Democrat accuses Trump FBI pick Kash Patel of secretly ordering firings
Sen. Dick Durbin accused Kash Patel, President Trump's pick for FBI director, of secretly orchestrating the firings of FBI officials.
The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee has sent a letter to the Justice Department Inspector General accusing Kash Patel, President Trump's pick for FBI director, of secretly orchestrating the firings of FBI officials, a day after telling the committee under oath that he was not aware of any plan to do so.
“If these allegations are true, Mr. Patel may have perjured himself before the Senate Judiciary Committee,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., wrote.
Durbin said he has spoken to whistleblowers who told him that Patel has been relaying instructions to White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, who then relayed Patel's instructions to acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.
“I have received highly credible information from multiple sources that Kash Patel has been personally directing the ongoing purge of career civil servants at the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Durbin wrote in the letter. “Although Mr. Patel is President Trump’s nominee to be FBI Director, he is still a private citizen with no role in government.”
Durbin, whose letter was first reported by The New York Times, described a meeting the day before Patel's confirmation hearing where Bove said Patel and Miller were pushing for firings at the FBI, as had already occurred at the Department of Justice.
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