Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) delivered remarks on the Senate floor to call out Republicans for their support of Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, and warns of Kash Patel’s willingness to use the bureau against Trump’s enemies.
Watch Schiff’s full remarks HERE. Download remarks HERE.
On Kash Patel operating as Trump’s enabler:
[…] We know the road that lies ahead. And we know that Donald Trump cannot destroy the nonpartisan character of the FBI or the Department of Justice without his enablers. And Kash Patel? Kash Patel is Donald Trump’s handpicked enabler and henchman. The guy who would say “yes” when everyone else would say “no” to any immoral or unlawful request made by Donald Trump.
The guy who publicized his “Deep State” list, almost half of whom are Republicans. The guy who worked for – and retains millions of dollars in stock in a company supported by the Chinese Communist Party. In any normal world, that would automatically disqualify someone from leading the nation’s premier law enforcement and counterintelligence agency. This is not someone we would want running the FBI. It would be unthinkable to confirm a nominee who has written an entire book in service of, “dramatically limiting and refocusing the scope of the FBI’s authority.”
A nominee who has publicly said: “It would be fun to go on a manhunt of government gangsters” alongside those who, “Represent Donald Trump’s army to take this country back.”
I am of the opinion that the people the FBI should be going on manhunts for are actual criminals – not the president’s enemies of the day. The FBI shouldn’t serve as “Donald Trump’s army”. Alas, we will not soon forget the last time “Donald Trump’s army” presented itself to us.
On the function of law enforcement in a democracy:
Earlier today, I stood with my colleagues in front of FBI headquarters. A building that Kash Patel promised to dismantle – on his first day as FBI director – and turn into a museum of the Deep State. The home of a department that we all know he will convert into a political weapon for the president. The president who is a serial law breaker and will use Patel as a tool for retribution against his enemies.
But in a democracy, law enforcement does not serve the president, let alone someone who fashions himself as a king. Law enforcement serves the people. It is nonpartisan. It is not a vehicle of political payback for a political party.
And yet we are watching the FBI and DOJ hollowed out, dismantled, and turned into an investigative and prosecutorial extension of Donald Trump’s White House. We are watching it live in real time. It’s already happening in that building we visited this morning.
Read the transcript of his remarks as delivered below:
Today, the Senate is on track to confirm Kash Patel as Director of the FBI.
Think about that statement for a moment. Kash Patel, conspiracy theorist, Jan 6th denier, MAGA sycophant, and political provocateur will be FBI Director.
The absurdity of it. The destructive consequences of it. And it’s worth asking today – how did we get here? To such an extreme point.
To this moment. Where someone so patently unqualified — really disqualified from any position of responsibility — is poised to become director of the nation’s preeminent law enforcement agency.
Earlier today, I stood with my colleagues in front of FBI headquarters. A building that Kash Patel promised to dismantle – on his first day as FBI director – and turn into a museum of the Deep State. The home of a department that we all know he will convert into a political weapon for the president. The president who is a serial law breaker and will use Patel as a tool for retribution against his enemies.
But in a democracy, law enforcement does not serve the president, let alone someone who fashions himself as a king. Law enforcement serves the people. It is nonpartisan. It is not a vehicle of political payback for a political party.
And yet we are watching the FBI and DOJ hollowed out, dismantled, and turned into an investigative and prosecutorial extension of Donald Trump’s White House. We are watching it live in real time. It’s already happening in that building we visited this morning.
In just the last month, Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has engaged in a brazen, sweeping purge. A rolling Saturday night massacre. An unmistakable campaign to punish and to drive out thousands of hardworking, nonpartisan FBI and career DOJ employees.
This is happening as we speak. Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove fired roughly two dozen prosecutors involved in Jan. 6 criminal cases. Not for cause. Not for corruption. Not for misconduct. They were fired for failing what is, in effect, a loyalty test. A loyalty test. A MAGA mob attacks the Capitol on January 6 to stop the peaceful transfer of power. They beat police officers, gouge them, bear-spray them. All in the service of an even bigger crime — stopping the peaceful transfer of power after Donald Trump lost his re-election.
And they get pardoned by Donald Trump. The lawbreakers get pardoned. And the brave FBI agents who tracked down these violent miscreants, these agents get punished. They get fired. They get purged. The one-man wrecking ball that is Donald Trump is turning the world upside down. The criminals are being pardoned and the cops are being punished.
Now, Kash Patel sat before the Senate Judiciary Committee and, under oath, insisted he knew of no plans to punish FBI employees involved in investigations related to Donald Trump. He positively levitated at the suggestion that such a thing could even be true.
Then, within days, top FBI agents were fired and thousands of FBI employees – career professionals – were sent a detailed questionnaire demanding they disclose any involvement in investigations related to the January 6 insurrection.
A warning accompanied this. “Additional personnel actions” could follow. And yet Mr. Patel testified that: “There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI should I be confirmed as FBI director.”
He sat in that committee room and told the Senate: “All FBI employees will be protected against political retribution.” That was a Thursday. Three weeks ago. The very next day, the purges began.
Before the ink had dried on the transcript of his hearing, the retribution campaign had begun. In his written responses to questions, Patel denies knowing about these actions in advance. Denies knowing whether he discussed these dismissals with the White House, the DOJ, or the FBI.
