U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) on Sunday revealed he urged President-elect Donald Trump to nominate Kash Patel to serve as the next FBI Director out of a desire to see the agency “cleaned out” by the next administration.
During his appearance on “Meet the Press,” Hagerty confirmed he will vote to confirm Patel to lead the FBI after the former Trump administration official was nominated on Saturday to lead the agency. The senator also revealed he urged Trump to include Patel in his administration.
“I’ve encouraged Trump to bring Kash Patel to the table for precisely this reason,” said Hagerty in response to purported concerns Patel would upset normal practices at the FBI. Hagerty added, “He represents the type of change that we need to see in the FBI.”
In response to concerns about Patel’s qualifications to lead the domestic intelligence agency, Hagerty noted the Biden administration was given wide breadth to staff key agencies with individuals of spurious caliber, especially Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“I think you should have the Biden administration look at itself. What is the qualification of Tony Blinken to become Secretary of State?” Hagerty answered, “He organized 51 so-called intelligence experts to put together a fake letter saying that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. That must have qualified him to be Secretary of State.”
Hagerty told host Kristen Welker, “President Trump is entitled to name his appointees. That is exactly what he’s doing, and I’m going to support this appointment. Kash has worked at national security. He’s worked at the Department of Justice, and he’s somebody that has been willing to uncover the wrongs at the FBI. He’s the one that uncovered for the American public what happened with Russia-gate. He’s the one that can see through the fix here.”
The senator later stated that Patel has the “relevant experience” necessary for the job, unlike those appointed by President Joe Biden, before arguing he is “particularly” suited to fulfilling “the mandate the American public has assigned of turning these agencies around that have become completely corrupted.”
Hagerty told Welker, “He’s probably the best at uncovering what’s happened at the FBI, and I look forward to seeing him taking it apart.”
After his nomination, a clip of Patel speaking in a December 2023 interview went viral on X, as the former Trump administration official argued the FBI Director has authority to release both Jeffrey Epstein’s client list and the full manifesto left by Covenant School killer Audrey Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed six in March 2023.
Watch Patel’s full appearance on “Meet the Press”:
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
A great nomination. I have a friend that is a retired agent. He was assigned to organized crime and political corruption details in a major U.S. city during his 30 plus year career. He is embarrassed beyond belief because of what the this woke agency has done and has been asked to do. His friends that are still with the Bureau are afraid to talk about what is going on because they have been clearly threatened with immediate firing and prosecution.