GOP Sen. Hagerty on Kash Patel Leading FBI: ‘I Look Forward to Him Taking It Apart’
Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty is excited for Kash Patel to dismantle the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is taking credit for encouraging Trump to bring Patel “to the table.”
“I’ve encouraged Trump to bring Kash Patel to the table for precisely this reason… He represents the type of change that we need to see in the FBI,” Hagerty told NBC’s Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker on Sunday.
Patel is a Trump loyalist and conspiracy theorist who aspires to clean out the alleged “Deep State.” He has vowed to target and prosecute Trump’s enemies in the media and government, saying in 2023, “We will go out and find the conspirators — not just in government, but in the media. We’re going to come after you whether it’s criminally or civilly.”
Patel served in various roles in Trump’s previous administration, including senior roles at the National Security Council, Office of National Intelligence and Department of Defense.
“This entire agency needs to be cleaned out. It’s not doing its job,” Hagerty said, claiming that FBI leadership “conspired to try to keep President Trump out of office” and then “put together this fake Russia-gate investigation.”
The bureau launched a two-pronged investigation into Trump after he fired then-director James Comey. The investigation includeda counterintelligence probe into whether trump — wittingly or unwittingly — was acting as an agent of the Russian government against American interests as well as a criminal investigation to determine if Trump obstructed justice by firing Comey.
Trump appointed Christopher Wray as Comey’s replacement, and now he intends to oust Wray for Patel. When Welker asked about former Trump attorney general Bill Barr’s warning that Patel is not experienced enough to run the FBI Hagerty dismissed those concerns.
“I think Kash does have relevant experience,” Hagerty said, “particularly when it comes to the mandate the American public has assigned of turning these agencies around that have become completely corrupted. Kash has pointed it out. He’s probably the best at uncovering what’s happened at the FBI. And I look forward to seeing him taking it apart.”
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Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan expressed concern that Trump intends to fire Wray before his 10-year term as director ends, turning the role into a position influenced by politics.
“We, the Biden administration, adhere to the long-standing norm that FBI directors serve out their full terms because the FBI director is a unique player in the American government system. They’re appointed for 10-year terms, not terms just for the duration of a given president,” Sullivan told Welker on Sunday.
Former national security advisor under Trump John Bolton was much more direct in his rejection of Patel and compared him to Stalin’s secret police under Soviet rule in an interview with CNN.
“The Senate should reject this nomination 100-0,” Bolton said.
So far Patel has the support of at least two GOP senators: Hagerty and Sen. Ted Cruz. But other Republicans in the Senate have displayed caution regarding Patel.
But Sen. Chuck Grassley, who will likely chair the Judiciary Committee next session, showed a bit more caution, saying Patel “must prove to Congress he will reform & restore public trust in FBI.”
Sen. Mike Rounds also did not jump to support Patel, saying he has “no objections” to how Wray has been leading the FBI. “We’ll see what [Trump’s] process is, and whether he actually makes that nomination,” Rounds said Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “[O]nce they’ve been nominated by the president, then the president gets… the benefit of the doubt on the nomination, but we still go through a process.”