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Exclusive: President Donald Trump’s FBI director nomination Kash Patel pushed back Wednesday over allegations that he played a role in laying off a bureau staff member hours after vowing not to pledge during a confirmation hearing last month – panel The accusation from the top has been dismissed. Democrats as a politically motivated effort to derail his confirmation.
Speaking to Fox News Digital on Wednesday morning, officials from Patel’s senior transition team rebutted allegations by Dick Durbin, a Democrat on the Rankings Senate Judiciary Committee that Patel coordinated the shooting after a confirmation hearing.
The person told Fox News that he was “waiting for the process to play” on the night of a confirmation hearing that Patel would leave Washington and return home to Las Vegas.
The person also rebutted the notion that Patel has something to do with the termination of department staff, as Durbin argued in the Senator’s remarks the previous day.
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Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill, a member of the Senate Judicial Rankings. , Kash Patel and Chariman Chuck Grassley of Justice, R-Iowa. (AP/Getty Images)
“Patel has gone through the confirmation process and everything he has done since his nomination has surpassed the board,” the person said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “And otherwise there’s no mistake.”
In addition to returning to Vegas, Patel spent time hunting from Washington, saying the person provided evidence of photographing Patel’s activities.
The news came a day after Durbin’s team cited a “very reliable” whistleblower report recently received by a “very reliable” whistleblower. They said Patel “personally directed ongoing purging of FBI employees prior to the role’s Senate confirmation.”
Durbin staff also wrote to Justice Department inspector Michael Horowitz on Tuesday, requesting an investigation into these allegations.
“I receive very reliable information from multiple sources, and that Kash Patel personally directs the ongoing removal of career civil servants at the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Durbin told Horowitz I said in the letter.
“Patel is a candidate for President Trump to become FBI director, but he is a private citizen who still doesn’t play a role in the government.”
If true, Durbin argues that Patel’s reported actions could put him on the hook for perjury.
Patel claimed at a Senate confirmation hearing later last month that he would use his role to protect agents from efforts to weaponize the department.
“All FBI employees will be protected from political retaliation,” Patel told Sen. Richard Blumenthal during the hearing.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee tried to discredit Patel’s confirmation a few days and weeks before his confirmation. They repeatedly announced at a press conference last week that they would delay the committee’s confirmation vote by one week.
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Durbin told Fox News last week that their aim in delaying the hearing was to raise awareness among more public about Patel’s previous actions.
Ultimately, lawmakers noted that they could only delay Patel’s committee vote until next week. Beyond that, they said it was up to Republicans.
This is a broken news story. Please check for updates soon.
Breanne Deppisch is a political reporter for Fox News Digital, covering the Trump administration, focusing on the Department of Justice, the FBI and other national news.
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