The Senate confirmed Kash Patel to become FBI director today on a narrow vote of 51-49. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaksa joined Democrats in voting against the nomination.   President Donald Trump nominated Patel to reform the FBI, which has been the subject of several whistleblower complaints in recent years and is under scrutiny for being politicized and weaponized, including for targeting parents who spoke out at school board meetings and for plans to infiltrate traditional Catholics churches.   Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., noted that law enforcement organizations and state attorney generals have supported Patel’s nomination. Kash Patel has spent his career working in criminal law and national security.I look forward to working with him to restore the integrity of the FBI and get it focused on its critical mission. pic.twitter.com/PUBm7C09Wk— Leader John Thune (@LeaderJohnThune) February 20, 2025 The final vote came after Senate Democrats managed to delay the confirmation for several weeks.  Murkowski asserted she agreed with Patel’s concerns about a weaponized FBI, but she did not believe he had the record to restore credibility. In a post on X before the vote, Murkowski said, “My reservations with Mr. Patel stem from his own prior political activities and how they may influence his leadership. The FBI must be trusted as the federal agency that roots out crime and corruption, not focused on settling political scores.” I will oppose Kash Patel’s confirmation to serve as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI’s mission is “to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States.” Mr. Patel and I agree the bureau has crept past that mission, become an…— Sen. Lisa Murkowski (@lisamurkowski) February 20, 2025 Patel has a 16-year career in law and national security, with both career and political positions at the Justice Department, the White House, and the Defense Department.  Patel will bring needed reforms to the FBI, said Ken Cuccinelli, former Virginia attorney general, and former acting deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security in the first Trump administration.  “The FBI has been at the heart of weaponization of government,” Cuccinelli told The Daily Signal. “Putting someone in there with as much knowledge and experience as Kash Patel has is an important step forward. He’ll do a great job and will keep America protected, with a less biased FBI. There is an amazing amount to clean up there. He will never get it all cleaned up. But I think he can pick up the bureau up by the ankle and shake the change out of its pockets.” In 2023, Patel’s book, “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy,” was published and detailed his critique of federal agencies, including the Justice Department and the FBI. The book was a sticking point for many Democrat senators during the confirmation process. During the first Trump administration, Patel was chief of staff to Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller. Before that, Patel was the deputy assistant to the president and the senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council.  While at the NSC, he helped oversee Trump policies that included eliminating the Islamic State terrorist group as well as al-Qaida leadership such as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Qasim al-Rimi. Patel also was the principal deputy to the former Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell, who oversaw the operations of 17 intelligence agencies. Before going to the White House, Patel was senior counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence under then-Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and oversaw the investigation into the Russian active measures campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election.  The two and a half year investigation into whether Trump conspired with the Russian government to win the 2016 election was prompted by information fed to the FBI from Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and Democrat operatives. The House panel and later special counsel Robert Mueller concluded there was no evidence that Trump conspired with Russia.  Patel also played a key role in the Nunes memo that showed the FBI relied on partisan “politically motivated or questionable sources” to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to spy on Trump campaign aide Carter Page.  Before working on Capitol Hill, Patel was a terrorism prosecutor at the Justice Department. While at the Justice Department, he was also the liaison officer to the Joint Special Operations Command, conducting collaborative targeting operations against high-value terrorism targets. The post Senate Confirms Kash Patel as FBI Director appeared first on The Daily Signal.