Kash Patel, nominee for FBI director, told senators during his confirmation hearing Thursday that the number of U.S. drug deaths, homicides, and rapes must be significantly reduced.
“We need to make sure we don’t have 100,000 rapes in this country next year, make sure we don’t have 100,000 drug overdoses from Chinese fentanyl and Mexican heroin, and make sure we don’t have 17,000 homicides,” Patel said. “Those numbers need to be cut in half immediately, and the public will regain trust in the FBI and law enforcement.”
Patel, 44, a Long Island native and former intelligence and defense official, remained composed under questioning from Democratic senators. When Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) asked him about his reputation for stirring controversy, Patel responded candidly.
“You’ve made a lot of people mad, haven’t you?” Kennedy asked.
“It seems so, senator,” Patel replied.
“You think maybe you made the right people mad?” Kennedy followed up, prompting chuckles from the audience.
“As my FBI agents, the brick agents told me, when I was running cases with them across this country and around the world, if you’re not ticking off some people, you’re not doing your job right,” Patel said.
Kennedy pushed back against Democratic critics who had labeled Patel a “conspiracy theorist.”
“Sounds to me like we need to get some new conspiracy theories because all the old ones turned out to be true,” Kennedy quipped. “Conspiracy theorists are up something like 37-0.”
Patel assured Kennedy that he would not use the FBI to target political opponents, referencing the FBI’s 2022 raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and the discovery of anti-Trump messages exchanged among former FBI officials.
“When reforming the FBI and Justice Department, ‘two wrongs don’t make a right, but they do make it even’ is the wrong approach, isn’t it?” Kennedy asked.
“That’s correct,” Patel agreed.
Some of Trump’s allies, including budget director nominee Russ Vought, have called for abolishing the FBI. Patel, however, expressed confidence in the agency’s workforce.
“98% of the FBI is courageous, apolitical warriors of justice,” Patel stated. “They just need better leadership.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) criticized Patel for previously suggesting that the FBI headquarters should be turned into a “Museum of the Deep State.” Patel brushed off the criticism, accusing his opponents of misrepresenting his record.
“If the best attacks on me are going to be false accusations and grotesque mischaracterizations, the only thing this body is doing is defeating the credibility of the men and women at the FBI,” he said.
“I stood with them, here in this country, in every theater of war we have. I was on the ground in service to this nation. And any accusations leveled against me that I would somehow put political bias before the Constitution are grotesquely unfair.”
Despite Democratic opposition, Patel received support from Republicans, including Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who praised his stance on Fourth Amendment protections. Patel also condemned the personal attacks he has faced, highlighting an explicit and racist message he received from a congressional Democrat.
Throughout the hearing, Patel remained firm in his commitment to restoring public trust in the FBI, vowing to prioritize law enforcement over politics if confirmed.
