The Senate on Thursday confirmed Kash Patel to serve as FBI Director. Patel secured the nomination in a razor-thin 51-49 vote. Two Republicans voted against Patel – Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). #BREAKING: Kash Patel has been CONFIRMED as FBI Director by the U.S. Senate The Deep State is COOKED! CONGRATS Director @Kash_Patel pic.twitter.com/Ycds1p9KU6 — Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 20, 2025 CONFIRMED: @Kash_Patel as the 9th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation pic.twitter.com/LAEZVGVhQL — Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 20, 2025 Per NBC News: Kash Patel, a longtime loyalist to President Donald Trump, was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation — an agency he has talked about drastically restructuring while echoing Trump’s claims of the “weaponization” of the bureau’s powers in its Capitol riot investigations and other recent cases. Patel was opposed by a pair of Republican senators: Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Maine’s Susan Collins. But he won support from every other Republican, including Sen. Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, who had opposed some of Trump’s other nominees. The final vote was 51-49, with all Senate Democrats opposing Patel. Patel’s confirmation comes at time of significant turmoil and turnover at the FBI. Since Trump took office a month ago, an Elon Musk affiliate was among those brought into the bureau, sparking worries about partisan political figures taking the reins of the powerful law enforcement agency. The head of the Washington Field Office — which oversaw the sprawling Jan. 6 probe — was forced out, as were six of the FBI’s most senior executives and multiple heads of FBI field offices around the country. Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll sparred with Trump-appointed Justice Department superiors over an order that he said would ultimately help them fire FBI agents involved in Jan. 6 cases. The FBI ultimately handed over the names of FBI employees who worked on Jan. 6 cases as requested, and Trump has said he will fire “some” FBI personnel who worked on Capitol riot cases. BREAKING: Kash Patel has been CONFIRMED as FBI Director. pic.twitter.com/rdQlPFCZvq — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 20, 2025 Congratulations to our new FBI Director Kash Patel! pic.twitter.com/mwhLKAaJz4 — House Republicans (@HouseGOP) February 20, 2025 From The Hill: FBI directors are confirmed to a 10-year term, but Patel was nominated shortly after President Trump was re-elected, a sign the returning executive planned to fire former FBI Director Christopher Wray ahead of the end of his term in 2027. A former public defender, Patel got his start in the political realm as a staffer to then-House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes (R-Calif.). Patel played a key role there in seeking to discredit the committee Democrats’ investigation of Trump’s ties to Russia. That included authoring a report analyzing FBI and Justice Department responses in their own investigations of Russian election interference.