WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, joined Senate Judiciary Democrats outside of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Headquarters building to call on their Republican colleagues to block the nomination of Kash Patel, President Trump’s pick to serve as Director of the FBI. The Senators highlighted the dire consequences of Mr. Patel’s willingness to take out vengeance on behalf of President Trump and called on their colleagues to oppose his appointment as the FBI Director on the Senate Floor today.
Read Senator Welch’s remarks below:
“Since January 20th, Donald Trump has been on a lawless rampage. He has invaded the authority of Congress by canceling programs that have appropriated funds. He’s inflicted cruelty on people who have been loyal public servants in agencies across the country. He is threatening farmers with these high tariffs, calling it an emergency.
“Kash Patel is a crown jewel in this lawless rampage. He’s an instrument of Donald Trump’s effort to destroy the Justice Department and the FBI, so that he is absolutely and completely, not only above the law, but beyond the law. He’s called it ‘my Justice Department.’ Kash Patel agrees. He willingly agrees to carry out the vengeance tour of Donald Trump. That’s what he does.
“This FBI has been so revered in our country. Sure, it has issues at various times, as every agency does. But this has been a non-political agency. No longer. And when in the confirmation hearing, my colleagues…asked about the purge? He heard nothing. See nothing, hear nothing, say nothing. He didn’t know anything about it. Two days later, it comes out he was masterminding it and implementing it as he was lying to us in the committee.
“So, the biggest threat to our country right now is Donald Trump’s frontal assault on the rule of law, and one of the generals in that assault is Kash Patel. We must defeat his appointment as the FBI Director.”
Watch a livestream and view photos from the press conference below:
Senator Welch joined Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Senate Judiciary Committee members Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) at the press conference.
In the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Welch has expressed reservations about Mr. Patel’s nomination. During Mr. Patel’s confirmation hearing, Senator Welch grilled him about his refusal to acknowledge that President Biden won the 2020 Presidential Election and stressed the importance of combatting any attempt to weaponize the Department of Justice and the FBI under the Trump Administration. Last week, Senator Welch reacted to reports that Mr. Patel has been personally involved in the Trump Administration’s ongoing efforts to target and fire career FBI agents and officials. Under oath, Mr. Patel told Senator Welch he had no recollection of the purge at the FBI.
###