{"id":1051615,"date":"2025-02-20T15:02:54","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T20:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1051615"},"modified":"2025-02-20T15:02:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T20:02:55","slug":"kash-patel-will-carry-out-trumps-agenda-of-revenge-and-retribution-and-gut-law-enforcement-as-fbi-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/kash-patel-will-carry-out-trumps-agenda-of-revenge-and-retribution-and-gut-law-enforcement-as-fbi-director\/","title":{"rendered":"Kash Patel Will Carry Out Trump\u2019s Agenda of Revenge and Retribution and Gut Law Enforcement As FBI Director"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In response to Senate Republicans confirming Kash Patel to be the FBI Director, <\/em>DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement: <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDonald Trump thinks he is above the law. He likened himself to a king. He\u2019s already weaponizing the presidency to target people on his political enemies list. We cannot give Trump\u2019s henchmen the benefit of the doubt \u2014 especially when they\u2019re in full control of federal law enforcement. I know Trump is starry-eyed for his boss Vladimir Putin, but we can\u2019t let Kash Patel do his bidding and turn us into the next Russia. Patel\u2019s confirmation puts our basic rights and national security at risk.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NEW: Senate Republicans voted to confirm Trump loyalist Kash Patel as FBI Director <\/strong>after<\/em><\/strong> he doubled down on his threats to <\/strong>\u201ccome after\u201d<\/strong><\/a> Trump\u2019s enemies and the free press and carry out Trump\u2019s agenda of revenge and retribution. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manu Raju, CNN<\/a>: \u201c51-49, Senate confirms Kash Patel as FBI director on largely party-line vote. <\/strong>Two Rs \u2014 Murkowski and Collins \u2014 vote NO. All Dems vote NO. McConnell, who voted against three Trump nominees, votes for Patel\u2019s confirmation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Amy Klobuchar<\/a>: \u201cHave you referred to the media as the most powerful enemy of the United States that they have ever seen, is that right?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patel: *Doesn\u2019t answer* <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Klobuchar: \u201cYou also said you would put the \u2018entire fake news mafia press corps\u2019 on your list.<\/strong> Is that correct? Is that what you said?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patel: *Doesn\u2019t answer* <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse<\/a>: \u201cRegarding his publication of his enemies list, Mr. Patel proclaimed, \u2018the manhunt starts tomorrow\u2019 and reposted a video depicting him taking a chainsaw to his political enemies.<\/strong> Is that you<\/strong>, Kash Patel, retruth, reposting that at the top of that page?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patel: \u201cAnd that\u2019s me<\/strong> at the top.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Peter Welch<\/a>: \u201cYour boss has said General Milley<\/strong>, who served us with great distinction and I happen to have great admiration for, should be tried for treason, do you agree with that?\u201d<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patel: \u201cSenator, everybody is entitled to their opinion.<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Trump continues to wreak havoc on the FBI and Justice Department, forcing critical counterterrorism agents and prosecutors out the door for being <\/strong>\u201cinsufficiently loyal\u201d<\/strong><\/a>\u2026  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NBC News<\/a>: \u201c[T]he Trump administration is facing the largest mass resignation of Justice Department lawyers since Watergate.<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNN<\/a>: \u201cSenior DOJ prosecutor quit after being told to investigate Biden <\/strong>climate spending, sources say\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanity Fair<\/a>: <\/strong>\u201c[The fired prosecutors are] deemed insufficiently loyal<\/strong> by a second Trump administration<\/strong> that is demanding that everyone around them bend the knee.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NBC News<\/a>: \u201cMany of the agents involved in the investigations of the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, work in the FBI\u2019s Counterterrorism Division<\/strong>, which operates Joint Terrorism Task Forces in cities across the country with federal and local law enforcement agencies. Those agents investigate terrorism threats both from inside the United States and from overseas groups, such as ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNN<\/a>: \u201cTrump administration fires prosecutors involved in Jan. 6 cases and moves toward ousting FBI agents\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA separate memo by Bove identified more than a half-dozen FBI senior executives who were ordered to retire or be fired by Monday<\/strong>, and also asked for the names, titles and offices of all FBI employees who worked on investigations into the Jan. 6<\/strong>, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot \u2014 a list the bureau\u2019s acting director said could number in the thousands.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 Republicans confirmed Patel to stack the FBI with loyalists, <\/strong>\u201cshrink\u201d<\/strong><\/a> counterterrorism work, and gut law enforcement instead of keeping Americans safe. