Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats are looking for a second go at probing President Donald Trump’s pick to run the FBI, Kash Patel.
In a letter first shared with POLITICO, the lawmakers are asking Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) for another formal hearing with the nominee, specifically to question Patel over the recent personnel shakeup at the FBI.
Democrats on the panel also want to see Patel’s as part of then-special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents.
“In order to discharge our constitutional duty, we must have a full and accurate understanding of Mr. Patel’s record,” the lawmakers wrote. “The Committee must fulfill its responsibility to the American people and the 38,000 employees of the FBI nationwide to ensure that a Director confirmed by the Senate possesses the requisite characteristics of truthfulness, trustworthiness, and regard for the protection of classified information befitting of the FBI.”
They are also asking for Republican help in obtaining the materials relevant to Patel’s nomination from Smith’s report concerning the classified documents case. Patel had been subpoenaed as part of the investigation and granted immunity after he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
The Biden Department of Justice kept this portion of Smith’s report under seal while cases were pending against Trump’s former co-conspirators. But the Trump Department has moved to drop those cases, and the Senate Democrats charge that the rationale for keeping the report secret no longer holds.
During his hearing last week, Patel declined to provide any details on his testimony as part of Smith’s investigation. Democrats are hoping that their request to DOJ for those materials can be bipartisan.
“Although there is no legal prohibition barring Mr. Patel from discussing the testimony he provided to the grand jury, Mr. Patel was wholly unwilling to answer questions posed by members of the Committee relating to his grand jury testimony and the circumstances that led him to assert his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination,” the Democrats wrote.
The lawmakers added that they’re looking to press Patel on the removals of multiple FBI leaders by acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove, and whether Patel played any role in that action.
They also want Patel to speak to “apparent falsehoods” in his last testimony before the committee, among them his repeated efforts to distance himself from the group of the imprisoned violent Jan. 6 rioters who recorded a rendition of a song dubbed “Justice for All.”
