Senate Judiciary Chair Grassley slams Democratic effort to stall Patel’s confirmation
The head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley, has strongly criticized Democrats on the panel for their attempts to schedule a second confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s FBI director nominee, Kash Patel. Grassley described the effort as a “delay tactic” aimed at stalling Patel from taking the helm of the FBI.
In a letter sent on Tuesday night, Grassley slammed Sen. Dick Durbin and other Democrats for pushing for a second hearing, despite Patel already testifying for over five hours and providing thousands of pages of records and nearly 150 pages of responses to written questions. Grassley called the Democrats’ efforts “baseless” and refuted their claims that Patel needed to answer for government actions that occurred before his time at the agency.
Grassley emphasized that further hearings on Patel’s nomination were unnecessary and stated that the committee still intends to vote on Patel’s confirmation as FBI director as early as next week. This unwavering support for Patel comes in the face of Durbin’s call to delay the confirmation vote, citing alleged falsehoods in Patel’s testimony and recent removals and reassignments of FBI civil servants.
The Democrats on the panel, in a joint letter, urged Grassley to delay Patel’s confirmation vote until he agreed to testify under oath about the recent removals and reassignments of FBI civil servants and until the Department of Justice provided additional information related to Patel’s actions. Grassley quickly dismissed this request, underscoring his commitment to moving forward with Patel’s confirmation.
Meanwhile, two separate lawsuits were filed this week by anonymous FBI agents seeking to block any public identification of agents involved in the Jan. 6 investigations into the U.S. Capitol riots. The lawsuits aimed to prevent potential adverse action or mass layoffs in the bureau, as sharing agents’ names could lead to threats, harassment, or targeting.
Despite concerns raised by the FBI agents’ association and retired agents, there are currently no plans for sweeping removals or punitive measures against the agents involved in the Jan. 6 investigations. It is important to note that the investigations followed Bureau and DOJ guidelines, and any violations of federal statutes were proven in federal courts.
In conclusion, Grassley’s firm stance on moving forward with Patel’s confirmation and the legal challenges faced by FBI agents underscore the ongoing tensions surrounding key appointments and investigations within the agency. As the confirmation process continues, it remains to be seen how these issues will impact the future leadership of the FBI.
