Trump FBI director nominee Kash Patel picks up support from key GOP senator

President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation picked up support from a key Republican senator on his road to confirmation. 

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said Tuesday that he would vote to confirm Kash Patel to serve as FBI director for a 10-year term. 

“I’ve spoken to multiple people I respect about Kash Patel this weekend—both for and against,” Cassidy, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, wrote on X. 

“The ones who worked closely with Kash vouched for him. I will vote for his confirmation,” Cassidy said. 

KASH PATEL HAMMERS ‘GROTESQUE MISCHARACTERIZATIONS’ FROM DEMS AMID FIERY FBI CONFIRMATION HEARING

FILE – Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s choice to be director of the FBI, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The Senate overcame a procedural hurdle on Patel’s nomination Tuesday with a party-line 48-45 vote, setting up a final vote on his nomination likely Thursday.

The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Patel’s nomination in a 12-10 party-line vote to be considered by the whole upper chamber of Congress last Thursday. After Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats held Patel’s nomination for seven days, the committee’s chair, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, defended Patel last week ahead of the vote. 

Grassley said Patel “spent his whole career fighting for righteous causes” and has “been a public defender, representing the accused against the power of the state.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., looks on as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies during his Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Jan. 30, 2025. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

 4 OF THE BIGGEST CLASHES BETWEEN PATEL, SENATE DEMS AT HIS CONFIRMATION HEARING

“He’s been a congressional staffer, investigating the partisan weaponization of our legal system. And he’s served in key national security roles, protecting Americans from foreign enemies,” Grassely told the committee. “He’s received support from former FBI agents, former federal and state prosecutors, and organizations representing more than 680,000 law enforcement officers. But Mr. Patel’s resume, his accomplishments and his support aren’t why he’s the best man for the job.”

Grassely said Patel “should be our next FBI Director because the FBI has been infected by political bias and weaponized against the American people.” 

Kash Patel is sworn in during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination to be FBI Director, on Capitol Hill on Jan. 30, 2025. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

“Mr. Patel knows it, he’s exposed it, and he’s been targeted for it,” he said, describing how Patel was “instrumental in exposing Crossfire Hurricane,” and “he showed that the Democratic National Committee funded false allegations against President Trump, that the DOJ and FBI hid information from the FISA court to wiretap a presidential campaign and that an FBI lawyer lied in the process.” 

“As reward for his efforts to uncover the truth, he was attacked by the media, and the DOJ secretly subpoenaed his records,” Grassley said. “I know a thing or two about this kind of retaliation.” 

At his confirmation hearing last month, Patel clashed with committee Democrats after he refused to share his grand jury testimony in the since-dropped classified documents case against Trump, as well as over Patel’s defense of Jan. 6 rioters and critique of the “deep state.” Democrats had pushed for a second confirmation hearing for Patel, but Grassley denied that request. 

Trump nominated Patel in November, moving to replace former FBI Director Chris Wray. Trump tapped Wray to lead the FBI in his first administration but later accused him of weaponizing the agency. 

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Two Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have not confirmed whether they will vote in support of Patel. 

Both Collins and Murkowski notably voted against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s confirmation, for which Vice President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote.