Good morning. Today, we’ve got two items on our agenda. Kash Patel’s nomination to serve as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and S. 331, the HALT Fentanyl Act. Because the HALT Fentanyl Act is listed on the agenda for the first time, it’ll be held over until our next meeting.
Last week, Committee Democrats exercised their right under the Committee rules to hold Mr. Patel’s nomination for seven days. We honored this hold last week, and so today is the day for the vote.
Mr. Patel has undergone a rigorous vetting. Before his hearing, he produced more than a thousand pages of records and disclosed over a thousand interviews. He underwent an FBI background investigation, produced a financial disclosure, and worked with ethics officials to identify and resolve potential conflicts of interest. At his hearing, he answered questions for more than five hours and provided 147 pages of responses to written questions. We’ve examined every detail of his life, and he’s been subjected to relentless attack on his character the whole time.
What we’ve learned from this committee process is what we knew from his resume. Mr. Patel has spent his whole career fighting for righteous causes.
He’s been a public defender, representing the accused against the power of the state. He’s been a congressional staffer, investigating the partisan weaponization of our legal system. And he’s served in key national security roles, protecting Americans from foreign enemies.
He’s received support from former FBI agents, former federal and state prosecutors, and organizations representing more than 680,000 law enforcement officers.
But Mr. Patel’s resume, his accomplishments and his support aren’t why he’s the best man for the job.
Mr. Patel should be our next FBI Director because the FBI has been infected by political bias and weaponized against the American people. Mr. Patel knows it, he’s exposed it, and he’s been targeted for it.
Mr. Patel was instrumental in exposing Crossfire Hurricane. He showed that the Democratic National Committee funded false allegations against President Trump, that the DOJ and FBI hid information from the FISA court to wiretap a presidential campaign and that an FBI lawyer lied in the process.
As reward for his efforts to uncover the truth, he was attacked by the media, and the DOJ secretly subpoenaed his records. I know a thing or two about this kind of retaliation. My staff received similar treatment during our investigation.
Sadly, as I’ve said at Mr. Patel’s hearing, Crossfire Hurricane is but one example of recent FBI misconduct.
The FBI targeted traditional Catholic families and concerned parents for political reasons. The FBI coordinated with social media platforms to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. The FBI conducted an unprecedented raid on President Trump’s home in an act of partisan lawfare.
In just the last few days, we’ve heard unconfirmed reports that someone in the FBI may have illegally leaked information about upcoming ICE raids, putting the lives of agents at risk. If true, the betrayal can’t be overstated.
The FBI has fallen into old bad habits and is long overdue for massive reform. Mr. Patel is the man to do it, and that’s why he’s being attacked so viciously.
Before we even had a hearing, Committee members called Mr. Patel “dishonest, untrustworthy, lacking in character, a wolf at the door, a conspiracy theorist, a staunch political loyalist and a nightmare.”
Since his nomination was announced, Committee Democrats have sent at least eleven letters to eleven different agencies and parties demanding records and urging investigations into Mr. Patel.
Each letter breathlessly accuses Mr. Patel of something new, often citing “highly credible” anonymous sources that don’t fit the facts. Some accuse him of not following hostage rescue protocol. Others suggest he is secretly directing FBI personnel decisions. And some accuse him of promoting conspiracy theories. The purpose of this campaign is obvious: throw everything at the wall and hope something sticks. I’m not falling for it. Neither are the American People.
These attacks are unfair, and this harassment unwarranted. They show that Mr. Patel won’t receive fair consideration from Democrats, and they are directed at a nominee who served his country during both Democratic and Republican administrations.
I expect we’ll hear more unfair attacks and character smears today, but I’d like to point out a few egregious ones that we’ve already heard.
One of my colleagues suggested that Mr. Patel called the police officers that protected the Capitol on January 6 “cowards in uniform.” This is completely false. Anyone can listen to the interview he gave to hear what he actually said. He said that senior Pentagon leadership who failed to mobilize the National Guard were “cowards in uniform.” His comments had absolutely nothing to do with the police.
Mr. Patel has also been accused of mismanaging hostage rescue missions, particularly one in Africa. But numerous national security officials, including General Tata, who was directly involved, have said that it is “irresponsible” to say Mr. Patel jeopardized the mission and that Mr. Patel “played a large role in the success of the mission.”
Mr. Patel has also been accused of having an enemies list. Mr. Patel does not call his book appendix an “enemies list,” and has said that it’s not about political revenge. He believes, as I do, that those who have abused their positions in government should be called out for breaking the public trust.
It’s clear that my Democratic colleagues made up their minds about Mr. Patel long before he was given an opportunity to be heard.
And now my colleagues attack Mr. Patel and demand that he come back before the Committee to answer for the reforms and personnel changes that the Trump Administration has begun at the FBI. Of course, it’s outrageous to suggest that a nominee should come before the Senate to answer for agency actions that occurred before he joins an agency. But more importantly, the FBI reforms, and yes, firings, are needed.
The Trump Administration is cleaning house at the FBI because the FBI is – and has been for many years – infected with political bias and whistleblower retaliation.
It’s long past time for the whistleblowers who’ve been affected by FBI misconduct to be given a voice.
So, now I’m going to spend some time sharing statements from the whistleblowers who were retaliated against by some of the FBI officials Trump has recently fired.
One whistleblower said, “People like these have harmed the noble mission of the Bureau. They’ve created turmoil and their personal agenda has spread throughout the Bureau over the last decade. In service of the country, we should insist on removing them from the FBI not tomorrow – but right now.”
A second whistleblower said, “Michael Nordwall had oversight and approval authority over Arctic Frost, which required a critical assessment of the alleged basis for opening an investigation of this magnitude and political significance. The failure to raise an objection, much less critically assess Thibault’s motives, alone should be grounds for dismissal.”
A third FBI whistleblower said, “On January 6, 2021, I took leave and went to see the President speak on the Ellipse. Later, my wife and I were among a crowd southwest of the Capitol. Even though we were involved in no violence, never set foot on the steps leading to the Capitol building, and never entered it, I self-reported my presence to the FBI after seeing the violence in news reports. The FBI did nothing at first, but more than a year later suspended my security clearance. Under the supervision of Jeff Veltri and Dena Perkins, investigators questioned my co-workers about whether I ever vocalized support for President Trump or objections to the COVID-19 vaccine. I was forced to take early retirement to pay bills and have essentially been sidelined from employment opportunities due to FBI abuse of the clearance system to target me for my political beliefs.”
A fourth FBI whistleblower and a registered Democrat said, “As a Security Division employee, I witnessed abuses committed against multiple employees by FBI senior leaders, particularly by Jeff Veltri and Dena Perkins. I also saw Security Division retaliate against five of its own employees for protesting these unlawful practices. Because I spoke out against these abuses, Perkins and Timothy Dunham suspended my security clearance, costing me my job and continuing employment, totaling approximately $700,000 in lost wages and retirement benefits.”
A fifth FBI whistleblower said, “Although some FBI leaders who abused the clearance process like Dena Perkins and Jeff Veltri have already left, they weren’t alone. Timothy Dunham approved Perkins’s wrongdoing and engaged in his own. While most Security Division employees are fantastic, some FBI leaders still remain within the Security Integrity and Investigations Section who’ll continue this abuse of the process.”
From FBI whistleblower Marcus Allen, “Jeff Veltri and Dena Perkins caused the suspension of my security clearance because I questioned whether the FBI Director was truthful to Congress and whether the FBI was obeying the law and Constitution in the January 6, 2021 investigations. Their actions left me without pay for over two years while other FBI officials prevented me from having other income. Although the FBI ultimately reinstated my clearance and settled my lawsuit, my career at the FBI was over and the financial and emotional damage to me and my family will never be completely restored.”
