President Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, has cleared a procedural vote on the Senate floor, meaning he will receive his final confirmation vote on Thursday at the latest. There are several Republican senators, however, who have yet to say how they will vote on his confirmation when that comes up. 

Mr. Patel was tapped to lead the FBI after Mr. Trump ran hard against the “weaponized” agency in 2024, saying that he would remake the agency after it spent years investigating him personally. The president says Mr. Patel is the man to overhaul the federal government’s chief domestic law enforcement agency, leading many to worry about the nominee’s impartiality in executing the law. 

On Tuesday, the Senate voted to proceed to executive session for the nominee, meaning that there will then be another procedural vote on Thursday before Mr. Patel’s nomination officially comes to the floor on the same day. The vote to proceed to the executive session was strictly along partisan lines, with 48 Republicans voting yes and 45 Democrats voting no. 

Multiple GOP senators have been mum on how they plan to vote on the FBI director nominee, including Senator McConnell, who has now voted three times on procedural motions to move forward with nominees, only to later vote against them at final confirmation. Two of those nominees — Secretary Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — got their “no” votes from Mr. McConnell because of national security concerns the Kentucky senator had raised, which increases the odds that he may vote against Mr. Patel on Thursday. 

Other Republicans who have not yet stated how they will vote include Senator Murkowski, Senator Collins, Senator Curtis, and Senator Young. It takes just four Republicans voting with all Democrats to kill a nomination. 

On Tuesday, a critical Republican holdout offered support to Mr. Patel. “I’ve spoken to multiple people I respect about Kash Patel this weekend — both for and against. The ones who worked closely with Kash vouched for him. I will vote for his confirmation,” Senator Cassidy — who nearly voted against Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination for health and human services secretary — said on Tuesday. 

Mr. Patel received a warm welcome from Republican senators at his confirmation hearing who asked him about why he felt that the FBI had to be reformed. Mr. Patel said that because he felt he had been the “victim” of a weaponized justice system, he guaranteed them that no one would face any 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. “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.”