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wall Street Journal<\/a>: \u201cKash Patel<\/strong>, Trump\u2019s pick to run the FBI, is expected to shrink the bureau\u2019s counterintelligence and counterterrorism work<\/strong>, according to his aides. During a Senate confirmation hearing last week, Patel mentioned China only in passing and didn\u2019t speak about any threat from Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Amy Klobuchar<\/a>: \u201cDid you say that the FBI headquarters should be shut down<\/strong> and reopened as a museum of the deep state?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patel: *Filibusters while Republican senators shout to end questioning* <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Klobuchar: \u201cMr. Chairman, I am quoting his own words from September of 2024.<\/strong> It is his own words. It is not some conspiracy. It is what Mr. Patel actually said himself. Facts matter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Cory Booker<\/a>: \u201cYou have an assignment from Donald Trump to gut the FBI<\/strong> \u2026 do you agree that you have already prepared plans to remove certain individuals from their offices \u2014 for example, individuals that will be replaced by political personnel?\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patel: \u201cWe can move on.\u201d<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Republicans also helped Patel avoid answering questions and accountability about mass layoffs at the FBI. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politico<\/a>: \u201cIn a letter first shared with POLITICO, the lawmakers are asking <\/strong>Judiciary Committee chair <\/strong>Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) for another formal hearing with the nominee,<\/strong> specifically to question Patel over the recent personnel shakeup at the FBI.<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scripps News<\/a>: \u201cKash Patel\u2019s FBI nomination passes Senate Judiciary vote despite Democratic objections<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Times<\/a>: \u201cThe vote, 12 to 10, fell along party lines.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

REMINDER: Patel is a <\/strong>\u201cfrightening\u201d<\/strong><\/a> Project 2025-linked Trump <\/strong>loyalist<\/strong><\/a> with zero qualifications to be FBI Director, who continues to defend violent insurrectionists while associating with white supremacists.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Center for Renewing America<\/a>: \u201cAuthor: Kash Patel\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project 2025<\/a>: The Center for Renewing America was a member of Project 2025\u2019s advisory board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNN<\/a>: \u201c\u2018It\u2019s inconceivable<\/strong> to me that an outsider with no experience in the organization, no knowledge of the work and the scope of authority that\u2019s involved there could perform adequately<\/strong>,\u2019 [said Former Trump Deputy FBI Director] McCabe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Trump AG Bill Barr<\/a> on Patel in the first Trump administration: \u201cPatel had virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Dick Durbin<\/a>: \u201cDo you think America is safer because President Trump issued these pardons to 1,600 of these criminal defendants, many of whom violently assaulted our police in the Capitol?\u201d<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patel: *Doesn\u2019t answer*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Amy Klobuchar<\/a>: \u201cYou said that Donald Trump has every right to tell the world that in 2020, 2016, and every other election in between was rigged by our government because they were. Yes or no, did you say that?\u201d<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patel: *Doesn\u2019t answer* <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Dick Durbin<\/a>: \u201cAre you familiar with Mr. Stew Peters?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patel: \u201cNot off the top of my head.\u201d<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Durbin: \u201cYou made 8 separate appearances on his podcast. He promoted outrageous conspiracy theories and worked with a prominent neo-Nazi.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In response to Senate Republicans confirming Kash Patel to be the FBI Director, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement:  \u201cDonald Trump thinks he is above the law. He likened himself to a king. He\u2019s already weaponizing the presidency to target people on his political enemies list. We cannot give Trump\u2019s henchmen the benefit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1051615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKash Patel Will Carry Out Trump\u2019s Agenda of Revenge and Retribution and Gut Law Enforcement As FBI Director - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/kash-patel-will-carry-out-trumps-agenda-of-revenge-and-retribution-and-gut-law-enforcement-as-fbi-director\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-20T20:02:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-20T20:02:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/kash-patel-will-carry-out-trumps-agenda-of-revenge-and-retribution-and-gut-law-enforcement-as-fbi-director\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/kash-patel-will-carry-out-trumps-agenda-of-revenge-and-retribution-and-gut-law-enforcement-as-fbi-director\/\",\"name\":\"Kash Patel Will Carry Out Trump\u2019s Agenda of Revenge and Retribution and Gut Law Enforcement As FBI Director - 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