WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) questioned President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI Director, Kash Patel, at his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing today, where he pressed him on whether his allegiance to President Trump would mean the end of the Bureau's independence and whether he’d resign if asked by the White House to do something illegal.
Senator Coons pressed Patel on several issues at the hearing today. Under questioning, Patel stated that, as FBI Director, he would answer to the President. In contrast, Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi said that, if confirmed, she would answer directly to the Constitution and the American people.
Senator Coons also asked Patel, as he asked FBI Directors Chris Wray and James Comey during their own confirmations, about whether Patel would resign rather than carry out an illegal order from Trump, as Wray and Comey committed to doing. Patel repeatedly refused to make the same commitment.
A video and full transcript of Senator Coons’ comments are available below.
Sen. Coons: We had a constructive conversation last week, I appreciate your taking the time. In particular, a conversation about the prosecution of the World Cup bombing in Uganda that took the life of a Delawarean whose family I knew, I found moving. But the role you have been nominated for is central – central to our security as a nation, central to the protection of our constitutional rights, and I voted to confirm Trump's previous FBI director, Chris Wray. I believe he's lived up to the bureau’s motto of serving with fidelity, bravery and integrity, and I also think my vote for him and for many of Trump's cabinet in the first term shows I take my constitutional advice and consent rule seriously and do not reflexively vote against his nominees.
I look at three factors when I assess a nominee. Qualifications and experience; policy views and whether they are in the best interest of the American people; and character and capacity to do the job independently where called for. My colleagues have referenced quotes from Attorney General Barr, National Security Advisor Bolton.
The FBI is enormous: 38,000 agents, $9 billion budget. I am troubled by your lack of senior law enforcement leadership. We disagree on some important policy views. But the thing that bothers me the most is a whole series of statements you have made in a variety of settings that suggest you would struggle to be independent from White House direction or control, as has long been the modern history of the FBI.
Who does the director of the FBI work for, Mr. Patel?
Mr. Patel: Senator, thank you for that question. The immediate report for the Director of the FBI is into the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. Then, that report is taken into the Office of the Attorney General and ultimately the White House in the chain of command there.
Sen. Coons: So the FBI works for the White House?
Mr. Patel: No, the FBI is a member of the Department of Justice, and has been the long-standing application—
Sen Coons: And who does the Department of Justice work for?
Mr. Patel: They are in the executive branch, as all members do at the White House.
Sen. Coons: Attorney General Bondi gave a different answer when I asked her the same question— that they work for the Constitution and the American people. President Trump has made clear in public statements he wants to use the FBI to persecute political adversaries. He has publicly said that folks ranging from Liz Cheney, to Adam Kinzinger, to former Vice President Harris should be investigated and criminally prosecuted. If President Trump were to order you to open an investigation into any of these individuals, let's say, Vice President Harris, would you?
Mr. Patel: Senator, this question speaks directly to my ability to leave political bias and allow independent behavior to be the only guiding light. As a public defender, I learned that in the harshest of arenas. And any law enforcement investigation, if I'm confirmed at the FBI, will only be launched on the following qualification: a factual, articulatable, legal basis to do so. The president has said publicly that he will allow the FBI to remain independent, and I have said as much as well.
Sen. Coons: So, if FBI agents brought to you a factual legal basis, a predication, and you are about to refer it to a prosecutor, and you get a call from the White House saying, “don't proceed, this is a major donor, this is someone close to the president, this is inappropriate.” What would you do?
Mr. Patel: Simple. You – I think you answered it partially in your, in your question. The line agents, the brick agents who are trained to bring investigations on behalf of the FBI will make that decision-making process, and they will only have my full support so long as it upholds absolutely every value of the Constitution, and that's it.
Sen. Coons: So your predecessor – I went back and looked, and I asked the same questions of Director Comey and Director Wray. Director Wray, quoting former Attorney General Bell, said you should be willing to resign if necessary over conduct if you are pressed to engage in it that’s unethical, illegal or unconstitutional. If pressed by the president, would you resign?
Mr. Patel: Senator, my answer simply is I would never do anything unconstitutional or unlawful, and I never have in my 16 years of government service.
Sen. Coons: Would you be willing to resign the post of FBI Director if pressed and given no choice but to obey the order or resign?
Mr. Patel: Senator, I will always obey the law.
Sen. Coons: Does obeying the law require you to – as Attorney General Bell said, as FBI Director Wray said – refuse the order or resign?
Mr. Patel: I don’t – I'm not familiar with the extent of the law you are referring to, but my answer is simple in my 16 years of government service. We will simply follow the law, and I have done that in Obama Justice Department [sic], Republican Justice Departments, in the Obama military, in Republican civilian capacity. I have never once wavered from my constitutional oath of office.
Sen. Coons: Mr. Patel, your predecessors in this role have been clear that they would be willing to resign if forced or directed to do something unethical or illegal. I’ll proceed.
One of your past statements that is concerning me – it’s both a post on Truth Social and something you said in a podcast, The Sean Morgan Report: that your predecessor, Chris Wray, has broken the law. We need to prosecute him. The FBI should go after people like him. And the month before this, in July 2023, you said there should be a criminal referral for FBI Director Wray. If confirmed, are you going to follow through on these previous statements that Director Wray needs to be prosecuted?
Mr. Patel: Senator, this reminds me of the conversation you and I had, which I greatly appreciated. There is enough violent crime in this country, and enough national security threats to this country, that the FBI is going to be busy going forward preventing 100,000 overdoses, 100,000 rapes, and 17,000 homicides.
Sen. Coons: We agree that prosecuting violent crimes should be the principal focus of the FBI. What I’m trying to get to, Mr. Patel, is a whole series of very troubling – to me and many others – statements you’ve made about instead using it to pursue those who might be viewed as political opponents.
Mr. Patel: And as I told you in your office, I have no interest, no desire, and will not if confirmed, go backwards. There will be no politicization at the FBI, there will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI, should I be confirmed as the FBI director. I told you that in your office, and I will tell you that again today.
Sen. Coons: Thank you for that statement. As the Co-chair of the Law Enforcement Caucus with Senator Cornyn, one of the things I’ve worked hard on and I hope to continue to being able to work hard on with this administration is partnership between federal, state, and local law enforcement to pursue violent crime. You did say, as my colleague asked, and I’d look for a longer answer, that you want to close the FBI’s bureau headquarters on day one.
How would shutting down the FBI headquarters impact its ability to prosecute violent crime and drug traffickers? How is that possibly a serious proposal, Mr. Patel?
Mr. Patel: Thank you for bringing that up and allowing me to answer. It was to highlight the significantly greater point that I was actually making in that interview, which is well documented over and over again. 38,000 FBI employees – 7,500 FBI employees work in the Washington field office and Hoover Building alone. If you increase the aperture just slightly to encompass the National Capital Region, that is 11,000 FBI employees working in the National Capital Region. A third of the workforce for the FBI works in Washington, D.C. I am fully committed to having that workforce go out into the interior of the country where I live, west of the Mississippi, and work with sheriff’s departments and local officers and having one agent prevent one homicide and having one agent in Washington prevent one rape, and I will do that over and over and over again, because the American people deserve the resources not in Washington D.C., but in the rest of the country.
Sen. Coons: And Mr. Patel, frankly, if that had been your statement, that would be something that would be defensible. It's the rest of it, saying you’re going to turn it into a Museum of the Deep State, that causes repeated questions and concerns from people like myself. Thank you, Mr. Patel.