Schiff Complains That Having Patel As Head Of FBI A ‘Tragedy’
Sen. Adam Schiff of California, one of the most polarizing and partisan Democrats in Congress, expressed concern on Monday over Kash Patel, who appears poised to become the next FBI director.
“It is just a tragedy for the FBI that it comes to this. I can’t imagine the demoralization at the FBI and the Department of Justice. The damage will be long, long-standing,” Schiff remarked, as reported by the Sacramento Bee.
Despite Schiff’s concerns, Republicans are backing Donald Trump’s pick to lead the bureau, arguing that the FBI is in dire need of de-politicization after years of alleged weaponization by Joe Biden’s left-leaning administration and entrenched operatives within the agency.
“The Trump administration is cleaning house at the FBI because the FBI is and has been for many years infected with political bias and whistleblower retaliation,” stated Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
Schiff and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) serve as members of the committee. The Republican-led panel endorsed Patel’s nomination with a 12-10 vote strictly along party lines. A full Senate confirmation vote is anticipated next week.
Republicans have asserted that under Biden, the FBI has been involved in politically driven investigations, targeting both Trump and individuals connected to the Jan. 6 Capitol events. They also condemned the FBI’s 2022 raid on Mar-a-Lago, where classified documents Trump had taken from the White House in 2021 were retrieved. Though Trump faced indictment in 2023 over the matter, the case was later dismissed following his re-election last year.
“Mr. Patel should be our next FBI director because the FBI has been infected by political bias and weaponized against the American people,” Grassley reaffirmed.
The full Senate is set to vote on Patel’s confirmation on Tuesday.
As for Schiff’s opposition, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) suggests she knows the real reason he is against Patel leading the FBI: Patel is fully aware that Schiff spent years promoting the debunked 'Trump-Russia collusion' theory.
“I think, too, they are very fearful of Kash Patel, because Kash Patel knows what Adam Schiff and some of the others did with Russia collusion, and they know that he knows — the dirt on them, if you will — and I think they’re fearful of what he’s going to do and what he’s going to reveal,” Blackburn told “Fox & Friends” on Sunday.
She also emphasized that Democrats understand “Patel is very devoted to bringing transparency to what’s going on in Washington.”
WATCH:
Blackburn elaborated on these concerns in remarks to the Senate Judiciary Committee late last month during Patel’s confirmation hearings.
“As I’ve listened to my Democratic colleagues in their comments this morning, you can hear the anger and the displeasure with having Kash Patel before us. But I think it’s important to realize why Kash Patel is there and why President Trump chose to nominate Kash Patel,” she stated.
“The American people are sick and tired of two tiers of access, two tiers of treatment, and two tiers of justice. And during the Biden years, this was writ large in the actions of the DOJ and the FBI. We have all seen it,” she continued.
“Now, when Mr. Patel was before us, before I started my questioning, I asked him a question that came from listening to my Democratic colleagues as they were questioning him,” Blackburn added.
“And it was, why do the Democrats fear him? Why do they fear him? And I think the answer is so very apparent. They fear him because, yes, indeed, he is out of the box. They fear him because of what he knows about Russia collusion, what he knows about some of the activity that has taken place,” she asserted.
“And they fear him because he is going to return the FBI to its core mission, investigating violent crimes and keeping our nation safe,” she concluded.