MEMO: Kash Patel’s Nomination Threatens Our Rights and Democracy

To: Interested Persons
From: The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Re: Kash Patel’s confirmation hearing

On January 30, the Senate Judiciary Committee began its consideration of the nomination of Kash Patel to serve as FBI director. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights coalition, opposes his confirmation.

The FBI possesses tremendous law enforcement authority, and as the nation’s primary criminal investigative agency, the FBI is deeply consequential to civil rights, public safety, and the integrity of our democracy. Throughout today’s hearing, Mr. Patel confirmed that he lacks both the professional experience and temperament to lead this important federal agency that investigates a range of civil and human rights violations. His disturbing past statements and many of his troubling and misleading responses to questions during the hearing disqualify him from serving as director of the FBI.

Kash Patel repeatedly refused to say that Trump lost the 2020 presidential election.

Senator Hirono noted that “the FBI is the primary agency responsible for investigating election-related crimes, including fraud and the denial of voting rights,” and she asked Mr. Patel: “Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 presidential election, yes or no?” Mr. Patel would only say that “President Biden’s election was certified. He was sworn in. And he served as the president of the United States.”

“Once again, the people who are 100 percent loyal to President Trump cannot answer that question,” Senator Hirono said. “It is alarming that you want to be an FBI director who can’t answer a simple question — factual question.”

Senator Welch later asked, “what’s so hard about just saying that Biden won the 2020 election?” Mr. Patel repeated his response to Senator Hirono, refusing to say that he won the election. When asked if he believes the 2020 election was stolen, as Trump says it was, Mr. Patel said that the president is entitled to his opinions. When Senator Welch asked him whether he can say the words “Joe Biden won the 2020 election,” he simply responded “Joe Biden was the president of the United States.”

Mr. Patel’s election denial is part of a disturbing pattern among Trump’s nominees to serve in critical positions at the Department of Justice, including his attorney general nominee, Pam Bondi, and his nominee to lead the Civil Rights Division, Harmeet Dhillon. His nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, went so far as to say that “the 2020 election was rigged” in one of his written responses. It is disturbing that individuals would be considered for these positions who lack independence, good character, and sound judgement, as this election denial demonstrates.

Kash Patel downplayed and denied his association with extremists.

Ranking Member Durbin asked Mr. Patel about his association with individuals with well-documented histories of racist, antisemitic, conspiratorial, or violent statements or beliefs, including Laura Loomer and Stew Peters. He said he is not guilty by association and that he was not familiar with Peters off the top of his head, despite appearing on his podcast eight times. As Senator Durbin reminded him, Peters “promoted outrageous conspiracy theories and worked with a prominent neo-Nazi.”

As Senator Durbin said in a statement, “This lack of judgment is very concerning for someone who hopes to be our nation’s top law enforcement officer.”

Kash Patel repeatedly dismissed some of his shameful past statements.

Senator Klobuchar asked Mr. Patel a number of questions about some of his disturbing statements. For example, she asked whether he said that “Donald Trump has every right to tell the world that in 2020, 2016, and every other election in between was rigged by our government because they were” on August 27, 2023, during the Thrive Time Show. He said he didn’t have the statement in front of him. He also wouldn’t say whether those claims were rejected by courts, including by Republican-appointed judges.

Senator Klobuchar then asked whether he accused police officers of lying when testifying about the January 6 attack, which he stated on a March 2024 podcast. He only said “I don’t think that’s accurate.” Senator Klobuchar asked whether he posted on his social media account in May 2024 that “January 6 never an insurrection: Cowards in uniform exposed. They broke the chain of command.” He again said he didn’t have that statement in front of him and wouldn’t confirm.

Senator Klobuchar asked if Mr. Patel referred to the media as “The most powerful enemy of the United States that they have ever seen” and asked him whether he said “We’re gonna come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig the elections. We’re going to come after you whether it’s criminally or civilly,” which he said on Steve Bannon’s podcast. He dismissed these quotes as partial statements. Again, when asked if he said he would put the “entire fake news mafia” on his list, he would not confirm or deny.

