Durbin accuses Patel of ordering FBI firings before his confirmation

The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee accused Kash Patel, President Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, of lying under oath at his confirmation hearing last month. 

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin said he has “highly credible information” that Patel is behind the firings at the bureau, though he is not yet the FBI director. Patel denied any knowledge of them when he testified before the committee. 

In a letter to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Durbin wrote that even though Patel has not yet been confirmed as director, “multiple sources” said Patel has been personally directing the purge at the FBI.

“It is unacceptable for a nominee with no current role in government, much less at the FBI, to personally direct unjustified and potentially illegal adverse employment actions against senior career FBI leadership and other dedicated, nonpartisan law enforcement officers,” Durbin wrote.

Durbin told the Justice Department IG that he had heard from his sources that Patel’s directives were being carried out by top White House aide Stephen Miller, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove and members of the new FBI Director’s Advisory Team. A member of the team, Durbin said his sources told him, has been providing Patel with information about what’s going on inside the bureau, and that Patel “then provides direction to Mr. Miller, who relays it to Acting Deputy Attorney General Bove.” He claimed that each person on the DAT team communicated to bureau officials that “at some point before January 30 that they had been in direct contact with Mr. Patel.”

DAT, Durbin said, had a list that “identified certain officials and was seen by multiple FBI leaders.” Those on the list were understood to be “people in the crosshairs.” On Jan. 29, Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll and Acting FBI Deputy Director Robert Kissane held a meeting “where it was relayed that a group of Executive Assistant Directors (EAD) and other supervisors must resign or be fired,” Durbin wrote. 

Durbin quoted “[c]ontemporaneous notes” from a meeting between Justice Department and FBI leadership earlier that day that said, “KP wants movement at FBI, reciprocal actions for DOJ.” Durbin said that Bove told people at the meeting he had “received multiple calls” from Miller, who was “pressuring him” because “Mr. Patel wanted the FBI to remove targeted employees faster, as DOJ had already done with prosecutors.”

The FBI declined to comment.

Patel was nominated to replace Christopher Wray, who was himself a Trump appointee during the president’s first term. But Mr. Trump soured on Wray during the FBI’s investigation of the attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Wray resigned on Jan. 20. 

Durbin said that if the allegations about Patel’s involvement in the FBI firings are true, “Mr. Patel may have perjured himself before the Senate Judiciary Committee.”

During his confirmation hearing on Jan. 30, Patel said he was “not aware” of ongoing plans to punish or fire FBI agents and personnel who had worked on the multiple investigations into Mr.  Trump, adding, “I don’t know what’s going on right now over there.”

Patel’s confirmation process has already been filled with controversy and delays.

In January, an FBI insider came forward questioning Patel’s judgment during a hostage rescue mission when he worked with the FBI’s Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, which leads the government’s missions to rescue hostages overseas.

Democrats also pressed Patel during his confirmation hearing about his promotion of the “J6 Prison Choir,” a list of “deep state” executive branch officials listed in his book, “Government Gangsters,” and his refusal to acknowledge Mr. Trump had lost the 2020 election.

Also on Tuesday, 30 lawmakers wrote a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley and Durbin asking the committee to oppose advancing Patel’s nomination because of “inconsistencies” in his testimony and his “history of inflammatory statements.”

Grassley said in a post on X, “Another day another attack against Kash Patel by the Democrats.” He called the latest allegations “nothing more than hearsay,” and he praised Patel’s “character+ credibility which over half a million law enforcement officers hv vouched for.”

Last week, Senate Democrats were able to postpone until Thursday a committee vote to advance Patel’s nomination for consideration by the full Senate.

contributed to this report.