Kash Patel did not seek to sway Senator Dick Durbin’s decision to withhold his support for Patel’s nomination as head of the FBI. The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee declared, with evident finality, that after reading Patel’s book Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy and meeting him in person, he reached a stark conclusion: Patel lacks “the experience, the judgment, and the temperament” to lead the FBI.
For anyone harboring doubts, Senator Durbin (D-Ill.) issued an invitation to read Patel’s opus themselves.
“Take a look at the background of Kash Patel,” Durbin urged. “There’s nothing in his background to suggest that he could supervise 30,000 agents and professionals, 400 field offices at a time of national emergency like 9/11.”
Asked by The Pavlovic Today for Patel’s reaction to this decision to reject his nomination, Senator Durbin described it as “very quiet.” He then added that thirty minutes of questioning had “prepared” Patel for such an outcome.
During a pen-and-pad briefing in the Senate Press Gallery, Durbin—an old friend of Bob Mueller, the man who led the FBI and the Russian collusion investigation against Trump—laid out his reasons for opposing Patel’s nomination ahead of the confirmation hearing, “tentatively” set for January 29.
Midway through, a staffer informed Durbin that the additional information he had requested on Patel had just arrived. While Durbin didn’t claim the report contained any smoking guns, he hinted that any explosive revelations might sway fence-sitting Republicans against Patel.
![Senator Dick Durbin talks about his decision to oppose Kash Patel's nomination for FBI director. [ Photo: The Pavlovic Today]](https://i0.wp.com/thepavlovictoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Senator-Durbin-.jpg?resize=1024%2C757&ssl=1)
Durbin was especially troubled by Patel’s account and analysis of the events of January 6, 2021. When pressed on Trump’s pardoning of offenders involved in attacks on law enforcement, Patel said he would need to “run this through the chain of command” before criticizing the president. Durbin, admittedly was not pleased with Patel’s “excuse” not to say anything.
The senator also confronted Patel over remarks made in 2023 on Steve Bannon’s show, where Patel had vowed to “come after people in the media” who, in his view, had lied American citizens. Patel, Durbin said, denied making such statements—a denial the senator found less than convincing.
“He’s erasing away the most controversial comments he’s ever made,” said Durbin.
The opposition to Patel among the Democrats is all well and good, but let’s be honest—this is Washington under Trump’s reign, and power here hinges on those Senators’ allegiance to the man in the Oval Office.
“We only take Kash.” It’s more than a slogan—it’s a declaration of intent from Patel’s allies in the GOP, who are all too aware of the power dynamics in a city where loyalty to Trump reigns supreme.
“My name is Kash Patel, and I ain’t going anywhere,” said Patel at the Capital One Arena on Inauguration Day. He is determined to say in the fight.
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