Trump live updates: FBI chief pick Patel dodges January 6 pardons question

The marathon hearing has come to an end, with little indication Patel will face any opposition from the committee’s Republican members.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which Patel is nominated to lead, employs 38,000 people.

It is a law enforcement agency tasked with upholding federal law.

The bureau investigates “federal crimes and threats to national security”, gathers intelligence and assists other law enforcement agencies.

US media has reported that the White House has been conducting a behind-the-scenes pressure campaign urging senators to vote in favour of Trump’s nominees.

Earlier this week, NBC news quoted a White House official who warned of a well-funded “consortium of outside groups and political actors” ready to “exact consequences … to those who do not support the president’s nominees and get them to the finish line”.

So far, the confirmation process has shown Trump’s hold on the Republican Party remains strong.

In past years, several of Trump’s nominees would likely have seen widespread bipartisan opposition given their lack of experience, concerns about their character, or engagement with conspiracy theories.

But Trump’s most controversial picks have not seen much opposition during the committee hearings.

When it comes to a wider Senate vote, Gabbard is considered the most embattled nominee, while major Republican opposition to Kennedy and Patel has yet to emerge.

With Trump’s top cabinet picks facing questions from lawmakers over the past weeks, all of them have shared a pledge to advance the Republican leader’s vision for the US.

Trump has acted swiftly since taking office on January 20 to enact his “America First” plan.

He has taken a slew of executive actions that crack down on immigration and curtail government initiatives, including diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) schemes, American foreign aid, and funding for federal healthcare and education programmes.

Trump’s nominees have promised to fall in line with his priorities if confirmed to their roles.

Democrats have repeatedly sought to pin down Patel’s views on the 2020 election.

Under questioning from Democratic Senator Peter Welch, Patel repeatedly avoided saying that Biden won the vote.

Instead, he acknowledged that Biden’s victory was later certified and he became president.

Public Citizen, a progressive consumer advocacy organisation, has documented several instances in which Patel referred to the election as “rigged”.

Most notably, in December 2023, Patel pledged that he will “go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media”.

“Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,” he said.

The “Nunes memo” has loomed large during Patel’s hearing with Republicans repeatedly referencing it as evidence of political overreach by the FBI.

What is it exactly?

The memo was a four-page report prepared by former Representative Devin Nunes, a close ally of Trump. It claimed that the FBI had used “politically motivated or questionable sources” to attain warrants in the investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russia.

Nunes hired Patel as special counsel to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and he was involved in authoring the memo.

While an inspector general report identified significant problems with FBI surveillance during the Russia investigation, it found no evidence that the FBI had acted with partisan motives in conducting the probe.

Kashyap Patel’s confirmation committee hearing has resumed.

So far, Patel has sidestepped several topics on which he had previously been vocal.

When asked if he would open an investigation into former Attorney General William Barr, and former FBI directors Christopher Wray and James Comey, he declined to give a definitive response, instead saying he had no intention of “going backwards”.

“Every investigation will be subject to the same legal standard,” Patel said.

He also refused to give a clear answer as to whether Trump lost the 2020 presidential election.

Instead, he said: “President Biden’s election was certified, he was sworn in and he served as the president of the United States.”

Republicans currently control 53 seats in the 100-seat US Senate.

For cabinet nominees to be confirmed, they need a simple majority. The vice president casts the decisive vote in the event of a tie.

That means the three Trump nominees having confirmation hearings today – Kennedy, Gabbard and Patel – can afford to lose only three Republican votes.

Gabbard may have the longest odds with Politico reporting that at least four Republican senators have not publicly said how they plan to vote.

When it comes to Kennedy, Senator Mitch McConnell will be closely watched. He is the only polio survivor currently in the chamber and may take issue with Kennedy’s anti-vaccine activism.

McConnell was one of three Republicans who voted against Trump’s pick to head the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, but he was ultimately confirmed.

Republican moderates could vote against Kennedy as well. That is also true for Patel although Republican senators have so far been supportive during his committee hearing today.

The senators will be convening for a closed section on Gabbard’s nomination in the next 30 minutes, Senator Tom Cotton says.

Here’s some more of what took place during the hearing:

• Gabbard, who was pushed on her position towards Russia, affirms that President Putin started the war in Ukraine in 2022.
• Senators also questioned her on her position on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a government authority that raises privacy concerns; She once sought to repeal the section but reversed her stance after she was nominated for the intelligence post.

As we’ve reported, the former congresswoman’s past support for the US whistleblower has come under scrutiny during today’s hearing.

In 2020, Gabbard co-sponsored a House resolution urging the US government to drop all charges against Snowden.

That same year, she urged then-President Trump to pardon him and “those who, at great personal sacrifice, exposed the deception and criminality of those in the deep state”.

In a post on X before today’s hearing began, Snowden commented on the confirmation process.

“Tulsi Gabbard will be required to disown all prior support for whistleblowers as a condition of confirmation today. I encourage her to do so. Tell them I harmed national security and the sweet, soft feelings of staff. In DC, that’s what passes for the pledge of allegiance,” he wrote.