Indian American Kash Patel gets ringing endorsement for FBI nomination from key Senator

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On February 18, US Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, expressed unqualified support in the nomination confirmation process for President Donald Trump’s choice of Kash Patel as Director of the FBI. The ringing endorsement may have been responsible for the 48-45 Senate vote along party lines, that puts him up for confirmation by week’s end.

Grassley is the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and his remarks furthered Patel’s confirmation in what has been a contentious process for the Indian American.

In his floor speech announcing a procedural vote on Patel’s nomination, Grassley expressed his support and urged Democratic colleagues to consider voting for the Indian American’s confirmation.

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Opponents of Patel’s nomination have included some Republicans, including the former Director of the FBI William Webster, who in a message to Grassley, said, “As a fellow Republican, I urge you to consider the risks to national security, the integrity of the Bureau, and the safety of the American people before allowing this nomination to proceed unchecked.”

Grassley conceded in his floor speech, that Patel’s resume “doesn’t look like a normal one for an FBI Director. But everybody knows in this Congress – and maybe in the United States – that we aren’t living in normal times.”

The Iowa Senator said the FBI was “infected by politicization” and “weaponized against political opponents,” and that “Mr. Patel’s the right man at the right time. His career has been a study in fighting for unpopular but righteous causes, exposing corruption and putting America first.”

Patel has in the past, served as a public defender, and a counterterrorism prosecutor under President Obama, as well as a staffer on Capitol Hill, Grassley noted. Patel was Senior Director of Counterterrorism at the National Security Council, Deputy Director of National Intelligence and Chief of Staff to the Acting Secretary of Defense, and fought for transparency in government, Grassley added.

“In other words, the public’s business should be public.

Because of his efforts in exposing corruption, Mr. Patel has been relentlessly attacked, as we’ve seen over the last two months,” Sen. Grassley said, and attributed the attacks to Patel being a threat to the existing system, “a system that has retaliated against whistleblowers, engaged in unprecedented lawfare against the President and the American people and obstructed congressional oversight.”

According to the senior Senator, “Mr. Patel will end these abuses. He will restore the FBI to its essential mission of keeping Americans safe.”

He drew attention to the strong endorsements Patel has received over the weeks including from thousands of law enforcement officer, dozens of former and current FBI agents, state attorneys general and U.S. attorneys.

“They trust Mr. Patel and we should as well. I urge all of my colleagues to support Mr. Patel’s nomination,” Grassley urged, successfully rallying any Republicans to support what will be a historic appointment of an Indian American to head a powerful agency.

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