Senate narrowly confirms Trump nominee Kash Patel for FBI director [View all]

Source: Washington Post

Updated February 20, 2025 at 2:26 p.m. EST


The Senate on Thursday narrowly voted to confirm Kash Patel as the FBI’s ninth director, installing a close ally of President Donald Trump and a staunch critic of the bureau to lead the country’s premier law enforcement agency.

Patel was approved 51-49, a remarkably tight margin for a position that historically has seen nominees win overwhelming bipartisan support. Each of the last three FBI directors garnered the votes of at least 92 senators.

While Democratic senators expressed deep concerns about Patel, pointing to his history of inflammatory rhetoric and calls for retribution against perceived enemies, many of their Republican counterparts hailed him as the person needed to fix an agency they say has become politicized.

The GOP-majority Senate has approved every Trump nominees to come before the chamber so far, though three Republican defections on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth meant Vice President JD Vance, who serves as Senate president, was called in to cast the tiebreaking vote.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/02/20/kash-patel-fbi-senate-confirmation-vote/