[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 32 (Tuesday, February 18, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1005-S1006]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      NOMINATION OF KASHYAP PATEL

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, today, we are going to take a 
procedural vote on Kash Patel's nomination to be Director of the FBI. I 
want to take a few minutes to express my support for his nomination and 
to urge my Democratic colleagues to consider voting for this 
nomination.
  Mr. 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 are not living in normal times. As I have exposed 
through my oversight work, the FBI has been infected by 
politicalization, and this storied Agency has been weaponized against 
political opponents.
  Mr. Patel is 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. Mr. Patel has served as a public 
defender, a counterterrorism prosecutor under President Obama, and a 
House staffer.
  In the House, he worked to expose Crossfire Hurricane as a political 
hit job that was based on discredited information paid for--would you 
believe it?--by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton 
campaign.
  After exposing the Russiagate scandal in Congress, Mr. Patel then 
went on to serve as Senior Director of Counterterrorism at the National 
Security Council, Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and Chief 
of Staff to the Acting Secretary of Defense.
  He has fought for transparency and accountability in government. I 
have fought for this in Congress for decades. That is the right 
approach because everybody knows that more transparency in government 
brings accountability by those of us serving in the government. In 
other words, the public business should be public.
  Because of his efforts in exposing corruption, Mr. Patel has been 
relentlessly attacked, as we have seen over the last 2 months. These 
smears began long before his confirmation hearing. I understand why he 
has been targeted in this way. He exposed 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. Mr. Patel will end these 
abuses. He will restore the FBI to its essential mission of keeping 
Americans safe.
  Mr. Patel's vision for a new FBI is why he has been endorsed by 
organizations representing more than 680,000 law enforcement officers 
and by 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.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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