through to get you to the floor of the senate. So, return them to the committee as soon as possible. Mr. patel, you are excused. The hearing is adjourned.