Raskin began his opening statement by praising Patel for being the first Indian-American to lead the FBI, but that was where the flattery stopped. Raskin said Patel’s “primary qualification” for the job was his “unwavering loyalty to Trump.”
“Unlike other directors, you had no work experience at the FBI, but you had made over a thousand political and media appearances in support of Trump’s campaign,” Raskin said. “We’ve learned how dangerous it is to name as director of the FBI a man who thinks of himself as a fairytale knight.”
Raskin laid into Patel for his handling of the investigation into Kirk’s killing.
“When Charlie Kirk was assassinated, while his killer was still on the loose, you decided you didn’t need to be at FBI headquarters in Washington to work with your team while the chaotic manhunt unfolded,” Raskin said. “You spent your evening dining in a swanky Midtown Manhattan restaurant, and tweeting out false information that the subject of the shooting was in custody, a statement you had to retract one hour later. Your performance was so disturbing that even the MAGA base was alarmed.”
Raskin continued: “The FBI might be able to survive your delusions of grandeur and the explosively volatile temper that was on display yesterday in the Senate. But the intractable problem is that you are running the FBI not as a law enforcement agency charged with keeping the American people safe, but as a political enforcement agency working directly for the president’s vengeance campaign.”
Raskin alleged that Patel has been “systematically purging” the FBI of its best agents. He said Patel forced out Mehtab Syed, the leader of the FBI’s Salt Lake City field office, weeks before Kirk’s shooting, “depriving the FBI of an experienced counterterrorism expert described by her colleagues as absolutely the best and legendary.”
“She would have led the FBI’s manhunt, had she not been fired,” Raskin said.
Raskin said it’s “impossible to overstate the destruction, chaos and demoralization” Patel has brought to the FBI.
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/kash-patel-hearing-house-judiciary-committee-charlie-kirk-epstein-files/
