Washington: The Senate Judiciary Committee has announced that the committee will move forward with a final vote on Indian-American Kash Patel’s nomination as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in the coming week.
While voting on Patel’s nomination was on the agenda for Judiciary members, but Democrats requested it be held over one week, The Hill reported, adding that Patel, a former Trump administration lawyer, is now expected to be voted out of committee by Republicans next Thursday.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, in a statement on February 4, had dismissed the Minority’s request for Patel to return before the committee. He asserted that Patel had already testified for over five hours, submitted thousands of pages of records and media appearances, and provided 147 pages of written responses.
“Further hearings on his nomination are unnecessary,” Grassley said, rejecting calls from Senate Democrats for a second hearing. “No one was convinced by the Minority’s baseless efforts to mischaracterize and malign Kash Patel. The Senate Judiciary Committee will not fall for Democrats’ delay tactics. I intend to hold a final committee vote on Patel’s nomination as soon as next week.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a coalition of 20 state attorneys general have asked the Senate to demand further answers from Patel, expressing concerns over reports of politically motivated removals of FBI officials, particularly those involved in investigations related to the January 6 Capitol riot.
Texas Republican senator Ted Cruz defended Patel, calling the attacks "political theatre" and dismissing them as baseless accusations. According to AFP, at the fresh hearing in the coming week, even two Republican defections could derail his path to becoming FBI director.
As of now, the Senate Republicans are expected to consider Trump's nominations of Tulsi Gabbard as National Intelligence Director and Robert F Kennedy Jr as Health and Human Services secretary.
