President Trump’s nominee to be the next FBI director, Kash Patel, has cleared his committee vote and will soon make his way to the floor for confirmation. So far, all of the president’s nominees — even the most controversial ones who have been grilled by GOP lawmakers — have made their way into the Cabinet. 

Mr. Patel has been a hero for in some fringe right-wing circles for years, having worked at the House Intelligence Committee during the first Trump administration to debunk the claim that Mr. Trump colluded with the Russian government during the 2016 election. According to his financial disclosures, Mr. Patel has made millions of dollars in the last decades from his new career as a conservative speaker, political commentator, and social media influencer. 

Mr. Trump tapped Mr. Patel to lead the FBI after the agency spent four years investigating and prosecuting him. During the 2024 campaign, he promised a wholesale remodel of the law enforcement agency, and has already begun firing those officials who worked on the investigations into the January 6 riot at the Capitol, Mr. Trump’s influence on that attack, and the president’s retention of classified documents. 

Every Senate Republican voted for Mr. Patel in committee Thursday. All Democrats voted against him. At the earliest, Mr. Patel will receive a vote on his confirmation early next week. 

“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,” the committee chairman, Senator Grassley, said at the hearing on Thursday. “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.”

At his confirmation hearing, Mr. Patel received a warm welcome from Republican lawmakers who asked him to describe how he himself was investigated by the agency during their probes of Mr. Trump. He said that because he felt he had been the “victim” of a weaponized justice system, he guaranteed them that no one would face and kind of political retribution on his watch. 

“Having been the victim of government overreach … I know what it feels like to have the full weight of the United States government barreling down on you,” Mr. Patel said at his confirmation hearing. “I will ensure, if confirmed, that no American is subjected to that kind of torment, to that kind of cost — financially and personally — and most importantly, I will make sure that no American is subjected to death threats like I was.”

He disclosed that he had been personally attacked after he testified before the January 6 committee, and was targeted with racist threats. “I was subjected to a direct and significant threat on my life,” Mr. Patel said. “I had to move. In that threat, I was called a detestable sand ni—r.”

Mr. Patel was criticized for drawing up what Democrats have called an “enemies list” in his recent book. In it, the nominee listed former attorneys general, FBI directors, and intelligence officials as being part of a so-called “Deep State” who ought not to be trusted. Some Democrats were concerned that this wasn’t just a warning from Mr. Patel, but more of a to-do list if he is confirmed as FBI director. 

Mr. Patel insisted that all FBI agents and other individuals who may have participated in past investigations into the president will be protected so long as they did not break the law. “Every FBI employee will be held to the same standard,” Mr. Patel told Senator Blumenthal during questioning. “All FBI employees will be protected against political retribution.”