While Democrats are using Kash Patel’s confirmation hearing for FBI Director to rant and rave about Jan. 6, at least one Republican used his time to illustrate why so many people no longer trust the Bureau.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) brought up Patel’s work investigating FBI operation Crossfire Hurricane, an effort aimed at promoting the hoax that President Donald Trump collaborated with the Russian government to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
Patel was instrumental in exposing the hoax and the weaponization of the FBI against Trump. Graham brought up a text message exchange between former agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page in which they showed anti-Trump bias.
Okay. It was opened up on July 31st, 2016, and here's what Strzok said, And damn, this feels momentous because this matters…‘Super glad to be on this voyage with you.’ That's to Page. Page responds a couple of months later, ‘he's not ever going to be president, right?’
Graham recounted Strzok replied, “No, he won’t. We’ll stop it.”
“Is it fair to say that the people in charge of investigating Crossfire Hurricane hated Trump’s guts?” Graham asked.
Patel answered in the affirmative.
The conversation turned to former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, who was the subject of surveillance during the 2016 race. “Do you know that the FBI secured warrants against him on four different occasions?” Graham asked.
Patel answered yes. Graham continued, asking if Patel knew that the Bureau relied on false information from the Steele Dossier to obtain the FISA warrant used to justify their spying on a member of the Trump campaign.
“Was it you that were able to find out that the Steele dossier was a bunch of crap?” Graham asked.
Patel answered: “Yes, Senator. We followed the money, and we exposed the fraud.”
Special counsel John Durham investigated the origins of Crossfire Hurricane during Trump’s first term. He found serious issues with the FBI’s conduct, including confirmation bias and other problems. One of the agents involved was later convicted for falsifying an email used in the FISA application to spy on Carter Page.
Graham then brought up Igor Danchenko, a Russian analyst, who was a sub-source for the debunked Steele Dossier that contained a series of erroneous accusations against Trump. He was later interviewed by the FBI in 2017 to verify the content in the dossier. The analyst later faced charges in 2021 of lying to the Bureau. He was later acquitted in October 2022.
“Are you aware that the FBI had volumes of information that the Steele dossier was a bunch of bullsh*t and nobody ever told anybody at the top?” Graham asked.
Patel replied, “I am, sir.”
The senator noted that without Crossfire Hurricane, Patel would not be Trump’s nominee.
My friends on the other side, like pulling teeth. The Horowitz investigation, the Inspector General labeled this fraudulent at its core, mismanaged at its core, running stop signs. At every turn, they went forward when they should have stopped. The Durham report said it was obviously politically motivated. FBI agents were telling anybody and everybody that would listen, This is not reliable, this is not trustworthy, but they plowed on. Because of you and [former Rep.] Trey Gowdy and others, we now know about this.
The lawmaker also referred to the Bureau being used to cast doubt on the veracity of the Hunter Biden laptop story, claiming it was Russian disinformation.
Lindsey Graham's full line of questioning of Kash Patel puts the FBI's corruption on FULL DISPLAY!
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 30, 2025
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Graham’s line of questioning seemed intended to highlight the rampant corruption and politicization in the FBI over the past decade – which is important given the fact that trust in the Bureau has plummeted.
While Democrats seek to use Patel’s statements about the J6ers against him, Graham and other Republicans are focused on the job for which Patel is interviewing while showing how the left has weaponized the Bureau against its political opponents.
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