It’s a minor point in this moment — as the leaders of the federal government brag that they’re preparing to investigate “the left” and journalists — but Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) today got FBI Director Kash Patel to confirm a key detail about the extent to which the traditional firewall between the Department of Justice and the White House has collapsed.
Blumenthal pressed Patel during a Senate hearing on Tuesday about the clearly politically motivated firings of FBI staff who worked on the Jan. 6 investigation, among others, earlier this year. Patel evaded answering the question at first, but eventually offered that the White House has been in touch about personnel decisions at the FBI. This, he claimed, was only a budgetary matter.
Obviously, this isn’t exactly some smoking gun, and what Patel sneezes out under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee is inconsequential compared to the daily evidence we see of a compromised FBI and Justice Department that is doing President Trump’s bidding. But it is another factor contributing to the unprecedented moment we are in, one in which DOJ officials don’t even try to hide the ongoing erosion of the independence that once existed between the Justice Department and the White House.
Here’s a transcript of the first part of the exchange:
Blumenthal: You assured one of my colleagues that you would honor the internal review process at the FBI. I’m not going to mince words. You lied to us. There is mounting evidence that these retaliatory firings were the result of direction from the White House. Has anyone from the White House contacted you about personnel decisions?
Patel: I completely disagree with your entire premise that I have lied or am misleading the FBI. If I were, the results I announced today, by the men and women of the FBI — the historic records we are doing to keep this country safe would not be possible. Men and women of the FBI are responding to our leadership and this administration’s priorities. The only way people get terminated at the FBI is if they fail to meet the muster of the job and their duties, and that is where I will leave it. And you accusing me of lying is something I don’t take lightly, but I’m not going to get into a tit-for-tat with you.
Blumenthal then pressed him again to answer his question, asking if anyone from the White House had contacted him about personnel decisions.
“Generally speaking, we always discuss with the White House OMB during the budget process how many personnel we need, who we need,” Patel said.
“The answer is yes — have you been directed to fire people, agents, because they participated in investigations of the president?” Blumenthal asked.
“Any termination at the FBI was a decision that I made based on the evidence that I have as a director of the FBI,” he said. “It’s my job, I’m not going to shy away from it. And as you stated, those are allegations, and that is an ongoing litigation, so they’ll have their day in court. So will we.”
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) also pressed Patel to engage with any specifics on whether FBI employees were fired as part of Trump’s ongoing political retribution crusade. So far this year, at least 18 prosecutors who worked on the Jan. 6 case have been fired and seven additional Jan. 6 prosecutors were demoted. Beyond that, the DOJ even launched an investigation into the prosecutors’ use of the obstruction statute used in the case.
When Schiff tried to nail Patel down on this, the FBI director twice offered an answer that was a clear dodge of the question. The exchange:
“Are you testifying today that you never terminated anyone at the FBI in whole or in part because of a prior case assignment?” Schiff asked.
“No one at the FBI is terminated for case assignments alone,” Patel said.
“Mr. Patel, did you in whole or in part terminate anyone at the FBI because they worked on the Trump investigation, or because they worked on Jan. 6?”
Patel repeated, “No one at the FBI has been terminated for case assignments alone.”
Patel Unloads Trumpian Vitriol on Schiff
Patel’s temperament in responding to Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) riffed on the president’s own relentless fixation on Schiff, with the FBI director at one point calling the California senator “a political buffoon at best” in response to one of Schiff’s questions about Ghislaine Maxwell and the Epstein files.
“We have countlessly proven you to be a liar in Russiagate, in Jan. 6. You are the biggest fraud to ever sit in the United States Senate, you are a disgrace to this institution and an utter coward,” Patel said. “I’m not surprised that you continue to lie from your perch and put on a show so you can go raise money for your charade. You are a political buffoon at best.”
GOP’s Crackdown on D.C. Autonomy
House Republicans passed two out of a series of bills on Tuesday in an attempt to overhaul Washington D.C.’s criminal justice system and roll back the district’s home rule.
One of the bills aims to lower the age at which a minor can be tried as an adult for certain criminal offenses — including murder, first degree sexual assault and burglary, armed robbery and assault with intent to commit any of those crimes — from 16 to 14. The second limits eligibility for lenient sentencing for young offenders, changing the age cap from 24 to 18.
“Those aren’t bills that are serious efforts to address public safety in the Washington D.C. area,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said during a Tuesday press conference ahead of the votes.
In the final tally, the first bill had eight Democrats supporting it, while one Republican voted against it. The second one had 31 Democrats voting for it and, again, one Republican against it.
The bills have come to the House floor on an unusually speedy timeline — a glaring contrast from the House Republican leaderships’ choice to never bring the Senate approved bill — which would have restored the D.C. funding that House Republicans stripped in their last continuing resolution — to the floor.
The House is expected to vote on two more D.C.-related bills this week — one that would roll back restrictions on police vehicular pursuits and another that would abolish the Judicial Nomination Commission, the group that provides judicial candidates to the president. If passed, that bill would make it so that the district effectively has no say in its own judges. A number of other D.C. related bills are expected to come to the floor in the coming weeks as well.
The long-term life of these bills are a question mark. The filibuster applies to them in the upper chamber and it is unclear if enough Democrats would support them to get them to 60 votes.
— Emine Yücel
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The long-term life of these bills are a question mark. The filibuster applies to them in the upper chamber and it is unclear if enough Democrats would support them to get them to 60 votes.
Filibustered in the Senate, eh?
Turnabout is fair play.
Patel is wrapped just a little too tight; he’s just not suited for anything other than being a terminally on-line troll. Bongo Boy, too.
The real head of the FBI is Stephen Miller.
Dems may have ‘prodded’ but Grassley was there to leap in at every turn to whine about how the Democrats treated HIS whistleblower so he’s gonna let Patel scream and lie and attack whenever he wants. It was an amazing ‘show’.
As I understand it Mr Patel did not have one of his better days when questioned by Senator Schiff. Patel lost his temper and composure … poor fella.
The next time Adam Schiff has the opportunity to question Kash Patel and Patel talks over Schiff at maximum volume, Schiff should whip out a high power megaphone bullhorn and win at least one screaming match.