Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi’s Wednesday confirmation hearing could be seen in several ways as a precursor to how the Senate will approach Kash Patel, whom President-elect Donald Trump tapped to lead the FBI as director.
Since Trump announced Patel’s nomination, Democrats have been wringing their hands at the prospect of Patel leading the nation’s top law enforcement agency.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), during the proceedings, brought up Patel’s supposed comments about the QAnon conspiracy theory cult, an issue that most people likely haven’t thought about in years.
Democratic senators discussed comments Patel made in media appearances and expressed concerns that he has a supposed “enemies list” of people he will target if he becomes FBI Director.
During Bondi’s confirmation hearing, the fixation on Patel prompted Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to jokingly say, “If they’re asking about Kash Patel, it must be going pretty well.”
Even before Bondi’s hearing, leftists ranted about Patel’s nomination on the airwaves and interwebs, painting him as a J. Edgar Hoover-like figure who would weaponize the FBI against those who opposed the president-elect.
Shortly after the terrorist attack in New Orleans, Sen. Adam Schiff took the opportunity to exploit the carnage to argue that Patel is not qualified for the position.
I think the terrorist attack in New Orleans…underscores, again, the importance of having someone directing the FBI that has experience, that has judgment, that has character that will prioritize defending the country against the violence we saw in New Orleans or the violence we saw on January 6, not someone whose top priority is political vendettas, who believes in deep state conspiracy thinking, not someone who is as unqualified as Kash Patel.
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Senator Adam Schiff torched Kash Patel.
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) January 5, 2025
"First of all, Kash Patel should not be confirmed."
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/mVBG3DExxG
MSNBC analyst and host of “The Bulwark Podcast,” in a post on X, slammed Patel for his contention that FBI agents were involved in the riot at the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021.
Kash has claimed he can prove beyond a reasonable doubt the FBI was behind 1/6.
— Tim Miller (@Timodc) January 6, 2025
He's repeatedly called for Ray Epps to be investigated.
Can this Trump supporter expect to be harassed by the new FBI director to prove some conspiracy?https://t.co/0A0GFsysxw
YouTube influencer Steve Bonnell, also known as “Destiny,” participated in an interview in which he claimed Patel would use the Bureau to go after Trump’s political enemies.
“How could you support a guy, Kash Patel? You're talking about the importance o in the Constitution of Freedom of Speech. This guy literally has a book calling Donald Trump the King, and this guy has a list of political enemies that he wants to go under,” Bonell said.
Debating @TheFollowingPro on the nomination of Kash Patel as FBI Director.
— Destiny | Steven Bonnell II (@TheOmniLiberal) January 5, 2025
"This guy literally has a book calling Donald Trump the King! And this guy has a list of political enemies he wants to go after!"pic.twitter.com/xho8OxMnSk
The furor over Patel’s nomination is telling. They certainly fear that high-profile individuals on the left might actually be held accountable for crimes they may have committed – whether they were related to Trump or not.
The reality is that folks on the left are afraid Trump will subject them to the same treatment they meted out against him leading up to the 2024 election. They know Democrats weaponized the justice system at the federal and state levels to target him with prosecution efforts aimed at influencing the outcome of the election. Perhaps some of these people might need to be held accountable if they engage in illegal activities, an outcome the left will surely complain about in the media.
However, Patel has never indicated that he would send gun-toting agents to break down the doors of Democrats like the Biden administration did with pro-life protesters. The reality is that if someone has committed a crime, they should be prosecuted regardless of political affiliation and social status. However, Democrats only seem to believe in this principle when it involves those who disagree with their politics.
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