参议院周四确认了唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)总统任命的美国联邦调查局董事卡什·帕特尔(Kash Patel)。
最终投票结果是51票对49票。
两位共和党议员苏珊·科林斯和莉萨·穆尔科斯基投票反对帕特尔。民主党人一致反对。
尽管他的提名有争议，共和党人团结在帕特尔周围，认为他是改革国家最高执法机构的合适人选，他们声称该机构已经腐败。
“帕特尔先生应该是我们的下一任美国联邦调查局主任，因为美国联邦调查局已经被政治偏见所感染，并对美国人民进行武器化。帕特尔知道这件事，帕特尔揭露了这件事，帕特尔因此成为众矢之的，”参议院司法委员会主席、爱荷华州共和党人查克·格拉斯利上周在委员会开会审议和推进对他的提名时说。
尽管并非所有共和党成员都支持他。柯林斯解释了她投票反对他的确认的决定，她说需要一个“明确非政治化”的美国联邦调查局导演，而帕特尔“在过去四年的时间里一直以高调和积极的政治活动为特征”
穆尔科斯基表达了类似的担忧。
“我对帕特尔先生的保留源于他自己以前的政治活动，以及这些活动可能如何影响他的领导力，”这位参议员在x上的一篇帖子中说，“美国联邦调查局必须被信任为根除犯罪和腐败的联邦机构，而不是专注于解决政治问题。我感到失望的是，当他有机会推翻政府迫使美国联邦调查局提供参与1月6日调查和起诉的特工名单的决定时，他没有这样做。”
与此同时，民主党人直到最后一刻都反对帕特尔。参议员迪克·德宾，司法委员会的资深成员，周四上午在美国联邦调查局总部外举行了新闻发布会，抨击帕特尔1月6日的“离奇政治声明”以示报复。
他指责共和党人“故意忽视帕特尔身上的危险信号”，他认为帕特尔“既没有经验、判断力，也没有气质”在未来10年担任美国联邦调查局首席。
“帕特尔先生将是一场政治和国家安全灾难，”德宾说。
44岁的帕特尔是总统的忠诚者，在特朗普的第一届政府期间担任过许多角色，包括国家情报代理副主任。
11月大选后不久，川普表示他将解雇时任美国联邦调查局导演的克里斯多弗·雷，让帕特尔接替他的位置。雷于2017年首次由特朗普任命，在拜登政府结束时卸任。
帕特尔多年来一直直言不讳地批评美国联邦调查局，此前他曾表示，他希望清理该局在华盛顿的总部，作为拆除所谓的“深层国家”任务的一部分
在上个月的确认听证会上，他面临民主党人就这些评论和更多问题提出的尖锐问题，包括对1月6日暴徒的支持和似乎有利于“QAnon”阴谋运动的引用。
帕特尔试图与他过去的一些言论保持距离，并告诉立法者，尽管他有针对记者和政府雇员的评论历史，但他不会采取“报复行动”。
帕特尔将接管一个面临解雇和其他关键变化的不确定性和混乱的机构。
ABC新闻报道，司法部正在寻找一份可能参与1月6日案件的数千名美国联邦调查局雇员的名单以前报告过，促使代理商提起诉讼，以阻止这一努力。
Kash Patel confirmed by Senate to be Trump's FBI director
The Senate on Thursday confirmed Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's choice to be FBI director.
The final vote was 51-49.
Two Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, voted against Patel. Democrats were unanimous in their opposition.
Despite his controversial nomination, Republicans rallied around Patel, arguing he is the right person to bring reform to the nation's top law enforcement agency they allege has been corrupted.
"Mr. Patel should be our next FBI director because the FBI has been infected by political bias and weaponized against the American people. Mr. Patel knows it, Mr. Patel exposed it, and Mr. Patel has been targeted for it," Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said last week as the committee met to consider and advance his nomination.
Though not all GOP members backed him. Collins, explaining her decision to vote against his confirmation, said there is a need for an FBI director who is "decidedly apolitical" and Patel's "time over the past four years has been characterized by high profile and aggressive political activity."
Murkowski voiced similar concerns.
"My reservations with Mr. Patel stem from his own prior political activities and how they may influence his leadership," the senator said in a post on X. "The FBI must be trusted as the federal agency that roots out crime and corruption, not focused on settling political scores. I have been disappointed that when he had the opportunity to push back on the administration’s decision to force the FBI to provide a list of agents involved in the January 6 investigations and prosecutions, he failed to do so."
Democrats, meanwhile, objected to Patel up until the last minute. Sen. Dick Durbin, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, held a press conference outside FBI headquarters on Thursday morning railing against Patel's "bizarre political statements" on Jan. 6 to retribution.
He accused Republicans of "willfully ignoring red flags on Mr. Patel," who he argued has "neither the experience, the judgment or the temperament" to be FBI chief for the next 10 years.
"Mr. Patel will be a political and national security disaster," Durbin said.
Patel, 44, is a loyalist to the president and worked in a number of roles during Trump's first administration, including acting deputy director of national intelligence.
Shortly after the November election, Trump indicated he would fire then-FBI Director Christopher Wray and tap Patel to take his place. Wray, first appointed by Trump in 2017, stepped down at the end of the Biden administration.
Patel has been a vocal critic of the FBI for years, and previously said he wanted to clean out the bureau’s headquarters in Washington as part of a mission to dismantle the so-called “deep state.”
He faced pointed questions from Democrats on those comments and more -- including support for Jan. 6 rioters and quotes that appeared favorable to the "QAnon" conspiracy movement -- during his confirmation hearings last month.
Patel sought to distance from some of his past rhetoric, and told lawmakers he would take "no retributive actions" despite his history of comments about targeting journalists and government employees.
Patel will take over an agency facing uncertainty and turmoil amid firings and other key changes.
The Justice Department's sought a list of potentially thousands of FBI employees who worked on Jan. 6 cases, ABC Newspreviously reported, prompting agents to file a lawsuit to block the effort.