Kash Patel denied his involvement with the “J6 Prison Choir” and failed to separate himself from insurrectionists. 

Several senators asked Mr. Patel about his involvement with the “J6 Prison Choir.” Indeed, Mr. Patel spent time producing and promoting this choir, whose membership includes six January 6 rioters who pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers and were sentenced to prison. One of the men, Julian Khater, pleaded guilty to pepper spraying U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died the next day after suffering two strokes. Mr. Patel has consistently portrayed the choir members as “political prisoners” and victims of injustice.

In response to questions from Senators Durbin, Blumenthal, Hirono, Padilla, and Schiff, he would not answer questions about his role with the choir. After Senator Blumenthal recounted what happened to Brian Sicknick, Mr. Patel said that “I’m not familiar with his case. You seem to know a lot more about it than I do.”

Mr. Patel’s denial of his knowledge about the choir and its members, under oath, is concerning and must be scrutinized. As Senator Blumenthal said, “The simple fact is that you knew about the J6 choir, you knew what they did in assaulting and endangering police officers who sought to defend the Capitol on that day, were severely injured. And some, as a consequence, died. I think the FBI deserves better.”

Additionally, Mr. Patel wouldn’t say whether America is safer following Trump’s January 6-related pardons and commutations. In response to Ranking Member Durbin’s question about this, he attempted to pivot to individuals granted clemency during the Biden administration and said that America will be safe when we don’t have 200,000 drug overdoses in two years. Any individual nominated to lead the FBI must be willing to say that America is indeed not safer following President Trump’s use of clemency for people convicted of violently assaulting law enforcement.

Kash Patel’s retorts demonstrate a lack of character and temperament required for this position.

Astonishingly, following Senator Klobuchar’s list of his recent past statements, Mr. Patel claimed that these questions undermine the FBI. He responded that “If the best attacks on me are gonna be false accusations and grotesque mischaracterizations, the only thing this body is doing is defeating the credibility of the men and women at the FBI…And I will have you reminded that I have been endorsed by over 300,000 law enforcement officers to become the next director of the FBI. Let’s ask them.” This dismissal of Senator Klobuchar reflects not only contempt for the thorough vetting process that should be required for nominees, but it also denies respect to the law enforcement officers and to the public to understand Mr. Patel’s record.

In her second round of questioning, Senator Klobuchar followed up on a question with additional context to offer more clarity about one of Mr. Patel’s past statements. He shot back, “That’s a general statement and a mischaracterization of what I said. I encourage you to read the rest of the interview. This is why snippets of information are often misleading and detrimental to this committee’s advice and consent process.” Senator Klobuchar noted that she would love more time during the hearing to read the whole transcript. “You’ve got two minutes,” Mr. Patel said, to which Senator Klobuchar responded: “Wow.”

As noted above, when denying his involvement with the “J6 Prison Choir,” he told Senator Blumenthal that “You seem to know a lot more about it than I do” and engaged in a back-and-forth with Senator Schiff, including accusing Senator Schiff of telling an “abject lie” related to the choir and whether he raised money from its song glorifying insurrectionists. When Senator Schiff challenged him to address the Capitol police officers in the room, he responded, “How about you ask them if I have their backs and let’s see about that answer.”

As The Leadership Conference and 57 other national organizations noted in their letter to the committee, Mr. Patel “is wholly unqualified for the role, is a peril to our country’s safety, and is intent on weaponizing this important position for his own personal and political gain.” We stand by those assertions following today’s hearing and continue to urge senators to oppose his confirmation.

For information about the first Trump administration’s across-the-board assault on civil and human rights, many which occurred through the Department of Justice, read The Leadership Conference’s timeline of rollbacks here.

If you have any questions or need more information, please contact Patrick McNeil at [email protected].