By Steve Neavling
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.
In a letter to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Durbin said he received “highly credible information from multiple sources” that Patel directed a wave of firings at the FBI, The New York Times reports.
“This alleged misconduct is beyond the pale and must be investigated immediately,” Durbin wrote.
Durbin’s letter comes just days before the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on whether to advance Patel’s nomination to the full Senate. If the allegations are true, Durbin said the Justice Department’s acting No. 2 official, Emil Bove, dismissed civil servants “solely at the behest of a private citizen” and suggested Patel may have lied under oath at his confirmation hearing.
In his letter, Durbin recounted a meeting where Bove allegedly told FBI leaders that White House aide Stephen Miller was pressuring him, on Patel’s behalf, to speed up the firings. Durbin cited contemporaneous notes from that meeting as evidence, quoting one entry: “KP wants movement at FBI, reciprocal actions for DOJ.”
Patel has denied knowledge of any efforts to fire FBI officials associated with investigations into Trump. In Senate testimony, Patel said, “I don’t know what’s going on right now over there.”
The White House, Justice Department, and Patel did not respond to requests for comment.
On the Senate floor Tuesday, Durbin urged his colleagues to reconsider their support for Patel, calling him “unfit to be entrusted with government power.”
