Kash Patel, Trump’s Pick for FBI Director, Is Confirmed by Senate

The Senate confirmed Kashyap “Kash” Patel as the new FBI director on Thursday in a Senate vote that largely fell along party lines.

51 Senators voted in favor of Patel's confirmation, against 49 no votes, cementing him as the director of the nation’s leading federal law enforcement agency.

Two high-profile Republicans, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, notably voted against his confirmation.

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate party leader, who announced Thursday he will not be seeking re-election in 2026, voted in favor of Patel's nomination. This move came as a surprise to many, especially as McConnell had previously opposed three of Trump's key picks. McConnell was against having Pete Hegseth as the Defense Secretary, Tulsi Gabbard as the director of National Intelligence, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Patel’s confirmation means he will be taking over the role from FBI Director Christopher Wray, who announced he would be stepping down before Trump, who first appointed him to the role in 2017, took office. Wray still had three years left in his 10-year term, but resigned after the President signaled his intent to fire him, likely due to his dislike of the FBI’s investigation into whether there was a plan to overturn the 2020 election. 

During Thursday’s hearing, Patel said that the biggest threat to the U.S. would be to thwart terrorism and Chinese Communist Party espionage.

Read More: Meet Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel, Trump’s Nomination for FBI Director

Patel is a known Trump loyalist, and has been a staunch critic of the agency he will now be overlooking. In his 2023 book, Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy, Patel publicized a list of what he called members of the “deep state” that included former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and John Bolton, the former National Security Advisor under Trump, to name a few.

Patel tried to walk back from this opinion in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in January, calling 98% of FBI agents “courageous apolitical warriors for justice,” and claiming he disagreed with the President’s decision to grant clemency to Jan. 6 defendants. 

However, during Thursday’s hearing, Patel initially declined to say that President Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election when questioned by Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont. He has also been criticized after he said he would shut down the FBI Hoover Building on his first day and turn it into a "museum of the deep state."

The confirmation of Patel won’t be a surprise for many. Republicans have largely rallied support behind Patel—and most of Trump’s nominations—calling for a reform of the agency that they believe has a “two-tier” justice system, Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn said during Thursday’s hearing.

Meanwhile, many Democrats have touted Patel as an unqualified pick, with some fearing that he will unleash political partisan targeting of those who disagree with Trump. “Kash Patel is an extreme MAGA loyalist who would make our country less safe,” said Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in a January statement. “He is blindly loyal to Donald Trump and Donald Trump only. He has a trail of grievances and history of lashing out at those who don’t agree with him. That’s not the kind of nonpartisan, law enforcement professional who should lead the FBI.”

In his role, Patel will oversee 55 field offices with more than 37,000 employees.