Dems Delay Vote on Trump’s Controversial Pick

President Donald Trump will have to contain himself for another week before his nominee receives a first confirmation vote. According to The Daily Beast, Senate Democrats have postponed the initial confirmation vote for Kash Patel, whom Trump nominated as FBI director, pending at least next week. Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has stated that fellow members remain unconvinced about Patel's allegiance to far-right conspiracy theories and those engaged in insurrection on January 6, 2021.

"We have an individual in Kash Patel who has published a book, which, in detail, describes his view of politics in America," Durbin said during a Thursday press conference. "It is a book that is filled with grievances, filled with conspiracy theories, and filled with information of how he sided with the January 6th rioters against the police in this very Capitol complex."

Durbin noted that 17 of the singers "were accused of or already convicted of assaulting law enforcement officers." The Illinois Democrat further highlighted that although Patel denied spreading a debunked conspiracy theory about FBI agents supposedly orchestrating the violence on January 6, he had made the claim on an episode of his podcast.

“When we asked him about it in the committee, he couldn’t remember any part of it, didn’t know who the singers were, wasn’t sure what I was talking about,” Durbin said on Thursday. “That kind of evasion betrays the fact that he sided with the prisoners when he should have sided with the police.”

While Patel is likely to secure enough votes in the Judiciary Committee to advance to the full Senate, it’s uncertain whether enough Republicans will oppose his nomination. As it stands, Patel can afford to lose three Republican votes and still be confirmed, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.