Another FBI whistleblower said, “After I was assigned to review Marcus Allen’s security clearance case, I noticed the file was missing relevant communications of Jeff Veltri, who ordered the opening of the case, Dena Perkins and FBI attorney Tasha Gibbs. Allen was entitled to those communications, which were evidence that his clearance suspension was retaliatory. Shortly after I completed the vast majority of work on the communication recommending Allen’s reinstatement, the Allen case was reassigned to another adjudicator and I was transferred to a different unit, apparently in reprisal for reporting the wrongdoing in the Allen suspension. I soon resigned from the FBI to avoid further retaliation. I believe Veltri, Perkins and Gibbs were responsible for retaliating against Allen, and that Giulio Arseni, Perkins and Gibbs were likely responsible for the retaliation against me.”
From FBI whistleblower Garret O’Boyle: “I faced retaliation from junior, mid and senior level ‘leaders’ in the FBI. More than 29 months later, I’m still indefinitely suspended without pay and benefits. Other whistleblowers have since confirmed that the FBI intentionally stranded me in the middle of a move and withheld our possessions to maximize the pain of my suspension. A new era of accountability and true whistleblower protection at the FBI is long overdue. FBI officials like Sean Clark, Sean Fitzgerald, Jeff Berkebile, Dena Perkins, Jeff Veltri, Jennifer Moore, Michael Schneider, Timothy Dunham and other leadership up to Christopher Wray are responsible for what happened to me and my family. Ensuring that they no longer work at the FBI isn’t retribution, its responsible leadership.”
From FBI whistleblower Steve Friend: “Jaqueline Maguire was promoted to the upper echelons of the FBI after sending federal agents to arrest nonviolent Catholic pro-life protestor Mark Houck at gunpoint. As someone who lost my career for blowing the whistle on these kinds of abusive and needlessly risky tactics for cooperative subjects, I was offended by her being rewarded rather than being held accountable. Her dismissal is a small step towards ending the FBI’s weaponization and should have come sooner.”
From FBI whistleblower Mike Zummer: “After witnessing federal prosecutors favor a sexual predator district attorney—who used the power of his office to sexually abuse vulnerable women—I reported their wrongdoing to the presiding federal judge. Although the allegations weren’t classified, the FBI suspended and later revoked my security clearance. The U.S. Attorney responsible for the misconduct was named by President Biden to lead DOJ’s Criminal Division, and the FBI Special Agent in Charge responsible for the FBI’s retaliation against me was promoted to be the third-highest FBI official. He soon retired after he harassed a young female subordinate. Meanwhile, I went through an eight-year process to be reinstated, only to have the Biden DOJ affirm the FBI’s revocation of my security clearance in December 2024, finalizing my removal from the FBI.”
And lastly, from another FBI whistleblower: “I’ve watched the FBI become an institution not ‘of the people’ but of a select few who know the ‘system’ and ‘process’ and use it to their advantage. Those people need to leave. As a whistleblower, I stand ready to help return the FBI to its earlier days of glory and return America’s trust in what was an incredible institution.”
How can anyone listen to these statements and conclude everything is OK?
These law enforcement agencies are out of control, drunk on power and blinded by political infection. It’s time to force them to recognize they answer to Congress and We the People.
And those who retaliated against whistleblowers should be fired. Full stop. My colleagues who think otherwise are protecting these abusers.
My Democratic colleagues hounded Patel to say he’d stand up to Trump. Well, these brave whistleblowers stood up to the last administration, and they suffered retaliation.
So, why aren’t my Democratic colleagues running to defend them and demanding the wrongdoers be held accountable?
This administration must hold the bad actors accountable, fire them if necessary.
Give whistleblowers their security clearances back. Put them in the positions they were in before the retaliation. If you can fire people, you can reinstate people.
That’s part of what this committee ought to focus on: solutions to the rampant weaponization and whistleblower retaliation.
These are two issues that Kash Patel is perfectly suited to fix because he’s lived it.
With that, I turn to Ranking Member Durbin for his opening remarks.
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