The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced the nomination of Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s controversial pick for FBI director, despite warnings from Democrats that he would prioritize the president’s interests and target perceived political enemies.
A high-ranking Justice Department official who once helped lead the investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack is now spearheading an effort to identify and scrutinize the very prosecutors and FBI agents who worked on those cases.
Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is calling for an investigation into President Trump’s FBI director nominee, Kash Patel, accusing him of secretly orchestrating a purge of career officials at the bureau before his confirmation.
The FBI recently discovered thousands of records related to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination that were never submitted to the government board responsible for reviewing and releasing them.
The Trump administration has asked the FBI for a list of all probationary employees and explanations for why each one should remain on the job, raising fresh concerns within an agency already unsettled by the first three weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency.
The FBI has provided the Justice Department with names of employees who worked on January 6-related cases after a tense standoff over protecting agent identities.
A top Justice Department official assured FBI agents they wouldn’t be fired for working on Jan. 6 investigations and accused bureau leaders of insubordination for initially refusing to release their names.
The FBI has named Mehtab Syed to serve as the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Salt Lake City Field Office.
