Screengrab via C-SPAN
By Ashley Murray | AZ Mirror
All Senate Republicans, except two, voted on Thursday to confirm Kash Patel to a 10-year term as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, an agency in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump.
In a 51-49 vote, the Senate GOP approved the 18th of Trump’s nominees just one month into the president’s second term. All Democrats and independents opposed Patel’s nomination.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, along with Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, broke with the GOP to vote against Patel, citing a “compelling need for an FBI Director who is decidedly apolitical.”
“While Mr. Patel has had 16 years of dedicated public service, his time over the past four years has been characterized by high profile and aggressive political activity. Mr. Patel has made numerous politically charged statements in his book and elsewhere discrediting the work of the FBI, the very institution he has been nominated to lead,” Collins said in a statement ahead of the vote.
Murkowski said her “reservations with Mr. Patel stem from his own prior political activities and how they may influence his leadership.”
