Kash Patel will take the helm of the Federal Bureau of Investigation amid heated internal tensions with Trump officials and broader turmoil at the Justice Department during the first weeks of the new administration.
The Senate voted 51-49 to confirm Patel on Thursday, with Republicans praising his background as a federal prosecutor and Democrats warning on the Senate floor and at a press conference outside the FBI building in Washington that the former Trump campaign surrogate is unfit for the position.
Patel, who served in the first Trump administration and has a track record of partisan and inflammatory commentary that included a book about “Government Gangsters” that lists members of what he dubbed the “Executive Branch Deep State,” is now set to lead a law enforcement agency that is charged with combating terrorism, countering foreign spies and fighting public corruption. The position has a 10-year term.
