Kash Patel is building enough support in the Senate to be confirmed as FBI director, Republican senator Eric Schmitt (Mo.) said.
Patel's confirmation would place a Donald Trump loyalist in charge of an agency that has spent years targeting Trump and his supporters.
During Trump's first presidential term, while working as a staffer on the House Intelligence Committee under Devin Nunes, Patel played a prominent role in uncovering the FBI's surveillance abuses against Trump's 2016 campaign.
Despite alarmist media coverage about Patel's plans for FBI reform, the Trump ally is securing support from Republican senators.
Senator Eric Schmitt told ABC's This Week that Patel is the right fit, citing his broad experience and the need for a reform-minded leader at the FBI.
"I do think Kash Patel is the right man for the job. He served as chief of staff for the Department of Defense. He was a prosecutor and public defender and let’s review the tape here," Schmitt said.
FBI director Christopher Wray announced his upcoming resignation last week. Although appointed by Trump, Wray lost the trust of Trump and most of his supporters as the FBI increasingly waded into domestic politics.
"The FBI was involved in spying on President Trump in 2016. The FBI was involved in the Hunter Biden laptop coverup," Schmitt said. "They pre-bunked that story with big tech. The FBI has investigated Catholics because they attend traditional Latin Mass, and the FBI has investigated parents who show up to school board meetings because under the us auspice of the Patriot Act."
"That agency is in desperate need of reform. Kash Patel is very qualified and I think he’ll get the support in the Senate," he said.
Criticism of Patel has centered on his alleged plans to seek retribution on Trump's behalf. Trump has sent mixed signals about whether he will turn the FBI against his former persecutors, telling NBC News last week that he would let Patel decide what to do.
"I think he’s going to do what he thinks is right,” Trump said. “If they think that someone was dishonest, or crooked or corrupt politicians, I think he probably has an obligation to do it.”
Patel's growing support is likely good news for Trump's other controversial Cabinet nominees, like Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard, who have faced similar backlash over their plans to shake up Washington.
