The Republican-led US Senate on Thursday confirmed Kash Patel as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), making him the first Indian-descent American to head the premier investigating agency.
Patel was confirmed in a 51-49 vote, with two Republican Senators joining all Democratic Senators to oppose his confirmation.
The Republicans control the Senate with a 53-47 majority.
Patel makes history as not only the FBI’s first Indian-descent Director but also the first Asian-American to hold the position, doubly securing his place in history.
He will succeed Christopher Wray, also a nominee of President Donald Trump, for a term that is supposed to last 10 years but hasn’t in recent years. Two of his immediate predecessors did not complete their tenure. Wray resigned on Trump’s election with two years still left of his 10-year term and his predecessor James Comey had completed only four of his 10 years when Trump fired him in 2017.
The two Republicans who voted against his nomination were Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.
Collins said in a statement that Patel “has made numerous politically charged statements in his book and elsewhere discrediting the work of the FBI, the very institution he has been nominated to lead,” which she said has “cast doubt on Patel’s ability to advance the FBI’s law enforcement mission in a way that is free from the appearance of political motivation”.
Patel’s nomination was among the most controversial by Trump in his second term, along with Tulsi Gabbard, for Director of National Intelligence, and Robert F Kennedy Jr, for heading Health and Human Services. Even some Republicans had misgivings about them but most of them all fell in line in the end.
Patel’s nomination has been opposed by Democrats, who subjected him to intense grilling during his confirmation hearing, on his views on January 6 rioters and the incident, and comments and remarks, including his critical remarks about the agency he has been nominated to head.
“Kash Patel — mark my words — will cause evil in this building behind us, and Republicans who vote for him will rue that day,” said Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat, said at a news conference outside the FBI headquarters in Washington D.C. hours before the vote.
Patel is a former public defender who has seen a meteoric rise in the power structure of Washington D.C. in recent years, rising up to be the Chief of Staff at the Department of Defence and Deputy Director of National Intelligence in President Trump’s first term.
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