There will be no retributive actions taken by the FBI. Patel, for his part, sought to distance himself from his own words, accusing Democrats of taking them out of context, highlighting only snippets or misunderstanding his point.
Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat. His colleague, Sen. It is not some conspiracy. It is what Mr. Patel actually said himself. Republicans control the Senate, and GOP members made clear their broad support for Patel and determination to get him confirmed over a Democratic minority that appeared united in its opposition but face a mathematically uphill battle to block it. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. A steadfast Trump ally, Patel was picked in November to replace Christopher Wray, who served for more than seven years but was forced out of the job Trump had appointed him to after being seen as insufficiently loyal to him.
Patel has said his experience as a public defender, as well as surveillance errors in the Trump-Russia investigation, have made him unusually attuned to law enforcement overreach. Patel found himself repeatedly besieged by Democrats over his view of the Jan. Democrats highlighted a social post about Jan. But Patel insisted he was referring to military leaders he claims failed to mobilize the National Guard to protect the building. Patel sought to distance himself from a song he promoted featuring Trump and a choir of jailed Jan.
He repeatedly insisted he was unaware that some of the defendants featured in the song were accused of attacks on law enforcement. And I did not participate in any of the violence in and around Jan. In one confrontational moment, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff urged Patel to turn around and face Capitol police officers in the committee room. I never, never, ever accepted violence against law enforcement. He would not acknowledge that Trump had lost the election, conceding only that Joe Biden was sworn in as president.
Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the committee. Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the committee, sought to blunt attacks on Patel preemptively by focusing on the need to reform an FBI that he said had become weaponized.