He wrote: “I do not recall having conversations with the transition team about pursuing any particular investigations or targets.” I asked him in writing about these actions and his answer was: He doesn’t remember. But in fact, whistleblowers have come forward to testify that not only did Patel know about the upcoming purges, he was directing those dismissals. How could he not recall that? It wasn’t years ago. Or even months. It was days before. Days before his written answers to those questions, those written answers were he couldn’t recall if he was directing those purges. Covertly. As a private citizen. But he doesn’t recall. Purges of quality, career professionals who dedicated their lives to the rule of law.
Who have been fired, laid off or forced out because they dared investigate a violent insurrection on our Capitol. Or the president’s retention of classified documents that contained our nuclear and other national security secrets.
There was a time in our country when the FBI was weaponized. When it served as a sword for the president. And the DOJ served as his shield. When Hoover authorized covert harassment campaigns against the perceived enemies of the president. We thought those days were over. And they were over. Until now.
We must not put in place a Roy Cohn for the president, someone who will bend and break the law to serve the president’s personal and political aims. For therein lies the path to corruption, to unlimited power, and to malfeasance of the highest order. We put up guardrails to prevent one man – and his cadre of company men – from turning the bureau and department into a partisan and lawless battering ram. We must not take them down.
Because we know the road that lies ahead. And we know that Donald Trump cannot destroy the nonpartisan character of the FBI or the Department of Justice without his enablers. And Kash Patel? Kash Patel is Donald Trump’s handpicked enabler and henchman. The guy who would say “yes” when everyone else would say “no” to any immoral or unlawful request made by Donald Trump.
The guy who publicized his “Deep State” list, almost half of whom are Republicans. The guy who worked for – and retains millions of dollars in stock in a company supported by the Chinese Communist Party.
In any normal world, that would automatically disqualify someone from leading the nation’s premier law enforcement and counterintelligence agency. This is not someone we would want running the FBI. It would be unthinkable to confirm a nominee who has written an entire book in service of, “dramatically limiting and refocusing the scope of the FBI’s authority.”
A nominee who has publicly said: “It would be fun to go on a manhunt of government gangsters” alongside those who, “Represent Donald Trump’s army to take this country back.”
I am of the opinion that the people the FBI should be going on manhunts for are actual criminals – not the president’s enemies of the day. The FBI shouldn’t serve as “Donald Trump’s army”. Alas, we will not soon forget the last time “Donald Trump’s army” presented itself to us.
When they beat down the doors of this Capitol. When they attacked law enforcement – and sought to overturn an election. Mr. Patel is quite familiar with that mob. He celebrated them in song. Now Mr. Patel tried to deny his association with the Jan 6 prison choir. He said he had nothing to do with their recording. But earlier, on Steve Bannon’s podcast, he was all too proud to brag about it: “So what we thought would be cool is if we captured that audio and then, of course, had the greatest president, President Donald J. Trump, recite the pledge of allegiance, then we went to a studio and recorded it, mastered it, digitized it, and put it out as a song now releasing exclusively on the War Room.”
But when I asked him about this under oath – his response was, and you may never believe this… When he said we did this and we did that, “we” didn’t include him!
I don’t know what’s worse – taking credit for something he didn’t do, or doing something and then lying about it. But what do I do know is this is not character of someone who should be director of the FBI.
At the hearing, I also asked him to turn and face the capitol police officers in the room. These officers from the same department that suffered such grievous injuries on Jan 6. He couldn’t do so. He couldn’t look them in the eye. And I don’t blame him for being too ashamed. He should be ashamed. Celebrating their victimization in a song. He should be ashamed. And anyone voting to confirm him should be ashamed.
And yet here we are – on a fast track to rubber stamp his confirmation. Asked to turn a blind eye as he takes control of the most powerful law enforcement agency in the country. That is what my Republican colleagues seem poised to do.
And I will ask again – how did we get here? And where are we going? By confirming a nominee who is so plainly unqualified. Who is tied up in shady business dealings with the CCP and the Kremlin. Who made songs with violent cop beaters. Who made memes of himself sawing the heads off of members of Congress. How on earth did we get here? Because we all know where this road ends. A weaponized FBI. Investigations into anyone who stands up to Donald Trump. Elected officials. Journalists. Democrats and Republicans. Anyone. Now, I know some of my colleagues seek solace in the belief that, if they just toe the line long enough, they’ll be spared.
But we all know what happens when someone falls out of favor with Donald Trump. When you’re inevitably asked to vote for something or do something so egregious that you cannot possibly continue to say yes. And when you reach that moment – when you’re forced to cross the president or abandon your final line in the sand – it will be these moments you remember. The concessions to a wannabe authoritarian that you were willing to entertain. The lines you allowed him to cross so you would be spared his wrath.
But you will not be spared. No one is. Not the veteran nonpartisan employees of the FBI. Not the maverick moderate members of this body. Not even the most extreme supporters – left out in the cold the moment they are no longer valuable to this President. When — not if — when you fall out of favor with Donald Trump, Patel and others may be unleashed on you as well.
My colleagues should remember there is more room under Donald Trump’s bus than on it. Enabling this administration is a one-way street. And by continuing to go down it, you drive yourselves and the foundations of our democracy to the precipice.
My colleagues, we have a duty today. A duty to the Constitution, and a duty to the American people. We have a duty to the 38,000 men and women of the FBI who put their lives on the line every single day.
Those who work in the building where we stood this morning in the freezing cold, and in communities and cities around the country. Keeping us safe and secure. We must take that duty seriously. Because if we confirm Kash Patel, knowing what we are getting, knowing where we are going…We will have only ourselves to blame.
Mr. President, I yield back.
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